Dr. Janet Kushner-Kow is the physician program director of elder care at Providence Health Care and division head of geriatric medicine at the University of British Columbia.
The pandemic has amplified social inequalities in our society as lived experiences have differed vastly based on income. Hourly workers have been disproportionately affected relative to salary workers. For many, a consistent paycheque is crucial to providing necessities such as food and housing.
Nurse practitioners are steadily solidifying their place in primary care. However, with 5 million Canadians without a primary care provider, experts say there's still more untapped potential for nurse practitioners to improve access and quality of care.
The Canada Health Act governs publicly funded health-care insurance and protects Canadians’ right of access to universal health care. However, contrary to popular belief, these rights do not apply to federal prisoners, nor are they covered by provincial plans.
Dr. Seema Marwaha, our editor-in-chief, pens a column for Best Health Magazine about the second anniversary of the pandemic. She writes: "as we head into our third pandemic year, the mood is palpably different. Unlike 2021, we have been here before. We know that returning to restaurants, social gatherings and a general sense of normalcy may be temporary."
The first week of March each year marks Social Work Week. Now more than ever, social workers are needed to enable and accelerate access to mental health support within the health-care system and across many other settings.
byOntario Public Health Association’s Reproductive Health Working Group
As Canada turns toward pandemic recovery plans, we must ensure that these plans, and any mitigation strategies in response to future COVID-19 waves, address reproductive health for all of Canada.
Pre-pandemic, 3,000 fourth-year medical students flew across Canada every January for interviews to secure residency positions. Now, for the second year in a row, students are embarking on these high-stake interviews by Zoom.
In 2020, Ontario's LTC lockdown policies led to the elimination of religious, recreational, therapeutic and social activities for residents, resulting in a spiritual health crisis in LTC homes. As a front-line occupational therapist, I witnessed first-hand the devastating consequences of the removal of spiritual care.
The ease-of-use that has made autoinjectors a multi-billion-dollar global industry has increased the carbon dioxide footprint that comes with making them by the tens of millions.
The movement for reform in this country of non-medical use of drugs seems unstoppable. There are many drivers of change and a major one is the opioid crisis.
Carbon dioxide is the leading cause of climate change. But when the U.K. experienced a shortage of CO2 last year, it drove consumer fears of higher prices for food and drink. At the heart of this paradox is that, for all the damage that CO2 does, it also has some essential uses in modern society.
Mental health crises have been inextricably linked to policing and criminal justice. But a mental health crisis is exactly that – a health issue, not a criminal one.
Unlike mainstream health-care providers, harm reduction workers do not have benefits like danger pay or strong unions to support them. With jobs characterized by low wages, stigma and political red-tape, overworked harm reduction professionals are seeing burnout on the front lines.
Physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other allied health professionals continue to wade through rapidly evolving evidence to provide care to patients and keep the health-care system upright.