The new report issued by the Health Council of Canada on cultural competency and cultural safety for Aboriginal People in urban health care is a welcome addition to what is hopefully a broader renaissance in how health care services are provided in this country. This report presents the outcomes of regional roundtable sessions across the …
In the last decade, technology has revolutionized the way we live and work. We email and text more often than we phone or fax. We share photos with friends using Facebook and debate with colleagues in real-time using Twitter. We pay bills, book plane tickets, and buy clothes on-line. We can effortlessly post opinionated blogs …
In my second year of medical school, I had the opportunity to take part in a project aimed at midwifery students, medical students and nursing students interested in maternity care. A group of twelve of us met weekly to learn about labour and birth, and also to receive some basic labour support training. It was …
If you could design a health care system from the bottom up, odds are that you would create one that would focus on the comprehensive health care needs of all citizens, from disease prevention to chronic disease management to palliative care. Innovation would be rewarded. There would be fewer hospital and long-term care beds and …
“On average, it costs the system $50 000 a year to provide dialysis treatment for one person with chronic kidney disease. If a patient is admitted to hospital for an acute illness and requires ‘crash’ dialysis, this admission alone can cost upwards of $20 000, excluding emergency and transport expenses. The impact that these numbers …
The Ontario Medical Association and Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care have reached a tentative Physician Services Agreement. So what does this mean for doctors and patients, and the Ontario health care system? In contemplating this question, I thought I might impart a recent personal experience that provides some context to consider not only the …
An Assessment Of The New Agreement On Negotiation And Representation Rights As readers know, the OMA and Government have now, subject to OMA ratification, resolved their differences over fees and money, entering into a new two year Physician Services Agreement. I will leave to others the task of assessing whether the Agreement will truly result …
Monday’s announcement by federal health minister Leona Aglukkaq that she will not interfere with the approval of generic OxyContin is just the latest development in what has become a major public health crisis. In Canada, overdose deaths involving prescription medications now vastly outnumber deaths from HIV. By some estimates, prescription drug overdoses have killed 100,000 …
I would like to start out by thanking all the fantastic health care workers. As a recovering person with diagnosed concurrent disorders – having both addictions and mental health issues – I have seen the challenges and abuse often faced by doctors, nurses, counsellors and support staff working within the healthcare system. This article is …
Policy decisions on everything from childhood education to housing can have unintended consequences on the public’s health. A Healthy Equity Impact Assessment (HEIA) is a decision support tool designed to identify these unintended consequences. It walks users through the steps of identifying how a program, policy or similar initiative will impact population groups in different …
The other night, a patient gave me a piece of his mind. Mr. Q was a middle-aged man debilitated by days of nausea, vomiting and intractable belly pain. That morning, his wife finally convinced him to get medical attention and drove him to our emergency department. On arrival, he sat in a cubicle in the …
A typical doctor working in a community hospital is not an employee of the hospital, but has been appointed to the hospital medical staff as an ‘independently contracted professional’, and is paid by the government on a fee-for-service basis. Structuring the relationship between a hospital and its doctors in this way is the historical norm …
Just last week I heard about a situation that went something like this: A woman had a cardiac catheterization in a Toronto hospital. A professional attended the women while she was recovering from sedation and proceeded to read her a list of things she needed to know in order to care for herself. The professional …
There is a major gap between public health messages, women’s intentions and actual practices when it comes to breastfeeding. I’ve experienced this first hand as a new mother. The major topic of conversation amongst new mothers tends to center around breastfeeding and ensuring that our babies’ needs are being met. Whether your baby is getting …
As a recent ophthalmology and retina surgery graduate, I was shocked by the dramatic unilateral healthcare cuts announced in May. This left me with a poor first impression of the relationship between the health care profession and government. Although the OMA and government are back at the bargaining table, I am concerned that the best …
Health systems worldwide are challenged by the growing costs of health care and the increasing demand for chronic illness management within aging populations. Innovation has become central to the agendas of most health systems to overcome these challenges and achieve sustainability. A recent analysis of seven OECD comparator countries identified numerous learning opportunities for Canada. …
October is “Breast Cancer Awareness” month. Just when you thought there could not be any more pink ribbons in the world, there are. I have never liked the cutesy, little girl symbolism of a pink ribbon to represent breast cancer. I refuse to buy any product sporting a pink ribbon and I do not support …
The uproar has been furious. Literally. And I certainly understand why. But it’s not because the Ontario Medial Association (OMA) went too far, it’s because the OMA lost control of the message. For readers who aren’t aware, on Tuesday the OMA held a press conference where they outlined multiple initiatives that they hope if enacted, …
When Canadians travel abroad for private medical care they are engaging in what is known as medical tourism. Medical tourism is a global, multi-billion dollar industry. Patients from all regions of the world are traveling to a growing list of countries as medical tourists. Our research group studies medical tourism, with a particular focus on …
Sometimes I smugly think that I know a reasonable amount about health care in Canada and elsewhere. Well, it is always good to have one’s smug illusions shattered every once in a while. When in Europe recently, I was at a presentation by the Turkish government about their focus on “medical tourism” – attracting residents …