Jump to Navigation
Close

What can we help you find today? Type what you’re looking for in the space below.

  • About Us
    • Committee Members
    • Reports
      • Evaluations
      • Years in Review and Annual Reports
      • Archived SSC Co-Chair Report
      • Meeting Summaries (The Wrap)
    • Resources
  • Programs and Initiatives
    • Develop Physician Capability
      • Physician Quality Improvement Initiative
      • Physician Leadership Training
      • UBC Sauder Physician Leadership Program
    • Engage Physicians & Health Partners
      • Facility Engagement
      • Improving Specialist Job Satisfaction
      • Supporting Community Based Specialists
    • Transform Care Delivery
      • Enhancing Access Initiative
      • Spreading Quality Improvement
      • Surgical Patient Optimization Collaborative (SPOC)
      • Quality and Innovation Projects
      • SSC Fees
      • Health System Redesign
  • News
    • SSC Focus newsletters
    • Videos
  • Contact
  • The Exchange
  • Main Menu
  • search

Spotlight on a Specialty: Palliative Medicine

Posted on Sep 14, 2017

Palliative medicine is such a complex and amazing field – it is where the art of being human and the art of medicine truly come together. Palliative care doctors constantly face patients with life-threatening illnesses. And it is not just their patients who need care, family members also need support, as their loved ones are often moving towards the most profound stage of any life – the end stage.

BC’s section head for Palliative Medicine, Dr. Shikha Minhas chose palliative medicine for a very personal reason. She describes the following scenario “A beautiful, brilliant, physician is laying in a bed in the CCU, surrounded by family, monitors, IVs, and the sounds of life saving machines. Even in this time, he has a glint in his eye, a smile on his face and his arms are open in an embrace. Soon this scene is broken by the deafening sound of the word ‘code blue’ and the onslaught of beeping, alarms, paddles and the swish of medication through the IV- this is the fifth time today. The team leaves and the rhythm of his day returns - at least for now. The patient asks questions and extends gratitude, knowledge and hope for the future--- not his own. He knows - even though no one on his own medical team has voiced it - he is dying. In his dying he has shaped many futures including my own - this was my father.’’ 

In a system focused on ‘cure’ there is often no acknowledgement of an ‘end’. The lack of clear information, the prognosis, and the treatment options are things patients and families face regularly. Palliative care doctors work to ensure patients and loved ones understand the disease and its path. They also help patients to achieve the best possible quality of life right up until the end of life. Compassionate palliative care succeeds when there is a team approach. The team usually includes the palliative doctor, nurses, and other professionals, who work closely with a patient’s primary care doctor. 

Like many specialties, there continues to be challenges in service delivery, recruitment and retention of physicians along with fiscal constraints. However, Dr. Minhas notes “we are at an exciting crossroads in Canada. Palliative medicine has been approved as a Royal College specialty. This year, for the first time in Canada, we have a dual credentialing stream - via family medicine and the other via- internal medicine, anesthesia, and oncology. It is also a pivotal time in the country for end of life care and advance care planning. In the face of MAID, we are all determining a new Canadian reality.”

  • SSC Focus newsletters
  • Videos

What’s New

May 5, 2022

Doctors of BC launches Business Pathways program with new HR toolkit

Mar 1, 2022

Sponsorship available to all BC physicians: Online Course on Finding and Creating Joy in Work by IHI

Mar 1, 2022

PQI celebrates five years of fostering continuous learning within the physician community in Vancouver Coastal & Providence Health

Feb 25, 2022

Preoperative care improves health for patients before and after surgery

View all News

About Us

  • Committee Members
  • Reports
  • Resources

SSC Fees

  • Advance Care Planning
  • Discharge Care Planning
  • Group Medical Visits (GMV)
  • Multidisciplinary Conferencing
  • Patient Follow-up Fees
  • Specialist Advice Fees
  • FAQs
  • Labour Market Adjustment Fees

News

  • SSC Focus newsletters
  • Videos

General Contact

Specialist Services Committee

sscbc@doctorsofbc.ca

604-638-4853  

Government of BC   Doctors of BC

Specialist Services Committee © Doctors of BC

  • About Us
    • Committee Members
    • Reports
    • Resources
  • Programs and Initiatives
    • Develop Physician Capability
    • Engage Physicians & Health Partners
    • Transform Care Delivery
  • News
    • SSC Focus newsletters
    • Videos
  • Contact
  • The Exchange
  • Main Menu
  • search