For the other side of this debate, see Marnie Escaff & Nizar Mahomed’s Caring for international patients improves care for Canadians Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto has recently been in the news for its new method of revenue generation: offering care to wealthy foreign patients – aka “medical tourists” – who are able to pay out-of-pocket for …
Five years after her life irreversibly changed, Danielle Boyd won her case and received one of the highest medical malpractice payouts in Canadian history. The agreed-upon facts: Dr. Edington, a rural family physician who also practices anesthesia, obstetrics, and emergency medicine, saw then 24 year-old patient Ms. Boyd in the Hanover ER at a little …
During this week’s The Rounds Table, Amol Verma (a senior medical resident) mentions that he thinks that the introduction of a new class of blood thinners – New Oral Anticoagulants (NOAC) – is the most important pharmaceutical advance that he has seen to date in his career. I was a bit surprised by that, but …
In January, Ontario’s Liberal government approved legislation that would increase the minimum wage by 75 cents to $11/hour. And in March, Saskatchewan followed by increasing theirs by 20 cents to $10.20/hour. While this has ramifications for labor and the economy, it also impacts the patients in our healthcare system. This minimum wage rise came right …
If you or one of your family members come down with an illness (such as pneumonia) and require hospitalization, you are likely to encounter two issues. First, you will more likely than not be looked after by a “hospitalist”, and second you will likely notice a need for more efficiency as a result of significant …
Read Healthy Debate’s analysis on Regulating the ‘wild west’ of e-cigarettes. As respirologists, we are frequently asked for our opinion on e-cigarettes. At first glance there appears to be some potential positives. While one study suggested that there could be a role for these devices in helping active smokers quit tobacco, a more recent small study …
Poverty is a significant public health concern affecting approximately 10% of Canadians. Recommendations to eliminate poverty have focused on areas of income, housing, access to food, and early childhood development. Calls for government action and provision of resources to healthcare professionals have been issued. Notably, educating medical trainees to address poverty has been absent from the discussion. …
This is a story about Mr. D, a lovely 85-year-old gentleman who I cared for on our General Internal Medicine service. He suffered significant cognitive impairment due to both dementia and the deposition of protein in his brain caused by chronic inflammation (known as cerebral amyloidosis). He also had advance prostate cancer. As a consequence …
At the end of January, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) announced almost $10 million in new funding to address type 2 diabetes, with a focus on screening and the ‘promotion of healthier lifestyles.’ There is a lot to celebrate in this announcement, particularly community-based screening initiatives. And who could complain about …
It’s a weekend shift in a Canadian Emergency Department. On a stretcher lies a woman in her sixties. She has, just this week, been diagnosed with an advanced cancer. Her symptoms crept up on her, unnoticed or passed off as the result of inactivity during a long cold winter. These multiple niggling things had finally …
Virtual care (where the provider and patient are separated in space and sometimes in time) is a natural next step in technological innovation for healthcare. Increasing care virtualization has the potential to improve quality of life for patients while increasing the healthcare system’s efficiency but it presents substantial challenges for clinicians and policy makers. The …
It is no secret that Canada suffers from an inequitable distribution of health professionals. A 2012 report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information revealed that 18% of Canadians live in rural and remote areas, yet only 8% of doctors live in these regions. The lack of access to medical services in rural communities contributes …
As with any parent whose child has a serious health condition, Amy Gleason is actively involved and ever watchful of her 15-year old daughter, Morgan, who has a life-threatening autoimmune condition called Juvenile Myositis. Amy and I are ePatients – the ‘e’ includes: being engaged, empowered, and most always incorporates gathering information and, often as …
The Ontario government deserves applause for tackling global funding for hospitals. “Global budgets provide[d] little incentive for hospitals to focus on efficiency, innovation, improving access, coordinating care across facilities and sectors or improving quality.” In 2012, the Ontario Ministry of Health announced its commitment to patient-based funding. It promised to deliver patients: • Shorter wait …
‘Worldwide, overdose is the leading cause of avoidable death among people who use injection drugs.’ United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2013 In newspapers, on social media, and on tv, the death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman is being framed as a tragedy. We have heard this narrative before. Someone famous dies from an …
Modern health care is very much concerned with outcomes. The language of outcomes is common in policy development, clinical work, and research. For example, Health Quality Ontario states that the overall quality aims are: Better outcomes, better experience, better value for money. In the context of clinical care, outcomes are broadly considered to be the …
Hello Healthy Debate community, Since launching the opinions section two years ago, we have published over 200 blogs from a wide range of people, including patients, front-line practitioners and health system leaders. In that time, we have never published an anonymous blog. Our current policy for publishing guest blogs specifically states that the author’s real …
The global public health success of vaccination is astounding. According to the World Health Organization, vaccinations save the lives of 2-3 million people worldwide each year and prevent millions of others from suffering and disability. Marvelous achievements from the use of vaccinations continue; just this month India was declared Polio-free . Past and ongoing studies …
While on call on the internal medicine service at my hospital, I recently admitted a 47-year old woman overnight, who had increased swelling in her ankles and a fluid collection in her abdomen. After taking a thorough clinical history and performing a complete physical examination, I presumed the cause to be alcoholic liver cirrhosis. I …
On November 7th 2013, the United States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced their proposed measures “to completely eliminate artificially produced trans fatty acids (TFAs) from the American food supply”. This measure would prevent food manufacturers from selling products containing artificial TFAs. Just as many Americans made their own New Year’s resolutions, their government has proposed quite a respectable one indeed. …