Elaine Gilfoyle

Associate Scientist
Child Health Evaluative Sciences

Dr. Elaine Gilfoyle became the Division Head of the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit in the Department of Critical Care Medicine at SickKids in October 2019.

Dr. Gilfoyle completed her Medical Degree at the University of Western Ontario in 1999, her General Pediatrics residency at UWO in 2003, and her Paediatric Critical Care Medicine fellowship at McGill University in 2005. She received a Masters of Medical Education from University of Dundee in 2012. 

Since 2005, Elaine has been practicing paediatric critical care medicine at Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary, where she was also the Director of Research and built the program from scratch. Dr. Gilfoyle has been volunteering with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada for the past number of years, including sitting on the Critical Care Medicine Exam Board and Specialty Committee. She is currently the Chair of the CCM exam board, the first paediatric intensivist ever to do so.

Research

Dr. Gilfoyle’s research program focuses on improving team performance during paediatric resuscitation events, in order to decrease errors, minimize delays, and improve adherence to international resuscitation guidelines. Errors and delays are common given the complex nature of the resuscitation environment, and are associated with poor patient outcomes.

Her research program began by studying team performance in the simulation laboratory, but is recently moving towards studying the real-life clinical environment by video recording and analyzing real resuscitation events. Ultimately, Dr. Gilfoyle’s aim is to better understand team challenges to allow development of better system processes and educational opportunities to improve performance which will translate into better patient outcomes.

Education and experience

• 1991–1995: B.Sc. Hons, Biology, Physiology Specialization, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
• 1995–1999: MD, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
• 1999–2003: General Paediatric Residency, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
• 2003–2005: Paediatric Critical Care Residency, Montreal Children’s Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• 2006–2012: MMEd, Masters of Medical Education, Centre for Medical Education, University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland
• 2005–2019: Paediatric Intensivist, Section of Critical Care, Department of Paediatrics, Alberta Children’s Hospital, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
• 2007–2008: Acting Division Chief, Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, Alberta Children’s Hospital, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Achievements

• 2009: University of Calgary Department of Paediatrics Faculty Teaching Award, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
• 2009–2014: Member, RCPSC Critical Care Medicine Examination Board, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 2011–2016: Chair, Curriculum Development & Mentorship Subcommittee, Canadian Critical Care Trials Group
• 2012–2019: Chair, Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) Research Program, Alberta Children’s Hospital, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
• 2012–Present: Member, RCPSC Critical Care Medicine Nucleus Committee, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 2015–2017: Vice-Chair, RCPSC Critical Care Medicine Examination Board, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 2017–2019: Chair, Resuscitation Quality Assurance Subcommittee, Alberta Children’s Hospital, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
• 2018–Present: Chair, RCPSC Critical Care Medicine Examination Board, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

1. Gilfoyle E, Koot D, Annear D, Bhanji F, Cheng A, Duff J, Grant V, St George-Hyslop C, *Delaloye N, Kotsakis A, McCoy C, Ramsay C, Weiss M, Gottesman R, for the Teams4Kids Investigators and the Canadian Critical Care Trials Group. Improved Clinical Performance and Teamwork of Paediatric Interprofessional Resuscitation Teams with a Simulation-Based Educational Intervention. Ped Crit Care Med. 2017 Feb;18(2):e62-e69. Senior responsible author. 
2. Bhanji F, Cheng A, Donoghue A, Wolff M, Flores GE, Halamek LP, Berman J, Sinz EH, Education, Implementation, and Teams Chapter Collaborators. Part 14: Education. 2015 American Heart Association Guidelines Update for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care. Circulation, 2015 Oct 20;132(16 Suppl 1):S242-68. Co-author.

See a full list of Elaine Gilfoyle's publications