Pregnant women warned to avoid some pain-relief drugs
patient safety
Don’t let COVID-19 defer the diabetes care you need
Autism case highlights urgent need to reform Ontario’s regulatory colleges
I’ve got cancer. Will I get the care I need during a pandemic?
First, do no harm: Trust is paramount in healthcare
Virtual health care is having its moment. Rules will be needed.
Why are medical records so difficult for patients and families to access?
Anatomy of a referral: Why wait times for specialists are still too long
Medical tests: Why ‘no news is good news’ can be dangerous
Tell the CPSO to improve how doctors communicate test results
The role of patient advocates in Lyme disease policy should be limited
Should registered nurses prescribe drugs?
Lack of safety standards for home cancer treatment puts patients at risk
Ten years ago, almost all chemotherapy drugs were delivered intravenously at a hospital. Today, many cancer treatments are taken orally by patients, in their homes. The trend means patients enjoy the comfort of being in their own homes and avoid parking and transportation costs. It is also much less costly for hospitals. But taking oral …
Safe surgery checklists: the Canadian experience
Each year there are patients who wake up from surgery to find an operation has been done on the wrong part of their body. These wrong-site surgeries are an example of “never events” – incidents that simply should not happen if all safety measures are taken. Nevertheless, these events take place each year in countries with …
Improving medication safety for the elderly
Mimi Roots is worried about her ninety year old mother, Maria. Maria lives alone and has multiple health issues: congestive heart failure, asthma, arthritis, gastrointestinal issues, and a thyroid that was surgically removed. She receives care from five specialists and her family doctor – and each prescribes their own set of medications. Maria takes a …
Medical education must include quality improvement and patient safety
Entering medical school is like settling in a new country, you have to learn the language, adapt to the culture and figure out how to succeed. As medical students, we study the pathophysiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis and management of diseases. We learn how to effectively communicate with patients to get their stories and pair these …
Is Canada’s medical malpractice system working?
Starting next year, doctors’ malpractice insurance in most parts of the country will cost a lot more – more than doubling in many places. Fortunately for physicians, however, that will affect provincial health budgets more than their own practices. Most doctors are covered by the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA), a non-profit mutual defence organization …
Options limited when second shoulder surgery fails
More patients die in hospitals on the weekend – will we do anything about it?
In the year since Healthy Debate published Fewer hospital staff on weekends put some patients at risk, evidence of a “weekend effect” at hospitals has continued to mount. Today, the Canadian Institute of Health Information released a new report which further reinforces that for some patients admitted to hospital on the weekend, there is a …
A 15 million-dollar case for reforming medical malpractice in Canada
Five years after her life irreversibly changed, Danielle Boyd won her case and received one of the highest medical malpractice payouts in Canadian history. The agreed-upon facts: Dr. Edington, a rural family physician who also practices anesthesia, obstetrics, and emergency medicine, saw then 24 year-old patient Ms. Boyd in the Hanover ER at a little …