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Calgary - Family Medicine - Palliative Care

University of CalgaryCalgary, AlbertaCompetitive stream

Enhanced skills (FM/ES) match

Family medicine residents applying for a PGY-3 year (the "+1").

At a glance

Approx. quota
3 positions
Length
1 year
Applications per year
51–200
Offered interviews
51–75%

Competitive stream · open to Canadian and international medical graduates

Interviews

1 date, 13 Oct 2026virtual

Calgary, 12 teaching sites · required rural rotation

CaRMS program page(opens in a new tab)

What stands out about this program

  • Emphasis on non-malignant palliative care, with about 43% of consultations for non-malignant disease.

    From “Program highlights” on the CaRMS page

  • Resident-designed wellness retreat in the Rockies, funded by the program.

    From “Program highlights” on the CaRMS page

  • This 1-year enhanced skills program trains family physicians in palliative care.
  • Training takes place at Calgary hospitals and hospices, including the Foothills Medical Centre intensive palliative care unit, plus a rural consultation team block.
  • Residents complete a scholarly project with a dedicated block and 12 half days of protected time.

The summary is written by CdnMD from the program’s CaRMS description.

What training looks like

Setting
  • Academic / tertiary hospital
  • Rural / remote
  • Urban community
Rural exposure
Required rural rotation
Research
Required · research or quality-improvement project · protected time
Training language
English

By year

Not stated on CaRMS page

Other rotations

Listed by the program without a single year.

  • Hospital Consultation Team Junior (1 block)
  • Intensive Palliative Care Unit Junior (2 blocks)
  • Home Care (1 block)
  • Outpatient Malignant Clinics (Medical Oncology, Radiation Oncology, Surgical Oncology, Gyne Oncology, Dyspnea Clinic, Lymphedema Clinic and Cancer Pain Clinic) (1 block)
  • Scholarly Project (1 block)
  • Calgary Zone Rural Consultation Team (Home Care Rural) (1 block)
  • Outpatient Non-Malignant Clinics (End Stage Clinics- cardiology, nephrology, respirology, motor neuron disease clinic, and COPD community care visits) (1 block)
  • Hospital Consultation Team Senior (1 block)
  • Intensive Palliative Care Unit Senior (1 block)
  • Home Care + Hospice (1 block)
  • Electives (2 blocks)

✓ = the CaRMS page states it; – = not stated. From the program description and its rotation list.

Where you train

Calgary, Alberta: 12 teaching sites; required rural rotation.

  • Foothills Medical Centre
  • Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre
  • Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre
  • Peter Lougheed Hospital
  • Rockyview General Hospital
  • South Health Campus
  • Rosedale Hospice
  • Agape Hospice
  • Southwood Hospice
  • Dulcina Hospice
  • Chinook Hospice
  • Skypointe Hospice

Record systems at the listed sites: Epic at 4 of 12; no published record for 8.

Hospital facts

4 sites · clinical record systems where an official source states them

What official sources say for hospitals named above, each with its source and the date we read it. They describe the hospital, not the program. We match names to the sources by name, so check each source before you rely on it.

Clinical record
Epic (Connect Care), fully electronic record since Nov 2024 As of 31 Oct 2026. At Foothills Medical Centre, Peter Lougheed Hospital, Rockyview General Hospital, South Health Campus.

Verify with the official source: each source button opens the publisher’s own page.

Hospital size and activity: Alberta doesn't publish this as open data.

About Calgary

  • People

    1,306,784residents, 2021 Census

    Municipality of Calgary

  • Housing

    4.9%rental vacancy rate

    October 2025 survey, Calgary, Alberta (census metropolitan area)

  • Winter and summer

    −7.6 °CJanuary mean16.9 °CJuly mean

    1991–2020 normals, Calgary (Airport), 9.0 km away

  • Job outlook

    not published for this specialty

More about Calgary (its page: housing, getting around, weather, things to do, and every program that names it)

Sites as the program’s CaRMS page lists them. City figures are public statistics for the place named by the location; they describe the place, not the program.

How they choose

Application file components
  • CV
  • Electives
  • Examinations
  • Extra-curricular
  • Leadership skills
  • MSPRs
  • Personal letters
  • Reference documents
  • Research/Publications
  • Transcripts
  • Other file component(s)
Return of service
Not stated on CaRMS page

Application file components as the program describes them.

Interviews and info sessions

Interview dates (FM/ES 2027 match)
13 Oct 2026
Format
Virtual
  • Panel

Interview dates and format are as the program wrote them.

Pay and call

Provincial scale, last updated 22 Jul 2026 · check the current agreement(opens in a new tab). One provincial scale for Alberta, set by the resident agreement, so every program there pays the same. Showing PGY-3, the level FM/ES residents usually start at. Yours depends on your training so far.

Annual salary by PGY level, Alberta
LevelAnnual salary
PGY-3
$80,058 / year

How provincial pay and rent compare

Call

Call (provincial max)
1 in 4 in-house
Post-call rule (provincial)
No new responsibilities after the 24th hour of duty, apart from handover
Max continuous duty (provincial)
24 consecutive hours, plus 2 hours for handover

The union agreement’s limits and rules for all residents in the province; your program’s actual call schedule may be lighter. PARA agreement, 1 Jul 2024 to 30 Jun 2028. Read as of 1 Oct 2026.

Benefits

15 lines as listed by CaRMS in 2022–2024: Annual vacation, Call Stipends, CMPA dues paid, and more
Annual vacation
4 weeks/yr
Call Stipends
weekday in-house – $118.02weekend in-house / holiday – $178.72weekday home call – $59.01weekend home call / holiday – $89.35
CMPA dues paid
$1,500
Dental plan
75% premium paid
Educational leave
14 days paid leave
Extended health insurance
75% premium paid$1000 per year Flexible Spending Account*
Life insurance
100% towards $150,000 coverage
Life Support Course Costs (Program Approved
100% paid
Long-term disability insurance
100% paid for 75% gross income
Maternity Leave
18 weeks total (17 weeks paid to match 90% of salary when combined with EI)
Parental Leave
2 weeks leave with full pay and benefits;52 weeks (inclusive of Maternity/Paternity/Adoption Leaves) – unpaid leave
Practice Stipend
$1,500
Provincial dues (% of salary)
.95%
Sick leave
Up to 3 months or to end contract paid leave, whichever occurs first
Statutory holidays
Paid days. Additional days off are given if resident works the day before and part of a named holiday.

Contacts and links

Program directors
Program office

Program Administrator

Write to the officefmr3@ucalgary.ca

Per CaRMS. Staff change during the cycle, so check the CaRMS program page(opens in a new tab) before emailing.

Palliative Care Program Description(opens in a new tab)Why Enhanced Skills?(opens in a new tab)Family Medicine Operating Standards(opens in a new tab)Travel Alberta(opens in a new tab)Palliative Care Early and Systematic Program of Research(opens in a new tab)Advanced Care Planning Collaborative Research and Innovation Opportunities Program(opens in a new tab)Calgary Zone Palliative End of Life Care Program(opens in a new tab)This program on CaRMS(opens in a new tab)

Family Medicine - Palliative Care elsewhere

Nearest to Calgary

Source

The program’s CaRMS page (opens in a new tab) · FM/ES 2027 match · last approved 21 Jul 2026.

Accredited · CaRMS program ID 34580 · How these pages are made ›

The Applications per year and Offered interviews figures are 5-year averages the program reports to CaRMS: past cycles, not your odds.

Independent. Not affiliated with CaRMS or the program. Programs edit their descriptions during the match; confirm on carms.ca (opens in a new tab) before you apply. Data last updated on CdnMD 8 Oct 2026.

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