Sex, lies and physician supply: why female doctors are not to blame
Among the many reasons offered for why many Canadians are increasingly facing difficulties finding a family physician to call their own is the fact that the workforce has become increasingly female. The argument usually goes something like this: female family practitioners work fewer hours, take time out to raise families and have shorter careers. […]
The importance of follow-up care after an emergency room visit
Television shows have popularized the theatrical entrance into the hospital emergency room: patients racing down hallways on gurneys with worried doctors and nurses running alongside—great drama. How most patients leave the emergency room isn’t quite as dramatic, but the facts tell a good news story. About 85 per cent of the more than 14 […]
Why Canada shouldn’t compete with the U.S. for the worst performing health system in the developed world
The latest Commonwealth Study ranked Canada’s health-care system a dismal second to last in a list of eleven major industrialized countries. We had the dubious distinction of beating out only the Americans. This latest poor result is already being used by those bent on further privatizing health care. They argue—as they always do—that if […]
Spreading innovation key to health-care sustainability
Improving health care across Canada is no easy task. Growing rates of chronic diseases ranging from cardiovascular disease to diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an aging population and steadily rising costs are straining systems that were built for a different era. The question facing governments and the health-care sector is: How can […]
Innovation in medical imaging can keep health care affordable
As we age, the likelihood of acquiring chronic or potentially life-threatening conditions such as Alzheimer’s and heart disease or breast and prostate cancer increases, as does the chance that we will need access to specialized technology to detect, properly diagnose and treat our ailments. The number of seniors in Canada is increasing steadily. By […]
Big data has potential to be a health systems innovator
MONTREAL—It took a year for Canada’s public health officials to understand the full extent of the 2009 H1N1 outbreak. The principal problem, then and now, is lack of information. “Big Data” can answer a lot of health questions and can, moving forward, enable Canada’s public health-care system to mount an appropriate response to any […]
We’re marking an important milestone in Canadian digital health delivery
Leading Canadian health-care organizations marked the first-ever Digital Health Week in this country last week. The goal for the week was two-fold: First, to recognize how digital health is transforming care, and second, to inspire further progress in improving delivery of that care to all Canadians. Much progress has been made by our […]
Five things most people get wrong about Canada’s health-care system
A recent court challenge before the British Columbia Supreme Court threatened to change the rules of the game for the Canadian health-care system—should the challenge have made its way to the Supreme Court of Canada and found success there. Dr. Brian Day of The Cambie Surgeries Corporation is contesting the ban against ‘extra billing’ for […]
How to fight ‘Fearbola’ in Canada
‘Fearbola’ is the recent term being used to describe widespread public fears of an Ebola outbreak in the United States. ‘Fearbola’ is said to spread easily through conversation or even from simply seeing images and videos about Ebola. While we in Canada might feel immune to Fearbola, sadly, we are not. The only way […]
Is it time to allow assisted suicide?
The Supreme Court of Canada has been hearing an appeal by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association that could grant terminally ill Canadians the right to assisted suicide. With this impending ruling and the passing of Bill 52 in Quebec (Medical Aid in Dying) and rumblings from Parliament of another private member’s bill on assisted […]
