A public policy dead end: The More Beds, Better Care Act

Bill 7, the More Beds, Better Care Act, is a hotbed of ethical issues that will fail to relieve our stressed hospital system. It's ethically and legally unsustainable, and as public policy - it’s a dead end.

‘Thriving and flourishing’: Removing stigma and finding treatment for a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder

A diagnosis is generally helpful. But when a condition is stigmatized and there is limited access to treatment, it can become a point of tension and clinicians may shy away from it. This is the story of borderline personality disorder.

The Nobel Prize, and representation in science

The Nobel Prize is one of the most coveted accolades in academia, but diverse individuals are being left out as awardees. We hope that scientists from underrepresented communities also will feel as if their work will be recognized fairly.

Vaccine hesitancy is reviving long dead diseases

Vaccine are perhaps the greatest public health interventions in human history. But immunization coverage has declined over the last decade causing outbreaks of avoidable diseases across the globe.

‘Nowhere to go’: Homelessness and mental illness create a ‘revolving door’ of admissions

Homelessness at discharge in psychiatric settings comes with significant cost to our health-care system and, more importantly, to those with lived experience. Without a provincial strategy for discharging people experiencing homelessness from hospitals and shelter beds at capacity, many are left with no where to go.

Let’s talk about part-time: Finding work-life balance in residency

Life doesn’t stop in residency. Marriage and babies happen. Grief and illness and losses happen. Burnout happens. Therapy happens. And with some flexibility, life can happen while we remain present – more present for life and more present for all the work that comes with it.

How plant-based vaccines can revolutionize the fight against infectious disease

For underdeveloped countries the cold storage of vaccines is an obstacle to achieving global health equity. Fortunately, plant-based vaccines provide a novel solution.

Lack of political will means Ontario LTC residents will continue to suffer

Ontario’s LTC nurses want to be there to provide quality care to our residents. We know how to fix the system and do just that. But we need the political will to make it happen.

In ‘Heroin,’ author lays bare the injustice and systemic racism behind Canada’s drug laws

For International Overdose Awareness Day (Aug. 31), Healthy Debate sat down with Dr. Susan Boyd to discuss her latest book, Heroin: An Illustrated History.

It’s time to revise Canada’s low-risk alcohol drinking guidelines

Canadians' alcohol use has increased significantly over the past decade. It's time to update low-risk drinking guidelines set in 2011.

Please parents, mask your children as they return to school

This year, we are sending children and educators back to school without mask mandates, without improvements to ventilation and without adequate HEPA filtration in classrooms, knowing full-well that COVID-19 is airborne and that rates of COVID-19 are still high.

Can we improve health care for all with only the empty public purse?

In a follow-up to his recent article on the day in the life of a family physician, Dr. Alykhan Abdulla discusses the knee-jerk reactions to privatization following Ontario's announcement that it would increase publicly funded surgeries at private clinics.

Pandemics as portals: What monkeypox teaches us about medical apartheid and resistance

HIV, COVID, monkeypox - then, as now, structural injustices have been made clear in the wake of any infectious outbreak. How we respond to this outbreak and dismantle the structural violence that created the conditions that allowed it to happen is up to us.

‘Literally, neither here nor there’: Caring for aging loved ones from a distance

A growing number of us are caring for aging parents and loved ones from a distance. Thanks in part to technology, intergenerational families separated by borders and oceans can stay connected and offer support. A dozen distant caregivers highlight the unique and invisible challenges they face and offer learning opportunities.

Tackling racism in Canadian health care: University offers first master’s program in Black health

Black Canadians have poorer health outcomes and are less likely to obtain health-care services compared to other groups. Poverty, unemployment, racism and discrimination, increase the risk of illness and interfere with timely and unprejudiced treatment. A new University of Toronto program is working toward eliminating discrimination and its adverse effects on health care.

Episode 45 – Preventative Medicine: the Mediterranean Diet and the Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder

A day in a life of a family physician

Family medicine has been in the news lately, with accounts of shortages and medical graduates shunning the practice. Many believe family medicine is about infections, prescription renewals and referrals to specialists. Perhaps by sharing the details of a day in a life in family medicine, then my colleagues can either substantiate, educate or commiserate with my experience.

Rural health care: How to get it right

Rural citizens are generally older, sicker and poorer than the rest of the population, and so have greater need for care if they are to achieve health outcomes equitable to the rest of the population. We have a system that is failing rural Canadians, and it must change. But what if we got it right?

Medicine vs. Journalism? Navigating the tension between two fields

It’s no secret that medicine and journalism are often at odds. But what happens when the doctor is a journalist? Physician-journalists Anthony Fong and Monica Kidd discuss navigating the tensions between medicine and journalism.

Episode 44 – Tranexamic Acid in Non-Cardiac Surgery and Post-ICU Syndrome