Education

No reinforcements

Practising family medicine in a rural community is dire these days. It’s precarious for patients and stressful for physicians and there’s no one coming to save us.

Report highlights systemic discrimination against International Medical Graduates in Canada

Canada’s current system for integrating IMGs is inefficient, inequitable and contributes to the physician shortage. By acknowledging these barriers and implementing targeted reforms, Canada can build a fairer, more effective health-care workforce.

Charity fills the gap in pet fostering services for struggling community members in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside

For The Homies - Downtown Eastside Pet Support Society is a new grassroots organization offering much-needed pet fostering and other pet services for community members and their furry friends.

‘We do not need compassionate care: We need a country that cares with compassion’

Conservative politicians have pushed for involuntary treatment, often termed "compassionate care." While compassionate care seems like the easiest answer, the policy is problematic.

‘The first time students see a patient of colour should not be in hospital’: The need for diverse patient actors

Advocate groups say increasing patient actor diversity is crucial to prepare Ontario’s future doctors to care for the province’s increasingly diverse patient population.

The cost of lies: Misinformation is worsening mental health and eroding our social fabric

Political propaganda, amplified by social media and unscrupulous actors, has become a weapon of choice, wreaking havoc on mental health, public safety and democracy itself.

Misinformation on social media is winning – scientists must adapt or lose the battle

Scientists and health professionals must rethink how we communicate or risk further marginalization in the public discourse, allowing falsehoods to shape policies, behaviours and health outcomes.

Has peer review become a complete waste of time?

We live in a time when ideology-driven political leaders actively feed conspiratorial narratives about health and medicine. Ensuring that scientifically robust information is identified and valued has never been more important.

The importance of health-system navigators

Patients need to know where to turn to for help - and the province must support family doctors and patients in accessing system navigators.

Health misinformation is rampant and deepens inequities for marginalized communities

Health misinformation is more than a communication challenge; it’s a driver of inequity. By addressing these disparities head-on, we can ensure that no one is left behind in our health system.

Is the red dye ban a case of virtue signalling?

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s recent announcement that Red 3 will be banned will go down in history as the very definition of a red herring.

Health professionals issue urgent call for climate action and for their pension plan to step up

The RNAO is calling on the $112 billion Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan to stop investing nurses’ retirement savings in companies that are making the climate crisis worse.

MAiD’s vanishing slippery slope

New data on MAiD sheds much needed light on a topic so broiled in hysteria and unforced errors to seem like some sort of deranged game of political and health-care tennis.

Canada’s health charities must prioritize trust and transparency

An Investigative Journalism Bureau investigation has revealed questionable practices – and regulatory lapses – in Canada’s health charity community, raising questions about fundraising practices, administrative costs and government oversight.

How The Grinch stole family medicine: A tale of Ontario’s health crisis

Like a green, scheming miser, the Grinch of health care – festooned in a slew of government mismanagement and shortsighted policies – descended upon family medicine, stealing its spirit one policy at a time.

The future of prescriptions: Pharmacogenomic testing on the verge of revolutionizing health care

With the growing trend of using genomic information to personalize care, is there a type of testing that can tell us whether medications we have been prescribed are actually working?

Ontario’s physician wage-gap: Myth vs. fact

Through further research and advocacy efforts, we are hopeful that physician compensation will eventually reflect merit and services rendered.

A plea to maskless health-care workers from vulnerable patients

Health-care workers have a responsibility to protect their vulnerable patients. Our lives are in your hands.

We must tackle misinformation. Our youth’s health depends on it

It's time to treat misinformation as the public health crisis it truly is, particularly among youth in marginalized Black, Indigenous and People of Colour communities.

Patients, not politicians, decide what is an emergency

Ontario Premier Doug Ford made reckless statements on Oct. 25 that we as emergency physicians must correct. Patients decide what is a medical emergency. We trust our patients to make that decision.