We provide members of the medical community with peer counselling and support services in a welcoming, safe, and confidential environment.

Our physician advisors can help you face a difficult situation, be it personal or professional, offer advice on how to help a physician who is struggling, or intervene with your team to help them get out of a crisis in the workplace.

The QPHP also offers prevention activities in the form of conferences and training sessions, depending on demand and the availability of physician advisors.

– All physicians, residents, and medical students in Québec

– Any person who is concerned about a physician’s health, be they a family member, friend, or colleague

– Any physician in a leadership role who wishes to support a group of physicians or help a team in a critical situation

– Any group of physicians, health care institution or medical organization wishing to support the health of its members

The QPHP can provide support to physicians during transitions that affect their practice, such as retirement, work stoppage, parental leave, or career shift.

By phone

If you call during business hours, a receptionist will answer your call. She will collect some information from you, including your contact information. A physician advisor will then call or email you using the information provided to the receptionist and according to your preference. If you are not available to talk when the physician advisor calls, the two of you can schedule an appointment.

If you call after hours, leave a message on the voice mailbox clearly stating your name and phone number. A physician advisor will return your call within 24 hours.

By email

If you email us, please provide your name, phone number where you can be reached and the reason for contacting us. A physician advisor will call you as soon as possible.

If you email us after hours, your request will be processed during the next business day.

Consultations with physician advisors are mainly conducted by phone but can also take place in person at our offices or remotely by videoconference. Email is used only for scheduling appointments and sending reading materials or resources.

With rare exceptions, the physician advisor will contact you the same day you call or the next day to schedule an appointment based on the urgency of the situation.

No. Physician advisors speak with all callers, regardless of the nature of the call. After conducting an overall assessment of your situation, the physician advisor will work with you to develop a personalized plan that will include referrals to external resources, if necessary.

There is no charge for the QPHP’s counselling and support services. There may be a fee for group intervention services depending on the nature of the intervention.

Except for certain activities aimed at students, prevention activities almost always involve a fee. This is because the QPHP’s resources are very limited, and it cannot cover the costs of these activities.

The QPHP pays its physician advisors itself so that it can remain independent and keep confidential the information entrusted to it. Thus, no information is transmitted to any third-party organization, such as the RAMQ. This is possible because physician advisors do not perform any medical procedures.

The QPHP creates an administrative file for each consultation. It contains only information that is used to identify the difficulties of the consulting physician and to ensure a follow-up to resolve the difficulties mentioned.

Only a few designated individuals are authorized to access the files. Physician advisors do not know the identity of clients who consult with their colleagues, and no client information is exchanged between physician advisors except in complex or emergency situations to help find the best solutions for the client, and only once they have been informed.

Individual files and all related information are destroyed one year after the file is closed.

Physician advisors are family physicians and specialists, all of whom have completed training in physician health. They possess great human qualities which make them excellent peer supporters.

An executive committee manages the QPHP’s operations and a board of directors ratifies the QPHP’s major directions. The members of the board are the representatives of four of the founding organizations (the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens, the Fédération des médecins spécialistes, the Fédération des résidents en médecine du Québec and Médecins francophones du Canada).

If you are interested in joining our team of physician advisors, please send your CV and cover letter to Dr. Marie-Chantale Brien, Director of Intervention, Prevention and Research at the following address: info@pamq.org.

Desired profile

10 years of experience as a clinician including years of residency, an interest in physicians’ health, compassion and active listening, availability three days a week and alternating evening and weekend shifts, mostly telecommuting, and a desire to get involved in the QPHP and participate in its projects.