Thus the conjoint programme is of three years duration. The training in diagnostic microbiology and infectious diseases is not necessarily sequential and can be integrated. Diagnostic Microbiology in Hamilton Laboratories are currently in the process of being centralized in St. Joseph's Hospital. This and the rapid response laboratory in different hospital sites, along with the Regional Public Health Laboratory of the Laboratory Services Branch of the Ministry of Health, function as integrated units of the Hamilton Health Sciences Microbiology programme. These laboratories serve the daily diagnostic needs of the hospitals but also house the regional reference laboratories of virology and chlamydiae, anaerobic bacteriology, parasitology, mycology, mycobacteriology, mycoplasmology and the central media laboratory.
Residents rotate through each laboratory.
There are eighteen faculty members, including Medical Microbiologists, Clinical Microbiologists and Infectious Diseases physicians. The second year includes infection control, laboratory management, anaerobic bacteriology, media manufacture and quality control, public health microbiology and further experience in the first year disciplines at the request of the resident. A basic science and clinical microbiology seminar series supplements this approach. Performance appraisal is on-going and cognitive knowledge assessment occurs yearly. Residents are required to design and carry-out a series of research projects.