Physician and Family Support Program
PFSP is provided through an agreement between AMA and Alberta Health.
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The AMA's Physician and Family Support Program provides confidential support and help with personal health issues and enhances the quality of patient care and public safety by promoting health and well-being for the medical profession that cares for all Albertans. Download our program info-sheets.
I need help now
Physicians, residents and medical students need to be able to voluntarily seek help with the assurance of confidentiality. Working with the AMA Physician and Family Support Program is one way to ensure that difficulties can be identified and mitigated before a crisis or concern about patient safety arises.
Physician Health Resources
Visit the links below to access personal and workplace health information for all stages of your career, sorted by subject.
Physicians for Physicians (P4P)
Established by PFSP, the Physician for Physician (P4P) network is a confidential network of family physicians who are willing to take colleagues as patients (when possible) in their practices.
PFSP Services
New to the AMA's Physician and Family Support Program? Want to know more about the process or what to expect when calling in? Watch our series of short informative videos.
Alberta Physicians' Poetry and Prose
PFSP recognizes the importance of the emotional and social aspects of physicians’ lives in their overall wellness. We invite Alberta physicians in any career stage to send in their original poems/prose to be considered for publication in the PFSP Perspectives column in future issues of Alberta Doctors’ Digest.
Substance use disorder
What is substance use disorder (SUD) and how can the AMA's Physician and Family Support Program help Alberta physicians? PFSP and the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta have partnered with Dr. Teresa Eliasson to create a video to educate physicians about SUD: what it is, how to identify it and where to seek help.
Dr. Marnie Hinton Resident Award for Physician Wellness
The Dr. Marnie Hinton Award for Resident Physician Health, jointly sponsored by the Alberta Medical Association’s Physician and Family Support Program and the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta, is awarded annually to medical residents who have demonstrated an interest in physician health.
Physician Wellness #GOAT
Physician Wellness #GOAT is an AMA Physician and Family Support Program initiative that celebrates physicians supporting colleague wellness and who create a more open, supportive and compassionate culture for Alberta physicians.
PFSP e-book
The PFSP e-book – The Well-Being of Medical Relationships: Striking a Balance with Your Spouse, Colleagues & Self – by Sara Taylor, BSc, MD, CCFP – is a helpful resource for physicians to refer to for assistance with developing and maintaining healthy, happy personal and professional relationships.
Physician wellness news and events
Hope and Healing after Trauma - Reflections for Physicians by General Roméo Dallaire
June 7, 2022
Please note that the session will not be recorded. Alberta’s physicians at every career stage are suffering with occupational stress injury that has physical, ethical and moral dimensions, in an environment of extenuating and difficult circumstances. This live virtual 90-minute keynote session with General Roméo Dallaire will offer physicians in any career stage, hope, connection, and inspiration for healing.
Honouring and Healing our Burden of Grief and Loss
May 25, 2022
A 90-minute session looking at grief and loss (the relevance, obstacles, sources and consequences) with discussion and guidance through one way to reduce suffering and enhance well-being. This session will be led by Dr. Ieleen Taylor, MD CCFM.
The wounded healer
March 21, 2022
Dr. Ghazala Radwi's father died in the fall of 2021, following 20 weeks in ICU (not COVID related). "I have few words that can describe the magnitude of my grief through the many weeks of seeing my father suffer with numerous nosocomial complications as we navigated a health care system that had been stretched beyond its limits, weighed down by compassion fatigue."
PFSP Perspectives: The trouble with death - a poem
March 21, 2022
A poem by Dr. Jim Malmberg, a retired psychiatrist: The trouble with death is the mystery; The trouble with death is love’s letting go; Photographs and history; All that’s left; and that’s all we know...
Virtual Resident Wellness Conference 2021
November 4, 2021
On November 4, 2021, In collaboration with the University of Alberta’s Office of Advocacy and Wellbeing and Professional Association of Resident Physicians of Alberta, the AMA's Physician and Family Support Program held the Resident Wellness Conference (RWC) 2021. View the schedule for RWC 2021's morning and afternoon sessions as well as descriptions of each offering.
Moral Dilemmas: Reflecting on Physicians' Experiences and Approaches
July 2, 2021
June 23, 2021 webinar: Physicians may experience moral distress as a consequence of moral dilemmas commonly faced in health care, and more so during the pandemic. This session provides an opportunity to consider the moral dilemmas faced by physicians, discuss the construct of moral distress with a panel of experts and learn approaches for dealing with moral dilemmas and their consequences at the organizational and personal level.
