Janet Kushner-Kow

Contributor

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.

3273 Contributions
by Aamir Bharmal Tannis Cheadle

Lessons learned in the collection of disaggregated ethno-racial data

COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on racialized groups has catalyzed calls for the systematic collection of data disaggregated by race. So we're sharing five key lessons we learned from collecting ethno-racial data for COVID-19 case management in B.C.

by Sophia Wen Michelle Sholzberg

Misleading label creates yet another barrier for IV iron use in pregnancy

In 2021, the FDA and EMA announced a new adverse event label for the use of intravenous (IV) iron in pregnancy. But the label is misleading and could worsen already inequitable access to an important treatment for iron deficiency in pregnancy.

by Mary-Kay Whittaker

‘Lives are at stake’: Burnout, staff shortages raise spectre of harmful events in hospital

The combined pandemic toll of a nursing shortage, an exhausted and increasingly inexperienced hospital workforce and a lack of hospital presence for family and friend patient advocates may be a precursor to increased risk of harm while in hospital.

by Colleen Fuller

History matters – a century after insulin’s discovery, we’re going backwards

As a Canadian with Type 1 diabetes I’m dismayed by the way pharmaceutical companies have driven up insulin prices, created a global oligarchy and increased the burden on those who need this life-giving medicine.

by Nili Kaplan-Myrth

‘We will not hide out of fear’: Open letter speaks out against harassment

Physicians and other health-care workers have been subject to harassment and intimidation for doing their day-to-day work during the pandemic explains Dr. Kaplan-Myrth, who recently penned an open letter asserting why health professionals should not hide out of fear of violence from hate-fueled convoys.

by Daneese Rao

‘It will take time to rebuild trust’: Travel bans upended lives of African students in Canada

Following the emergence of Omicron in late November, Canada and several other countries placed travel restrictions on 10 African nations. While the measures are no longer in force, their effects will be felt for a long time to come.

by Katharine Lake Berz

My friend joined the vaccine exodus, but I still can’t wait to welcome her back

I once thought all anti-vaxxers were selfish, putting their “freedom” before the common good. Then a close friend moved to Florida to escape Canada’s vaccine mandates. Now, I hope we can mend fractures in our communities for the good of society.

by Andrew McRae

Living with endemic SARS-CoV-2 isn’t the same as ‘back to normal’

As provinces scrap vaccine passports and other public health measures, more and people people are speaking about “living with the virus." But this does not mean that we can live as we did before the pandemic. Public health measures will continue.

by Catherine Varner

‘I do not want to be spat on, punched or kicked’: Exodus of emergency physicians accelerating

As anti-vaxx protests continue in front of hospitals across Canada, emergency physicians are saying enough is enough and leaving their profession behind.

by Anthony Fong

Emergency departments at a ‘tipping point’

Emergency departments are in the “last stage of system failure.” Experts are calling for Canada to rethink how we use the departments to fill growing gaps in non-emergency care.

by Catherine Varner

‘The well is starting to run dry’: Emergency department physicians speak out

Representatives of Toronto Women in Emergency Medicine, a group of emergency physicians working in hospitals in the Greater Toronto Area, were asked to reflect on their experiences of the most recent wave and what health-care systems can do to survive the next one.

by Damian Lange

Adding more beds is not the solution to overcrowding in Canadian hospitals

The reality is that more hospital beds are not going to be the panacea for our health-care system that many want, hope and need them to be. Instead, there are several ways to drive improvements in the national health-care structures.

by Kathleen Finlay

Making compassion the new normal

Here’s another supply-chain challenge created by the coronavirus: the delivery of more compassion by our governments and public institutions. It's time our major institutions committed to acting compassionately.

by Anthea Lai

Hope and spiritual care

Spiritual care can be a powerful therapeutic intervention. However, 80 per cent of patients reported that physicians never or rarely discuss spiritual or religious issues with them. But the role of spiritual health does not have to fall on physicians alone.

by Anthony Fong

Risky dancers: Putting health on the line for that ‘human touch’

Knowing they are putting their bodies on the line to have human connections, many dancers are trying to manage their COVID risk by various means – and it could give us a glimpse of what mass gatherings might look like in a post-pandemic world.

by Danyaal Raza Wendy Lai

A recipe for hope: How to vaccinate the world and end the pandemic

Researchers have developed a new COVID-19 vaccine, and they have no intention of filing a patent. Instead, they have concrete plans for large-scale manufacturing in the Global South. This is what global vaccine equity looks like.

by Françoise Baylis

Premier Legault comes to his senses

By backing down from the threat of a tax on the unvaccinated, Premier Legault has narrowly avoided yet another policy debacle in the wasteland of COVID public-health policy in Canada.

by Jeremy Cygler

Safer supply prescribing not enough to end devastating opioid epidemic, experts say

Safer Opioid Supply is an attention-grabbing, controversial approach to combatting the opioid crisis. But for all the debate, both its proponents and critics in addictions medicine tend to agree that there is much more to addressing the opioid epidemic.

by Gwyneth Boone

‘Benzo-dope’ wave complicating fight against opioid epidemic

A wave of benzodiazepines is adulterating Toronto’s illegal opioid market, raising risks for users, complicating the fight against the opioid crisis, and imposing extra burdens on a COVID-stretched emergency response system.

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