Cancer diagnoses in adolescents in young adults are rising. These patients are not only navigating the challenges of a life-altering diagnosis, but also other challenges distinct to their life stage.
If challenging health inequities requires questioning structures of power, then this must sit at the centre of the work of all physicians.
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De-centring medical expertise means fostering skillsets that reduce disparities in health outcomes. Medical expertise alone is great for those with social privilege, but not enough for the rest.
Resiliency training and other popular staff retention approaches will not solve the problem of desperately overworked staff.
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New simulation tools open the door for objective nurse workload management — a missing key to a healthy health-care system.
In honour of National Nursing Week May 6-12, consider asking a nurse about their work life. Demand for nursing services in Canada far exceeds the current supply of nurses.
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Surveying more than 5,500 nurses about the realities of their work lives highlights how a shortage of nursing staff could compromise Canadians’ ability to access safe, compassionate care.
Person-centred care means treating people who face health issues as valued partners in health systems.
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Research partnerships with the people and communities affected help to challenge health inequities, and support person-centred care in health systems.
We should be asking legislators and policymakers to build a health-care system that supports better lives for people with mental disorders and their families.
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In addition to asking health-care systems to prepare to end suffering of mental illness through Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), we must ask policymakers to support better lives for families.
As apps are direct-to-consumer health technologies, they represent a new folk medicine. Users adopt these technologies based on trust rather than understanding how they operate.
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Future AI large language models like Google’s AMIE might prove to fill gaps in health-care delivery, however, they must be adopted with caution.
A Canada-wide health information technology system based on open-source software could save billions for the health-care system.
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Canada has spent billions on health-care software that does not even communicate province to province. Free and open-source software would be a technically superior and far less expensive option.
Women — particularly racialized women — are more likely to be in positions at the lower end of the health sector’s pay scale, that also require close and prolonged contact with patients.
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Not only is the health sector feminized, but women — particularly racialized women — are more likely to be in jobs at the low end of the pay scale, but that require prolonged contact with patients.
Fixing the family doctor shortage can save lives and money at the same time.
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The shortage of family doctors affects not only patients, but the entire health-care system. A strong primary care foundation increases average lifespan, improves overall health and reduces costs.
Canada’s long-promised yet undelivered pharmacare program may be entering the most crucial phase in its history.
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A national procurement program for essential medicines could provide a principled, evidence-based solution to the current challenges facing a national pharmacare program in Canada.
A program offers training and education specifically on family medicine from the start of medical school, while bypassing administrative hurdles to residency.
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Education has a role to play in addressing the shortage of family doctors. A new program is designed specifically for comprehensive, community-based family practice.
A fundamental component for training health-care professionals is interacting with patients and families.
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Each encounter that health-care students have with patients and families helps them understand real-world patient needs. That means all Canadians have a role in educating future health-care providers.
It is clear that some public trust in public health, science and government has been lost in Canada and around the world.
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Now is the time to learn from the COVID-19 response through an action-oriented independent inquiry focused on accountability. Reforms to data generation, access and use are essential.
Recruiting health workers from countries on the World Health Organization’s safeguard list without robust and reciprocal benefits for the countries sending them does not meet ethical standards.
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Recruiting internationally educated health workers is a key part of Canada’s proposed solution to the health worker crisis. But there are ethical questions about recruiting from foreign countries.
There is debate about whether a health-care worker can ethically participate in both palliative care and the MAID program.
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Bill C-7 has created ethical tensions between MAID providers and palliative care, between transparency and patient privacy, and between offering a dignified death rather than a dignified life.
Long COVID patients face many barriers, the first of which is having their illness minimized or disregarded by others.
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People with long COVID report that their symptoms are dismissed or not treated seriously by health-care providers. This medical gaslighting not only prevents treatment but can cause stigma and shame.
Research shows that uninsured people are more likely to get care later in pregnancy, and less care overall. This increases risks for mothers and babies.
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Discontinuing expanded health-care funding will result in less prenatal care for uninsured patients, more health risks, higher costs to the health system, and moral distress for health-care providers.
When ambulances are delayed at overcrowded hospitals because they can’t offload patients, it means they can’t respond to emergency calls and people wait longer for paramedics to arrive.
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Ambulance response times have not always met targets, but the alarming new pinch point in our health-care system is that there are no ambulances at all available to respond to calls.
Nurses of the University College Hospital protest in London on Feb. 6, 2023. The walkout is part of a wave of health worker strikes and demonstrations in recent months.
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U.K. health worker protests echo issues in Canada. They are also a harbinger of future labour disputes and systemic collapse if austerity, underinvestment and neglect of health workers continue.