September 2023
Meet Dr. Faiza Hameer, who is a Psychiatrist at Royal Columbian Hospital (RCH) and, administratively, acts as the medical lead for emergency psychiatry for the Fraser Health Psychiatry program. She joined the UBC Department of Psychiatry as a Clinical Instructor in 2016, and in 2017 was appointed as the Assistant Program Director for Fraser and the Discipline Specific Site leader (DSSL) at RCH for the Postgraduate Education Program.
Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?
I am so honoured to be featured in “The Spotlight”!
Although I’m originally from Edmonton and completed my medical school there at the University of Alberta, I am a graduate of the University of British Columbia psychiatry program. There are so many cross-roads in medical education, but I have been so grateful that this is the path that the fates of the CaRMS match chose for me.
In addition to the excellent training in psychiatry, the personalized approach of the program and my supervisors helped me identify my interest and aptitude in teaching and really mentored me into taking on progressive roles in education and leadership. Having the combination of clinical and administrative roles has allowed me to have experiences and be part of conversations that have given me a perspective and maturity I may not have had otherwise.
What community do you work in?
I clinically spend most of my time as an emergency psychiatrist at the Royal Columbian Hospital, a job that I knew I wanted immediately after rotating through the unit in both my first and final years of residency. Now that I’ve been working there for 6 years as a staff psychiatrist, I can say that I enjoy it just as much as I had hoped, and I love being part of the multi-disciplinary emergency department family.
The professional and personal connections and trust that are made in highly acute situations is truly difficult to describe. I balance out the acuity by also working at one of our tertiary psychiatric facilities in Coquitlam where the focus is on longer term psycho-social rehabilitation.
What aspect of your work do you enjoy the most?
If I had to choose a favourite part of my practice, I would have to select teaching residents in the emergency setting. It is such a different, demanding and high risk environment that learners can often feel apprehensive. I really try and teach and model the reminder that underneath all the complex presentations, nuanced risk assessments and minutiae of diagnostic criteria, there is a real person/family in crisis who is doing the best they can. Keeping this core fact at the forefront helps us make those difficult decisions even in the most complicated of cases.
Over time I think most feel as I do, that it is such a privilege to see patients and their families in what is often such a difficult or dark time and have the experience and training to intervene and support them and their families. I enjoy the process of watching residents gain confidence and competence and then begin to teach their juniors in the same way.
What is an important piece of advice you can share with junior colleagues and residents, or someone considering a career in psychiatry?
The one related piece of advice that was given to me and that I pass on to residents now, is that there are many ‘right’ ways to move through a grey area and choosing the one that is ‘the most right’ can be challenging. It’s always ok to ask for help, ask for another opinion or another perspective.
How do you achieve a good work-life balance?
Although it can still be a complicated schedule, I think I have been able to find a fairly good combination of work and home. When work is truly life and death, there have been times when it is hard to prioritize the lighter aspects of my day-to-day. However, it’s those down times that give myself and all of us who work in medicine the ability to be the best whole and human physician we can for our patients. Outside of work I love to keep busy with friends and family, including my husband, two kids, and all the stray animals those kids have brought home (so far we are at 1 dog, 2 cats, and several fish).
I look forward to continuing what I hope will be life-long learning in psychiatry, in life, and in the balance between the two.