Holding hands.
  • icon house

    Department

    • Department of Family Medicine

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    CaRMS match

    • FM/ES (Family Medicine/Enhanced Skills Match)

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    Accreditation

    • The College of Family Physicians of Canada
    • Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada

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    Expected duration

    • 1 year

Palliative care is one of the most sensitive aspects of family medicine. Through this one-year program, you'll learn how to work with patients and other practitioners to provide a comfortable, dignified end-of-life experience.

Develop an understanding of palliative care experiences in a variety of settings including dedicated care units and home care consultations and study key aspects of palliative care such as psychosocial oncology, bereavement counselling and end-of-life care ethics.

Core competency rotations

The program is delivered through rotations in different areas of palliative care, comprising a core set of competencies and electives for deeper study into areas of interest.

  • Tertiary level palliative care (8 weeks)
  • Rotation with the Riverview Health Centre Palliative Care Unit (8 weeks)
  • Medical oncology (2 weeks)
  • Radiation oncology (2 weeks)
  • Rotation with the Community Consults and Home Visit team (8 weeks)
  • Rotation with the Hospital Consult Service at the Health Sciences Centre (4 weeks)

The final four-week period is Senior Rotation, during which the resident will act as a junior attending physician on the SBGH Palliative Care Unit.

Elective rotations

The program includes 12 weeks of elective time in an area of study of your choosing. Areas of study include:

  • Interventional anesthesiology
  • Psychiatry
  • Psychosocial oncology
  • Bereavement counselling
  • Other areas related to the delivery of palliative care medicine

Four weeks of vacation can be distributed throughout the training year.

You may also have an opportunity to participate in the following:

  • Horizontal exposure in CancerCare, Manitoba’s Pain and Symptom Clinic.
  • Up to one half-day clinic a week in your area of certification.
  • Rural experience under the supervision of Dr. Cornelius Woelk, a rural palliative care practitioner.

Scholarly activities

In addition to rotations and practical experience, training is delivered through traditional academic training. Scholarly activities include:

  • Attending weekly multidisciplinary team meetings on ward-based rotations and the Academic Half-Day, which takes place weekly.
  • Palliative care rounds have an interdisciplinary focus and cover a wide variety of topics related to palliative care. Special rounds with guest speakers may also take place throughout the year.
  • Grand rounds in internal medicine, family medicine, medical oncology and radiation oncology, as well as relevant topics in psychiatry.
  • Ethics rounds.
  • Palliative care conferences such as the biennial International Conference on the Care of the Terminally Ill.
  • Journal club presented by the attendees.
  • Daisies growing in a field.

Program details

Complete residency details, including program curriculum, application requirements and selection criteria can be found on the Canadian Resident Matching Service website.

How to apply for residencies

  • To be considered for admission to any residency at the University of Manitoba, you must apply through the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS).

    CaRMS is a national, independent, not-for-profit, fee-for-service organization that provides a fair, objective and transparent application and matching service for medical training throughout Canada.

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Contact us

Collette Thiessen
Family Medicine administrative assistant
770 Bannatyne Avenue
University of Manitoba (Bannatyne campus)
Winnipeg, MB R3M 3E9 Canada

204-594-5352
204-272-3090