Palliative Care - Short Term Posting

The St Martha's Regional Hospital palliative care service is seeking a physician to join their team and provide locum maternity leave coverage! As a member of the palliative care service, you will work collaboratively with a great team of comprehensive healthcare providers. All palliative care physicians based out of St. Martha’s Regional Hospital provide consultative services in hospital, community and outpatient settings.

Acute Care: Palliative care physicians offer consultative services at the St Martha's Regional Hospital (the regional acute care hospital), including in the palliative care unit for patients requiring acute pain and symptom management or end-of life care. This 6 bed unit is staffed with specialized palliative care nurses. Physicians also offer consultative services at four outlying hospitals - St. Mary’s Hospital in Sherbrooke, Guysborough Memorial Hospital, Eastern Memorial Hospital in Canso, and Straight Richmond Hospital in Cape Breton.

Community Care: The palliative care team includes a robust home consultation. Physicians provide community (home and LTC settings) based consultative services along with specialized palliative care nurses, who are assigned to every patient in the program. Palliative care nurses are based in each community with a hospital and support both inpatient and community patients. We work closely with VON and continuing care nursing and home care services to deliver care at home.

Outpatient Care: Outpatient care happens in the palliative care offices, located in the same wing as outpatient oncology services at St. Martha’s Reginal Hospital. We see patients as needed, who prefer to come to the office instead of home visits, as well as when patients come for oncology appointments or treatments. We have an excellent working relationship with our oncology colleagues, with the ability to see new referrals quickly and shared, scheduled, weekly patient review rounds.

Multidisciplinary Team: The palliative care team also includes a palliative care clinical nurse educator, two social workers, spiritual care advisers, a music therapist, pharmacist. We access physiotherapy and occupational therapy services through our hospitals or continuing care. The palliative care team also works very closely with the community palliative care society who’s focus is on supporting those facing end of life in the community. We have excellent access to equipment and supplies through both the palliative care society and the local Red Cross.

Teaching and Research: There are opportunities for teaching available with academic appointment through Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine. There is a Family Medicine Residency Program on site in Antigonish through the Dalhousie Medical School. Medical students from any medical school nation-wide and world-wide may come to Antigonish for electives in Palliative Care. Research opportunities are also available.

Duties include full scope of practice as a palliative care physician providing care to patients within the Eastern Zone - Antigonish, Guysborough and Strait-Richmond counties.
The physician will be responsible to the Zone Department Head for their professional responsibilities and quality of practice and will operate within the Medical Staff Bylaws of the Nova Scotia Health Authority
Admitting privileges within the St Martha’s Regional Hospital
Share in provision of on-call overage (call stipend provided)

Part Time 0.7 FTE

Eligible for licensure with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia (CPSNS)
Membership with the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA)
Membership with Doctors Nova Scotia/Canadian Medical Association
Eligible for membership or member in good standing with the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) or the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (RCPS)
CFPC Certificate of Added Competence in Palliative Care (CCFP-PC) or Royal College Subspecialty in Palliative Medicine (FRCP-PM) or equivalent accredited training in Palliative Care

Antigonish is a vibrant community, home to St Francis Xavier University with many cultural events all year. A wonderful farmer’s market occurs twice-weekly and residents live by the “support local” motto. The landscape is beautiful with many trails and outdoor activities are at your doorstep. Antigonish is conveniently located less than 2 hrs from the Halifax International Airport, and at the gateway to Cape Breton Island. It is a friendly, culturally vibrant, and unique community with robust amenities, shopping, and scenery.

Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) is committed to being a workforce that is free of discrimination, values diversity and is representative, at all job levels, of the people we serve. We welcome applications from Indigenous People, African Nova Scotians, Persons with Disabilities and Recent Immigrants and invite them to self-identify if they wish to be considered under our Employment Equity policy.