Faculty Development

Palliative care is an important component of every clinicians’ care and thus an important area in which we, as faculty, continually learn and grow. As educators, we have a powerful role in shaping our learners understanding of both the broad philosophy of what palliative care embraces, and also how to gain the necessary competencies that constitute a standard of care. This is especially important when we consider the vital family medicine palliative care competencies, and the emerging palliative care EPAs. The Division of Palliative Care, as part of Department of Family Medicine (DFM), now has a focused group of faculty who are part of, and in sync with, the DFM’s faculty development efforts. We are also well connected with the Continuing Professional Development Program of the Faculty of Health Sciences. We have a main page tab on the Department of Family Medicine’s faculty portal for our own faculty to use (https://mcmasteru365.sharepoint.com/sites/DFM-ALL) where we post our current focus, and links or posting to our offerings, our initiatives and our recommendations for faculty development in areas related to palliative care. We also post items under the tabs for upcoming events and teaching tools.

Our initial and current foci include;

• Growing our teaching and educational practices related to equity and palliative care.
• How to role model and teach a “palliative approach to care” and “primary care capacity building in palliative care.”
• Teaching and educating how to have the important patient conversations around the distinct but connected areas of Advanced Care Planning and Goals of Care discussions.

Denise Marshall BSc., MD, CCFP(PC) | Professor

Faculty Development & Traineeship Lead