Australia is recruiting more overseas-trained doctors to fill doctor shortages. But when a high-income country like Australia does this, we risk causing a ‘brain drain’ elsewhere.
A health worker takes care of patients at a hospital in Lusaka, Zambia.
Photo by Martin Mbangweta/Xinhua via Getty Images
We suspect these drug company payments are just the tip of the iceberg.
Presenting their ‘human self’ as well as their ‘professional self’ allows doctors to role model healthy behaviours for peers and trainees, and be more relatable to their patients and the public.
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Doctors use social media for reasons ranging from the strictly professional to the highly personal: They connect with colleagues, raise awareness of social issues and educate the public on health topics.
We now have a sensible pathway to improve access to health care, using the skills of nurses, pharmacists and GPs appropriately.
Patients need to know that treatments are recommended based on patient need, not pharma company interests. That’s why it’s important to know how much Big Pharma is paying to health-care providers and organizations.
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Canada has a lack of transparency about Big Pharma’s payments to health-care providers and organizations. Disclosure is voluntary, and there’s no central data on even the few companies that do report.
A 2023 Senate inquiry report described abortion access in Australia as a ‘lottery’. Barbara Baird’s research doesn’t describe chance, but an inadequate system. What needs to change?
Complaints of racial discrimination at the Regina General Hospital highlight how bullying and harassment are damaging workplaces across Canada.
(Moms & Kids Health Saskatchewan)
Internal reviews are insufficient to investigate discrimination by hospital administrators and external frameworks are needed to protect employees who face bullying and harassment.
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.
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.
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.
For many GPs, having fewer opportunities to engage directly with patients has led to a loss of professional satisfaction.
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The new NHS workforce plan for England promises a 50% increase in GP training places by 2031. But the challenges GPs are wrestling with go much deeper.
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.
Involving young patients and their parents or caregivers can help bring new research evidence into clinics.
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Three factors that can speed up adoption of clinical research discoveries are context, tailoring resources and efficient knowledge sharing.
Volunteering for global health experience is a common way of gaining clinical observation experiences for medical school applicants. This, and other opportunities to get close to the practice of medicine, also have unintended consequences.
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A winning medical school application requires stories about observing clinical care. But applicants’ quests to get clinical experiences have unintended and surprisingly far-reaching consequences.
A new proposal is reigniting an old debate about cosmetic surgery. Now it’s focused on what kind of training cosmetic surgeons should have before wielding their instruments.
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.
(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
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.
More Australians are delaying care or going to emergency departments because they can’t see a GP. Here are six reasons why.
Canada has a shortage of doctors. That’s why making it difficult for internationally trained doctors to practise here is so mystifying.
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Canada is sidelining qualified doctors while many Canadians struggle to find health care. Here’s what we can and must do better for internationally trained physicians.
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne