Evidence Based Medicine

‘I understand’: Words of empathy that have helped me through residency

"That evening, they walked me past the point we usually diverged and sat with me in my apartment lobby. They sat as I cried. They listened."

Financially sustainable and fair: Value-based care a solution to pay disparities and health-care system strain

The gender-based physician compensation gap is more than a workplace injustice – it undermines the efficiency and effectiveness of the Canadian health-care system.

When patients ask about psychedelics

Over the past decade, scientific interest in psychedelics such as psilocybin and MDMA has risen, along with recreational use. This has put physicians in a difficult place – one our medical training has not prepared us for.

The MS treatment gap: How costs and outdated policies limit care in Canada

Early, aggressive treatment can significantly improve outcomes for people living with MS. But provinces have yet to implement coverage policies that would ensure patients receive optimal care.

Beyond the signature: Is consent truly informed?

Moving forward, making informed consent truly informed – rooted in both equity and accessibility –  needs to be a priority, not just an ideal.

Approved but denied: Canadians with neuromuscular diseases face unequal access to treatment

We are told health care in Canada is equal for everyone. But it is not. Particularly for patients with neuromuscular diseases, what you get depends on where you live.

Is peer-review dead? A scientist’s plea to fix a broken system

Peer-review may not be over, but the era of exploitative, opaque and corporatized gatekeeping should be.

When care doesn’t translate

For South Asian communities, improved care means earlier screening, culturally relevant guidance and meaningful language access. Without these changes, we risk continuing a pattern of preventable harm.

Competency-based leadership: A critical imperative for Canadian health care

Canada is in a moment that demands more – more wisdom, more rigor, more courage. Medical associations, like the government itself, are being asked not just to manage systems but to transform them.

Integrating environmental justice into environmental health research. How are we doing?

The journey of embedding of environmental justice principles in health research has only just begun. But it is more important now than ever for researchers to undertake this work.

The simple metal box that could change the world

This quiet, repairable metal air cleaner is an inexpensive long-term disease prevention tool for public spaces.

Managing measles better (and cheaper) with family physician home visits

After many years of near absence, measles is back, and public health is scrambling to control its spread. It's time to rethink our strategies for care.

Decades after it was declared eliminated, I fear the heartbreaking, avoidable consequences of measles

Fatal encephalitis from measles technically and biologically could be abolished as a human disease. Yet, I fear the downstream consequences of what the anti-vaccine movement could bring.

Public health is dead. As artists, we share some of the responsibility

As a writer who lived with Long Covid for two years, today more than ever, I think it is essential for artists to acknowledge and challenge a pandemic-shaped cultural vacuum.

End of substance use and addiction program funding ‘very, very short-sighted’

On March 31, the federal funding for 22 safer supply initiatives across the country expired. Unless provinces step in, many patients will be left with few options.

‘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 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.

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.

Dual HIV/syphilis rapid test aims to lessen stigma, reach underserved communities

As rates of syphilis and HIV continue to climb in Canada, a dual rapid test recently was approved by federal regulators, making it the second of its kind to become available in the country.

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.