Department of Family Medicine

Faculty of Medicine

Enhanced Skills in Palliative Care Program


Solid training tailored to individual career goals


Enhanced Skills in Palliative Care Program for Family Physicians

The Department of Family Medicine at Dalhousie University in partnership with the Department of Medicine's Division of Palliative Care offers a full-time one-year Enhanced Skills Family Medicine Residency postgraduate training program in Palliative Care leading to a Certificate of Added Competence in Palliative Care, accredited as a category one program by the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC).

This program provides excellent training in all aspects of palliative medicine and offers opportunities to create learning experiences tailored to individual career goals and to develop consultancy skills in palliative care. Residents work with experienced multidisciplinary teams across a variety of care settings, in oncologic and non-oncologic patient populations, and with both adult and pediatric patients.

Training experience

The resident gains extensive knowledge, skills, and clinical experience in pain and symptom management, psycho-social-spiritual dimensions of caring for patients and families facing terminal illness. The program, based in Halifax, includes at least 2 rotations in New Brunswick. The resident will gain experience in inpatient unit palliative care, inpatient hospital palliative consultation, as well as ambulatory and home-based palliative care.  Pediatric, geriatric and oncology experiences are also provided. A quality improvement scholarly project will be completed during the one-year program, with the aim to present at a conference annually. A variety of elective options are available, depending on the specific interests of the resident.

The full-time training period typically extends from July 1 to June 30 annually and is designed to lead to a certificate of added competency. Residents are remunerated at the PGY3 level according to the Maritime Resident Doctors Collective Agreement.

 

CaRMS Information Session for 2025 Match

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For more information, including eligibility requirements and match timelines, please visit https://www.carms.ca/.

Contact:

Dr. Robin Patricia Grant, CCFP (EM) (PC) 
Enhanced Skills Palliative Care Program Director

Email: robin.grant@nshealth.ca

Aleya MacNeil
Enchanced Skills Palliative Care Program Administrator

Dalhousie Family Medicine
1465 Brenton Street, Suite 402
Halifax NS  B3J 3T4

Phone: 902-491-5876
Phone: 1-800-319-9089 (toll free)
Email: fmes@dal.ca