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.
Samir Gupta answers medical questions from family and friends with COVI-19 in India from 10 PM until the early morning. He is one of many Indo-Canadian doctors who are battling a "double pandemic" in both Canada and India.
byLaurie ProulxHilary BrownYona LunskyLesley A. TarasoffKate Welsh
We need an inclusive approach to health research, one that engages the affected communities in all aspects of the research and that meets them where they are.
The inequity of Ontario's vaccine rollout is causing moral distress and burnout among health-care providers. How can we change the health-care system to make it more equitable and sustainable?
In hospice settings, nurses wet the mouths of patients as they take their last breaths. Sometimes, they simply sit with them so that no one dies alone. As a physician, I could not do my job without them.
The new MAiD law should provoke reflection about our own attitudes toward death. A place to start is a wise 12-minute video produced by a prominent geriatrician shortly before his own medically assisted death.
We’ve all seen the headlines linking COVID-19 vaccines to rare blood clots. While this development may be worrisome, it is a reassuring sign that vaccine safety surveillance is doing its job.
Canadian critical care experts are warning that we are not prepared to treat the large number of COVID-19 survivors who suffer from PTSD because of their experiences in the ICU.
Community-health organizations are trying to make the rollout of vaccines in hot spots as accessible and equitable as possible by directly reaching out to hot-spot residents.
Nurses have been using platforms like FaceTime to host visits between patients critically ill with COVID-19 and their loved ones. It's contributing to burnout – but also sometimes providing them with beautiful moments of human connection.
Public health policies meant to protect us from COVID-19 have resulted in reduced physical activity and increased screen time for all children. They are experiencing serious mental health problems. We must let them play.
By using tools that identify which patients have an elevated risk of mortality in the coming year, we can catch patients who would benefit from palliative care planning before they fall through the cracks.
We must use the emerging evidence of the long-term health consequences of COVID-19 to encourage all Canadians to get vaccinated and protect themselves, their loved ones and their community.
To ensure access to high-quality palliative care for all Ontarians facing a life-limiting illness, we need a unified model of palliative care across Ontario.
The pandemic has highlighted stark equity gaps in health-care access for BIPOC and essential workers. But grassroots initiatives like Vaccine Hunters Canada have brought a broader vision of health equity to the rollout.
This pandemic, placed on top of the longstanding social pandemic, has created a "syndemic" – a synergistic pandemic – in which the spark of COVID has ignited a tinderbox of social inequity.
When the pandemic hit last year, doctors were hailed as heroes. But the hero-worship may be putting them at higher risk of moral injury – and its potential long-term, detrimental consequences.
Health-care institutions must reflect critically on whether they're ready to make the commitment necessary to do antiracist work by investing time and money to bring about systemic change. Anything less is performative.