Background

In May 2014, Kootenay Boundary Division hosted its second Palliative Care CME event, building on the success of the multidisciplinary CME session held in Rossland in 2012.

The workshop, Enhancing Compassionate Care, offered participants the opportunity to engage with Dr. David Kuhl, founder and director of the Centre for Practitioner Renewal and author of the books What Dying People Want: Practical Wisdom for the End-of-Life and Facing Death Embracing Life, Understanding What Dying People Want.

Working on their own, in pairs and in groups, Division members and allied health care providers were asked to answer the following questions, among others:

• What is the daily experience of living with a terminal illness?
• How does that experience affect your sense of self, your relationship with others, and your understanding of the spiritual?

Working from the principle that it is of value for practitioners in end of life care, and perhaps all health care providers, to confront their own mortality, Dr. Kuhl used the lessons he has learned from his research subjects to usher participants through a process that encouraged them to look at features of their lives that would likely come to the fore if they were told they had a terminal illness.

Participants were also asked to reflect on their lives to examine some of the features that affect how they function in teams, in difficult situations, and what they bring from their personal experience to the bedside.

The Kootenay Boundary Division continues to pursue improved standard of care for palliative/end of life patients and recognizes the importance of strong relationships between practitioners providing palliative/end of life care in the region.