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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. (Shutterstock)

Canadians need to know how much money Big Pharma gives health-care providers, but this information is far too difficult to find

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.
Complaints of racial discrimination at the Regina General Hospital highlight how bullying and harassment are damaging workplaces across Canada. (Moms & Kids Health Saskatchewan)

Regina hospital allegations point to an epidemic of bullying and discrimination in health care

Internal reviews are insufficient to investigate discrimination by hospital administrators and external frameworks are needed to protect employees who face bullying and harassment.
A fundamental component for training health-care professionals is interacting with patients and families. (Shutterstock)

Solving Canada’s shortage of health professionals means training more of them, and patients have a key role in their education

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. (Shutterstock)

The ethics of recruiting international health-care workers: Canada’s gains could mean another country’s pain

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. A.B. Putra/Shutterstock

GP crisis: how did things go so wrong, and what needs to change?

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. (Shutterstock)

MAID’s evolving ethical tensions: Does it make dying with dignity easier than living with dignity?

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.
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. (Shutterstock)

‘May cause serious side-effects’: How medical school admissions can perpetuate inequality and reward privilege

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.
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)

Health-care worker strikes in the United Kingdom: Are there lessons for Canada’s health crisis?

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.
Canada has a shortage of doctors. That’s why making it difficult for internationally trained doctors to practise here is so mystifying. (Francisco Venancio, Unsplash)

Why is Canada snubbing internationally trained doctors during a health-care crisis?

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.
Former Saskatchewan Premier and national New Democratic Party leader T.C. (Tommy) Douglas in 1965. Douglas was instrumental in the creation of Medicare. The Canadian Press

Looking forward into the past: Lessons for the future of Medicare on its 60th anniversary

At the dawn of Medicare, Saskatchewan’s community co-op clinics pioneered team-based, holistic care. Now, with the health system in crisis 60 years later, it may be time to return to that care model.
Gender-diverse adults have a harder time getting effective primary and preventive health care than their nontransgender counterparts. Peter Dazeley/The Image Bank via Getty Images

Doctors often aren’t trained on the preventive health care needs of gender-diverse people – as a result, many patients don’t get the care they need

From primary care to cancer screening and insurance coverage, gender-diverse people still face many hurdles to getting good medical care.
Building safer workplaces requires leaders who understand how years of resource constraints, unhealthy work environments, abuse from patients and a pandemic have contributed to overwhelming burnout and job dissatisfaction among workers. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

How health-care leaders can foster psychologically safer workplaces

The future of our health system depends on recruiting and retaining passionate and highly skilled health-care workers. It’s essential to build work environments where they feel supported and safe.
Until the government acknowledges the critical role family physicians have in population health and on easing the burden on acute hospital care, pressures will only be relieved temporarily. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

With family doctors heading for the exits, addressing the crisis in primary care is key to easing pressure on emergency rooms

A strong primary care system keeps patients away from emergency departments and helps patients self-manage illnesses. But Ontario’s plan to ease pressure on emergency rooms ignores family medicine.

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