Dr. Ebrahim has taught five workshops since our program began in 2022
Speciality: Palliative Care
A graduate of our first cohort in 2022, Jalal continously contributes valuable input to refine our teaching tools and workshops. Jalal was responsible for co-facilitating our first advanced communication skills workshop to Medical Oncology and Physiatry residents.
"Having the 'big' conversations around illness understanding, prognostic awareness, values, hopes, priorities - this is what really invigorates me."
Jalal: I first became interested in serious illness communication skills during my internal medicine residency. Internal medicine is such an exciting, stimulating training program. I love the focus on asking ‘why’, the diagnostic challenges, and the intense training in physiology and acuity. However, as time went on, I started to feel undeniable signs of burnout. I started actively searching for ways to maintain and amplify my sense of meaning and connection to my work. What I found was that having the ‘big’ conversations around illness understanding, prognostic awareness, values, hopes, priorities – this is what really invigorated me. I found I left these heavier conversations with more energy than I entered them with, and a huge sense of gratification and awe. I knew then that I wanted to pursue training, and one day contribute to teaching, around these enormously valuable skills
What I like most about facilitating half-day workshops is seeing participants embrace discomfort, practice these skills, and come out the other end more confident, capable, and motivated to lead serious illness conversations.
Having a common language to communicate about serious illness has allowed me to teach in a more consistent way and to operationalize the process of finding a ‘pearl’ or ‘key learning point’ for the learner.
Being a part of this teaching community makes me feel connected and part of a broader team. It’s so motivating to see how many healthcare providers agree that these skills are valuable and worth learning and teaching to others. It gives me so much hope for the future of healthcare provision across Canada.