The Division of Palliative Medicine works closely with the city-wide comprehensive palliative and end of life program. With its education and research activities, the Division is committed to see that patients in the greater Calgary area have access to the best possible care and best trained care providers.

There are currently sixteen Members of the Division of Palliative Medicine, including one geographic full-time and the others a range of clinical appointments.

There is a very active training program with up to five Palliative Medicine Fellows. In total there are about eighty post graduate trainees per year who undertake rotations in Palliative Medicine, including Family Medicine, Medical Oncology, Radiation Oncology, Surgical Oncology, Internal Medicine, Neurology, and postgraduate trainees from several other disciplines.

Strategic Plan
The strategic plan for the Division has been closely constructed with the development of the Calgary Palliative and Hospice Care Service. We are committed to:

• meet the manpower needs for Palliative Medicine consultants for the Region
• support education of primary providers in Calgary to increase the acumen of palliative and end of life care in that community of practice
• support education in palliative care for rural physicians, nurses and other providers
• clinical trials and other clinical research in pain and symptom control to promote best practices in relief of symptoms in palliative and end of life care

Education
The University of Calgary has a nationally accredited Palliative Medicine Residency program, jointly accredited by the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) and Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC).

A successful completion of training with a final in training evaluation report would facilitate a sub-specialty certification in palliative medicine, from the corresponding college. Sub-specialty certification will allow practice of Palliative Medicine as a consultant and a regional leader in palliative care.

Research
The Division has an active research program focusing primarily on symptom control and on research in distance education techniques. There are several externally funded grants supporting clinical trials and other activities in symptom control research. One area of considerable activity over the past few years has been in "breakthrough cancer pain". In addition under the leadership of Dr. Ron Spice the Division has developed a range of distant education courses in clinical care and in palliative research methods. There have been several publications outlining this work.

The Division works closely with the Fast Track palliative radiation clinic at Tom Baker Cancer Centre in their study of the outcomes of palliative radiation therapy for painful bone metastases.