From digging into the science behind sunscreens to asking federal parties about their health platforms to launching a new photo-documentary platform exploring the human side of health care, 2015 has been a busy year for Healthy Debate. As always, our readers contributed to the debates with insightful comments, social media discussions, and opinion submissions. Our readers also indicated what …
Drs Spithoff, Lexchin, and Kitai’s thoughtful and timely column on the involvement of the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry in the ongoing learning of family physicians is a welcome contribution to the debate on who pays for continuing professional development, which is ongoing learning for doctors. The College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) agrees that physicians …
When Melissa Shears applied to medical school, it felt like a lottery. “You hear the numbers of how many people apply, and how many people get in – it’s quite overwhelming,” she says. But now the first year Queen’s medical student has a different perspective. “I think they look for people with really diverse and …
Imagine you’re Canada’s new Minister of Health, Dr. Jane Philpott. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hands you a new list of priorities: improve the health of First Nations, develop a national seniors health strategy and advance the files related to dementia, diabetes, marijuana and assisted dying. Oh, and by the way, the provinces want bigger health budgets and …
This January, Sylvia got a call from a nurse in her mother’s long-term care centre. Her mother, Angela, woke up “extremely agitated and crying in pain,” so the nurses sent her to the emergency department. Sylvia was worried about how her 92-year-old mom, who has dementia, would react to the trip – the lights, the …
This month, the first surge of Syrian refugees will arrive in Canada. They’ll enter in remarkable numbers, with 25,000 arriving before the end of February, and as many as 25,000 more in the rest of 2016. That’s a victory to many who fought to allow them in – but the work isn’t done. Having their first …
The pharmaceutical industry seeks to increase sales by influencing how doctors prescribe medications. To help achieve this goal, it sponsors the education and ongoing training of doctors. The College of Family Physicians of Canada – the organization responsible for accrediting continuing medical education and certifying all family doctors in Canada – has expressed concern about …