Palliative Care Coach (Job ID: 9449)
DURATION: Temporary up to March 31, 2026
The Palliative Care Coach role is a full-time, time-limited role that will support the Downtown East Toronto Ontario Health Team (DET OHT) work to build palliative care capacity within Long-Term Care (LTC) and primary care, along with other community-based organizations. The role will be based out of the St. Michael's outpatient palliative care team, but will work primarily with external organizations, leveraging connections through Unity's NLOT and the DET OHT Family Physician Network.
The Clinical Coach is responsible for working with participating community organizations in alignment with provincial direction established by Ontario Health and guidance developed by the Ontario Palliative Care Network. The Clinical Coach will drive practice change, with a focus on improving access to and quality of clinical care, aligned to the Palliative Care Health Services Delivery Framework in the Community ("The Delivery Framework") and the Ontario Palliative Care Competency Framework. The Clinical Coach will:
- Provide palliative care coaching and mentoring to staff and clinicians in participating community organizations, to build primary-level palliative care competencies.
- Collaborate with leaders of community organizations on local service integration, and change management initiatives, using quality improvement methodologies to achieve results.
- Consult on clinical care when the complexity of the patients' needs is beyond the existing competencies of providers (in the community organizations).
- Provide support to Indigenous communities and Indigenous organizations for their implementation efforts, where Indigenous communities wish to be involved, in collaboration with regional partners
DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Develop relationships with key partners to establish trust, credibility, and respect.
- Clearly articulate key messages that resonate across different partner groups and audiences.
- Update the regional implementation team on challenges and opportunities in the community.
- Support Ontario Health Team planning and/or implementation of palliative models of care (where there is readiness).
- Participates in stakeholder meetings, workgroups, committees, advisory groups, council and/or other relevant meetings which may have an impact on the project initiatives;
- Initiates and develops respectful and collaborative working relationships with peers/associates across the DET OHT to foster a more productive and satisfying environment for staff, patients and clients of the DET OHT provider partners;
- Initiates and develops effective working relationships with external professional associations and peers in other health care institutions to keep up to date on current/emerging legislation, developments and trends
- Collaborate with leadership teams from participating community organizations to identify strengths and gaps in the palliative care they currently provide and in the relevant provider policies and practice documents.
- Guide the creation of a quality improvement plan to address gaps.
- Promote/provide palliative care education in participating community organizations, aligned to the Ontario Palliative Care Competency Framework.
- Provide informal, case-based educational opportunities (coaching) for health service providers in community organizations, incorporating principles of adult learning.
- Provide palliative care mentoring for health service providers in the community.
- Complement the work of educational organizations, such as Ontario CLRI and Pallium Canada.
- Assist with quality improvement initiatives to implement the Delivery Framework (with an initial emphasis on the prioritized recommendations) by:
- Encouraging the application of QI to improve patient care.
- Building internal and external relationships, to enhance communication among all staff.
- Tracking and evaluating progress.
- Sustaining best practice by updating policies and procedures.
- Works closely with regional partners, including equity deserving populations, to ensure implementation of the model addresses barriers to access to care for priority populations
- Attend all regional planning meetings and contribute to the regional palliative care implementation plan, especially plans for education and practice change.
- Keep comprehensive records and support data collection for measurement and reporting.
QUALIFICATIONS:
- A degree in a registered health care discipline (e.g., RN, RSW, NP) with substantive experience and training in palliative care (e.g., CAPCE). A graduate degree is required (e.g., MScN, MSW).
- Minimum five (5) years' experience in practice in palliative care is required.
- Knowledge of relevant legislation and reporting requirements, including the Fixing Long-Term Care Homes Act, the Excellent Care for All Act and the Compassionate Care Act and other pertinent legislation and regulations related to professional practice is required.
- Experience supervising clinical staff is preferred.
- Experience working with large-scale quality improvement initiatives.
- Additional training in gerontology and project management experience are assets.
- Strong clinical coaching and debriefing skills, with both individuals and teams.
- Strong consultation skills, with expert knowledge of models of consultation and their application with individual, team and community service providers.
- Research and/or program evaluation experience with knowledge of evidence-based processes, including appraisal of research, application of findings and collaboration on research.
- Experience working with a range of roles, disciplines, and levels of staff in different health care settings.
- Experience working across health care settings.
- Fluency in French and/or another language is an asset.
Unity Health Toronto is committed to creating an accessible and inclusive organization. We strive to provide a recruitment process that is barrier-free and in compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and the Ontario Human Rights Code. We understand that you may require an accommodation at any stage of the recruitment process. When you are contacted, please inform the Talent Acquisition Specialist and we will work with you to meet your accommodation needs. We want to emphasize that all accommodation requests are handled with the utmost confidentiality, respecting your privacy and dignity.