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Specialty Training Requirements in Neurosurgery

2016

VERSION 3.0

These training requirements apply to those who begin training on or after July 1^st, 2016.

MINIMUM TRAINING REQUIREMENTS

Six (6) years of approved residency training. This must include a minimum of forty-two (42) blocks of Neurosurgery.

1. Two (2) years of approved residency in foundational training, a maximum of eighteen (18) blocks of which may be undertaken in Neurosurgery. This period must include the following:
   1. A minimum of one (1) block of critical care
   2. A minimum of one (1) block on a service that provides initial trauma management (such as Emergency Medicine, General Surgery, trauma team, Orthopedic Surgery, or Plastic Surgery)
2. Four (4) years of post-foundational training in Neurosurgery. This period must include the following:
   1. Three (3) blocks of Neurology
   2. Three (3) blocks of neuropathology
   3. A minimum of twenty-four (24) blocks of Neurosurgery, which must include training in the breadth of clinical neurosurgery, including but not limited to vascular neurosurgery, spinal surgery, neuro-oncology, pediatric neurosurgery, functional neurosurgery, and peripheral nerve surgery
      1. There must be a thirteen (13) block period where the trainee functions as a senior/chief resident
   4. Up to thirteen (13) blocks of additional training relevant to the objectives of the specialty and acceptable to the program director and the residency program committee selected from one (1) or more of the following:
      1. Neurosurgery
      2. Related clinical or basic neuroscience disciplines
      3. Clinical or basic research
      4. Other scholarly activities

NOTES:

The training in Neurology and neuropathology described in items 2.1 and 2.2 may occur during the foundational two years of training listed in item 1.

In section 2.4, the additional training may occur at a hospital or university centre in Canada or abroad, as acceptable under local university policy.

Senior/chief residency is defined as a period in which the resident is regularly entrusted with the responsibility for pre-operative, operative, and post-operative care, including the most difficult problems in Neurosurgery. The senior/chief resident shall be in charge of the surgical unit and managing the neurosurgical team (clinical, administrative, and teaching). The senior/chief resident shall be directly responsible to the attending staff surgeons in the neurosurgery unit.

REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTIFICATION

Royal College certification in Neurosurgery requires all of the following:

1. Successful completion of the 2-year Royal College Surgical Foundations curriculum;
2. Successful completion of the Royal College Surgical Foundations examination;
3. Successful completion of a 6-year Royal College accredited program in Neurosurgery; and
4. Successful completion of the certification examination in Neurosurgery.

The 6-year program outlined above is to be regarded as the minimum training requirement. Additional year(s) of training may be required by the program director to ensure that clinical competence has been achieved.

• REVISED – Specialty Standards Review Committee – June 2009
• EDITORIAL REVISION – Office of Specialty Education – June 2014
• APPROVED – Specialty Standards Review Committee – May 2015
• APPROVED – Specialty Standards Review Committee – March 2016

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