Hospital design shifted in the 20th century as hospitals moved from being places for treating disease and injury to being centres of health systems.
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The theory of supportive design considers
positive distraction, perceptions of control and social support.
Nurses tend to a COVID-19 patient in the intensive care unit at the Bluewater Health Hospital in Sarnia, Ont., in January 2022. The pandemic exposed the flaws in Canada’s struggling health-care system, and offers a chance for Canada to reform it if the country’s premiers step up.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
The COVID-19 pandemic presents us with a unique opportunity to rethink and reform public health care in Canada. That’s why premiers’ demands for more unconditional health-care dollars are so misguided.
Food prescriptions provide patients with vouchers that can be spent on fruits and vegetables.
(Jonathon Barraball)
Food security is crucial to disease prevention and management, so prescribing healthy foods and reducing barriers to better diets makes sense. But food prescriptions should not be immune to scrutiny.
Québec Premier François Legault defended Bill 96 saying he doesn’t want the province to become Louisiana.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
For most Québec residents, there is broad consensus that French should be protected. But many of us believe that multilingualism need not threaten French.
A public dental care plan would give many Canadians reason to smile.
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Canada’s health system does not include dental coverage, leaving a large gap in care that’s existed since its beginning. It’s time to ensure access to oral care.
Such an expansive scheme is very expensive. It has been costed at A$77.6 billion over the next decade, funded with new taxes on big corporations and billionaires.
Not engaging Black communities meaningfully in health and other policy-making processes has been a critical failure, reflecting a history of systemic racism, marginalization and political indifference.
(Nappy.co)
While policy organizations publicly claim that they want input from racialized and other marginalized communities, many fail to listen to, accept or integrate what those communities have to say.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer patients includes delayed diagnosis, deferred tests and treatment delay.
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In future health emergencies and possibly further waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, caution needs to be taken when extending cancer waiting times for reasons unrelated to patients’ health-care needs.
There are growing applications of artificial intelligence in health sciences education. Students and practitioners need to be educated on using these technologies and made aware of their implications.
Medical personnel attend a Covid-19 patient at an intensive care unit in Muret, near Toulouse, on November 17, 2020.
Lionel Bonaventure/AFP
Thomas Barnay, Université Paris-Est Créteil Val de Marne (UPEC)
France’s per-capita death toll from Covid-19 is higher than the average for high-income countries. A lack of prevention and the initial rigidity of the French system are largely to responsible.
A health-care worker and volunteers watch as Ontario Premier Doug Ford visits a vaccine clinic for Purolator employees and their families at the company’s plant in Toronto.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Our society has never explicitly debated whether the health-care industry is more important than other critical sectors, like education, as governments impose lockdowns.
A new study identifies significant language barriers between doctors and their patients.
ljubaphoto/E+ via Getty Images
Communication breakdowns between doctors and their patients have real-life consequences and can result in poorer health outcomes and sicker patients.
You can start these conversations simply, like saying, “I need to think about the future. Can you help me?”
Richard Ross/The Image Bank via Getty Images
When you prepare to talk about end-of-life decisions and the legacy you want to leave behind, try thinking about them as gifts you bestow to family and friends.
Manchin withdrew his support for Build Back Better.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
The US has a growing demand for nurses. Yet nursing schools are turning away many qualified candidates.
When Black patients are treated by Black doctors, they have better health outcomes – but fewer than 6 in 100 American doctors are Black.
The Good Brigade/Digital Vision via Getty Images
World Diabetes Day on Nov. 14 marks an increase in diabetes deaths and new diagnoses as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hinder care for chronic conditions.
In addition to patient care, many doctors also have heavy administrative burdens, including insurance company requests and government forms that advocate for their patients’ needs, as well as all the challenges of running an office.
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Less than half of Canadians can see their doctor same-day, and millions don’t even have a family doctor. Improving access to care means providing doctors with the support they need to focus on patients.
Full Professor in Economics, ERUDITE, UPEC (on leave) / Visiting Professor, Health Care Policy Department, Harvard Medical School and French Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy and Practice (The Commonwealth Fund) (2021-2022), Université Paris-Est Créteil Val de Marne (UPEC)