The Personal Health Navigator is available to all Canadian patients. Questions about your doctor, hospital or how to navigate the health care system can be sent to AskLisa@Sunnybrook.ca The Question: My mother is on six different medications from different pharmacies under the care of three specialists. How do I avoid a dangerous drug interaction? The Answer: This is …
The Personal Health Navigator is available to all Canadian patients. Questions about your doctor, hospital or how to navigate the health care system can be sent to AskLisa@Sunnybrook.ca The Question: I take warfarin for atrial fibrillation. Every three weeks, I go to a clinic to get my blood checked and, if needed, my warfarin dose is adjusted. …
Recent media reports have highlighted the problem of neglect in nursing homes. Reports from the long-term care sector, in response, have focused on how the quality of care in nursing homes could be improved. However, measuring the quality of nursing home care can be a challenge. Rob Sargeant is a general internist at St. Michael’s …
The statistics are well known: 7-10% of hospitalizations include at least one “adverse event”, a broad definition including a variety of mishaps ranging in impact from the relatively benign to a lethal outcome. Health care systems have been late adopters of proactive policies in the area of patient safety. This delay can be partly attributed …
I applaud Helen Walsh for her recent post about walking away from yet more invasive testing. Her post made me reflect on recent cases of medical expense from my own practice. Patient details have been altered to protect their identities. One patient has an annoying condition that gives him pain with some activities, related to …
Thirty percent of an individual’s Medicare expenditures in the United States are spent in the last year of life, numbers that are very similar to here in Canada. This, in my opinion, represents a fundamental flaw in our medical economic system and culture. As a soon to be critical care fellow at McMaster University this …
Each year several thousand Canadians die from influenza. Vaccinating health care workers against flu reduces transmission and would protect patients who are most vulnerable. However, only about 40% of hospital staff in Ontario were vaccinated last winter. Is it time for Ontario to make the flu vaccine mandatory for health care workers? Explaining the influenza …