Nadine Gauthier is an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa and a clinical educator in the Department of Medicine at Ottawa Hospital, pursuing her interests in general cardiology, cardiac diagnostic imaging and medical education. She was a cardiac imaging fellow at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute when she started the Master of Education (MEd) program in 2009. She established her clinical practice in cardiology in 2012 at Ottawa Hospital and was blessed with a young family; she is currently expecting her third child. She graduated from the University of Cincinnati’s Master of Education program in 2015 and is now serving as the Director of Undergraduate Education in cardiology, leading the Anglophone and Francophone cardiology block. She is heavily involved in postgraduate teaching as the Resident Coordinator for the Division of Cardiology at General Hospital, and she participates in multiple CME activities educating family physicians and allied health professionals in vascular risk factors and cardiac stress testing in order to promote appropriate testing.
Nadine's final master's project looked at the ability of medical students to correctly perform a cardiac physical exam and give an accurate diagnosis after participating in a simulation-based bedside exam training. She is in the process of publishing her findings. Nadine notes that rapid access to cardiac testing and imaging and a paradigm shift in medical education has created multiple challenges for competency-based education of cardiac physical exam skills at the bedside, and training of competent physicians requires innovation in the way we teach cardiac physical exam skills. Her next research project is to develop and evaluate a simulation-based bedside physical exam curriculum for the ambulatory cardiology rotation to meet the needs of the internal medicine program as it moves towards competency-based education.
In collaboration with other universities in America, Nadine is also involved in testing the use of another innovative tool, the ventriculoscope, to teach cardiac auscultation. She has been invited to collaborate on different medical education projects, mostly in curriculum design and protocol writing, given her recently acquired skills. She has participated in multiple other local and national educational activities and was recently invited as Faculty member and teacher for the Canadian Cardiovascular Society’s Adult Cardiology Trainee Review Program in 2015.
Nadine believes the MEd program has given her the knowledge and confidence needed to shape her early career as a medical educator. She is grateful for the high-level educational experience as well as the mentorship and guidance the program provided. She now has the framework and skills to pursue innovative medical education research as well as to provide mentorship across the spectrum of medical trainees including medical students, residents and fellows.
