CFPC CAC Palliative Care study guide
CFPC CAC Palliative Care · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Certificate of Added Competence (CAC) in Palliative Care is one of the Certificates of Added Competence in Family Medicine (CAC) offered through the CFPC's examinations and certification program, as listed on cfpc.ca alongside the Certification Examination in Family Medicine and the Examination of Added Competence in Emergency Medicine. It is intended for practising family physicians who have completed enhanced skills training or built substantial focused practice in palliative care and who want formal recognition of that added competence beyond the Certificate in Family Medicine. This page is an independent study resource: it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the College of Family Physicians of Canada, and it does not reproduce CFPC examination content. The CFPC publishes the authoritative details on eligibility routes, application, assessment format, fees, dates, and results; the source material reviewed here does not enumerate the palliative care content domains, blueprint weightings, item counts, or duration, so this page does not state them. Topics on this exam: Palliative Care (content domains not enumerated in source). The CFPC CAC Palliative Care study guide has 1 section and about 468 words.
01Palliative Care: Core Principles, Assessment, and Whole-Person Management
Palliative care is active, holistic care for people with life-limiting illness and their families. It is not synonymous with end-of-life care, not a single procedure, and not something withheld until curative options are exhausted. Candidates must be able to describe the shift from a disease-centred model to a person-centred model that addresses physical, psychological, social, cultural, and spiritual needs concurrently with disease-directed treatment. Expect questions on the classic domains: pain and other symptom management; psychological and psychiatric care (anxiety, depression, delirium, grief); social and practical concerns (caregiver burden, finances, housing, driving); cultural and spiritual care; ethical and legal issues (consent, capacity, advance care planning, substitute decision-making); and communication and goals-of-care discussions.
468 words, about 2 min