New recommendations for Canadian doctors-in-training focus on fatigue

Resident Duty Hours

After finishing medical school, new doctors go through several years of post-graduate, on-the-job training – known as residency – in order to become licensed to practice independently. Historically, residency has involved very long hours spent in hospital, so that residents see a high volume of diverse cases as well as provide patient care. As part

Waiting for a nursing home bed while in hospital

Lisa Priest Personal Health Navigator Sunnybrook healthydebate.ca

The Personal Health Navigator is available to all Canadian patients. Questions about your doctor, hospital or how to navigate the health care system can be sent to AskLisa@Sunnybrook.ca The Question: My Mother has been in hospital for the last five weeks after a sudden deterioration. She is not able to go home and needs 24-hour care. It

Health system decisions in Alberta lack guidance from strong vision, values, principles or evidence

Robert Bear healthydebate.ca blogger

In late March, Alberta Health Services (AHS) discontinued maternity services in Banff’s Mountain Springs Hospital. This decision fell out of a regional planning process. It resulted in public outcry, demonstrations, media attention and a pending judicial challenge; it prompted both a Healthy Debate article and webchat. The economic impact of this decision on the AHS

Is it time to abandon “pay-at-risk” for health care executives?

Andreas Laupacis healthydebate editor

As a former member of the Alberta Health Services Board who had my own disagreement with the previous Minister of Health, the news about the recent dismissal of the entire AHS Board over a dispute about pay-at-risk for senior executives had emotional resonance. Some of those who were fired are my friends and have served

Providing emotional care for patients in a technology-driven health system

“They made me feel genuinely cared for. They listened, made eye contact with me, conveyed warmth and understanding in their voice and repeated back to me what I was saying.” — Sophia, about her visit to a chronic pain clinic, from a “care moment” prepared by the Patient Experience department of Alberta Health Services. Mounting

New federal rules for supervised injection sites – evidence or ideology?

Ahmed Bayoumi

On June 6, the federal government introduced Bill C-65 entitled the “Respect for Communities Act” which sets out in legislation the requirements for operating supervised injection sites. Such sites are facilities where individuals can consume illicitly obtained drugs under supervision from a health professional and without being prosecuted. There is currently only one supervised injection

The link between physical symptoms and psychiatric disturbances

Lisa Priest Personal Health Navigator Sunnybrook healthydebate.ca

The Personal Health Navigator is available to all Canadian patients. Questions about your doctor, hospital or how to navigate the health care system can be sent to AskLisa@Sunnybrook.ca The Question: I am looking for a geriatric psychiatrist. I am 77 years old and I have newly surfaced emotional problems. It started with physical symptoms, which were treated

Global health experiences – do they do more harm than good?

Yan Xu healthy debate blogger

Summertime for many university students, reeling from aftermaths of their exams, may mean relaxing on the beach with friends. However, for many eager and forward-looking students, it is an opportunity to gain experience: international experience. Today, one can hardly walk through a university campus without noticing posters taped to lamp posts or bulletin boards with

Access to expensive drugs: greater demand, improved transparency

Each weekday, staff at the Exceptional Access Program (EAP) of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care receive between 250 and 300 requests for special prescription medications. These prescription drugs—typically expensive medications that are felt to be cost effective only when used to treat selected patients with specific problems—are not on the province’s regular

Cycle Time – the new wait time?

Douglas Woodhouse healthydebate.ca blogger

Bill is an elderly patient living independently at home, who recently fell and was admitted to the hospital where I work (name and minor details changed to protect his identity). Bill clearly indicated his wish to spend as much time at home as possible. For some time we had been measuring our length of stay

A request from Dr. Andreas Laupacis, Editor-in-Chief of Healthy Debate

Andreas Laupacis healthy debate editor in chief

Dear Healthy Debate community, Working on Healthy Debate for the last few years has been enormously rewarding for our whole team. We’ve been delighted with the response from our community, and even a little surprised by how much our readership has grown. Healthy Debate has gone through a lot of positive change lately. We’ve completely