Wellness Resources

The CSPCP Wellness Committee invites you to consider these wellness or self-care activities. Please try them and see which ones work for you. We are in this together!

Stay well.

 

Dr. Charlie Chen, CSPCP Wellness Committee Chair

 

 

A thought or two from Wellness Committee Members:

“My wife and children are by far the most important people in my life. I find that when I am with my children, the best thing I can do for them and for myself is to set aside my phone, etc., and be entirely present with them when I have the chance. If you have the good fortune of living with your closest loved ones, take some time each day to devote entirely to your relationship with them.”
–Tim

“[U]nplug from the news and social media for a while – a day or even just a few hours – and focus on what is immediately around you.”
–Caitlin

Music, Poems, & Humour

Pandemic, A Poem by Lynn Ungar:

What if you thought of it
as the Jews consider the Sabbath—
the most sacred of times?
Cease from travel.
Cease from buying and selling.
Give up, just for now,
on trying to make the world
different than it is.
Sing. Pray. Touch only those
to whom you commit your life.
Center down.
And when your body has become still,
reach out with your heart.
Know that we are connected
in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.
(You could hardly deny it now.)
Know that our lives
are in one another’s hands.
(Surely, that has come clear.)
Do not reach out your hands.
Reach out your heart.
Reach out your words.
Reach out all the tendrils
of compassion that move, invisibly,
where we cannot touch.
Promise this world your love–
for better or for worse,
in sickness and in health,
so long as we all shall live.

 

Meditation Resources and Talks

 

Services for all Physicians and Medical Learners

(August 2020): The CMA has launched the “Wellness Connection”, a set of services for ALL physicians and trainees. You do not have to be a CMA member. Services include:

 

New Grief Resources for Healthcare Providers – from Canadian Virtual Hospice

(December 2020): Canadian Virtual Hospice has released two free, online tools for health care providers.

For people working in healthcare: An online module called “For people working in healthcare: COVID-19 and grief” provides strategies for coping with the uncertainty, anxiety, stress, and grief involved in working during the pandemic. Access the module here: https://www.mygrief.ca/mod/lesson/view.php?id=554

People working in ICU can access a series of online modules (https://icugrief.ca/) purpose-built to train ICU clinicians to understand and support families in acute grief and share practical strategies to intervene sensitively. Module #4 is about how to respond constructively to work-related vicarious trauma.

Burnout and Resilience Among Canadian Palliative Care Physicians

(November 2020) CSPCP members may be interested in a publication by Wang, C., Grassau, P., Lawlor, P.G. et al. called Burnout and resilience among Canadian palliative care physicians. (BMC Palliat Care 19, 169 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-020-00677-z). CSPCP members were surveyed* as well as members of the Quebec society of palliative care physicians.

Link to the article: https://bmcpalliatcare.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12904-020-00677-z

*Members were surveyed only if their CSPCP membership profile indicates that they are willing to receive research surveys.

CSPCP Special Session. Moral Dilemmas: Reflecting on Experiences and Approaches During COVID-19

This special session was co-presented by the CSPCP and Well Doc Alberta (www.welldocalberta.org).

Click here to view session.

Wednesday, January 12, 2022
Host: Dr. Charlie Chen, MD, MEd, CCFP(PC), FCFP
Speakers:

    • Dr. Jane Lemaire, MD, FRCPC
    • Dr. Cheryl Mack, (Healthcare Law and Bioethics), FRCP(C)
    • Dr. Eric Wasylenko, MD, MHSc (Bioethics), CCFP(PC)
    • Fleur Yumol, MSc, MSW, RSW


    Description: Moral dilemmas are common in healthcare, and physicians may experience moral distress if they feel they are prevented from doing what they believe is the morally correct action. All of this is amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. This session provides an opportunity to reflect on the many moral dilemmas physicians face as a result of the pandemic, explore the constructs of moral distress and moral injury, and learn approaches for dealing with moral dilemmas and their consequences at both the organizational and personal level.

    Learning objectives: At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

    • List moral dilemmas faced by healthcare providers
    • Explain the construct of moral distress
    • Describe approaches for dealing with moral dilemmas and their consequences