Samara Zavalkoff

Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

Back to staff

I love working with children and their families because one hundred years from now, it won’t matter what car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much I had in my bank account, nor what my clothes looked like, but, the world may be a little better because I was important in the life of a child.

Hospital information

Academic appointement

Associate Professor, Pediatrics

Clinical Focus

Pediatric Critical Care, Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, Ectracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation

Other appointments

Medical Director, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Medical
Director, Mission : Safety (MCH Quality and Safety Program)

Education

University

McGill University

Residency

Pediatrics, McGill University

Fellowship(s)

Pediatric Critical Care, McGill University

Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care and ECMO, University of Melbourne

Fun fact about me

When I was 14, I had surgery and was a patient at the MCH

Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

Research

Research interests

Patient Safety/Quality Improvement
ICU Liberation
Organ Donation
Communication in Critical Care
Women in medical leadership

Awards and Distinctions

Prix Marthe-Pelland

Fédération des médicins specialists du Québec

Awarded for leadership by a female medical specialist in her first 10 years of practice in Quebec

Faculty Honour List for Educational Excellence

Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, McGill University

Maude Abbott Prize

Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, McGill University

Awarded based upon the criteria of administrative excellence, for a female faculty member who is between 2 and 10 years of appointment

Selected publications

Zavalkoff S, Mazaniello-Chezol M, O’Donnell S, Cunningham K, Almazyad M, O’Reilly A, Macedo K, Lammeree K, Mitchell E, Roussianos C, Antonacchi M. Improving transparent team communication with the ‘Glass Door’decal communication tool: a mixed methods analysis of family and staff perspectives. BMJ Open Quality. 2021 Sep 1;10(3):e001507
Xu GM, Zavalkoff S, de Wildt SN, Duffett M. Gender and Authorship in Pediatric Critical Care Randominzed Control Trials. Pediatr Critical Care Medicine. 2020 Jun 25. doi: 10.1097/PCC.0000000000002437.
Zavalkoff, S., Shemie, S.D., Grimshaw, J.M. et al on behalf of the Potential Organ Donation Identification and System Accountability (PODISA) Conference Participants. Potential Organ Donor Identification and System Accountability: Expert Guidance from a Canadian Consensus Conference. Canadian Journal of Anesthesia 2019 Apr;66(4):432-447
Kongkiattikul L, Dagenais M, Ruo N, Fontela P, Di Genova T, Zavalkoff S. The impact of a quality improvement project to standardize pain, agitation and withdrawal assessment on the use of morphine and midazolam in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Pediatric Anesthesia 2019 Jan 21. doi: 10.1111/pan.13591
Zavalkoff SR, Shemie SD CPR: Saving Life then Saving Organs? (invited editorial) Critical Care Medicine 2013 Dec;41(12):2833-4.
Zavalkoff S, Razack S, Lavoie J and Dancea A. Handover after Pediatric Heart Surgery: A simple tool improves information exchange. Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Med 2011 May;12(3):309-13.