Menu Close

Articles on Patients

Displaying 1 - 20 of 52 articles

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.
The 21st Century Cures Act requires that test results be released to patients even before their health care provider has reviewed them. Natalia Gdovskaia/Moment via Getty Images

The 21st Century Cures Act requires that patients receive medical results immediately – and new research shows patients prefer it that way

The law requires medical test results be made available to patients even before a clinician has reviewed them.
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.
Long COVID patients face many barriers, the first of which is having their illness minimized or disregarded by others. (Freepik)

People with long COVID continue to experience medical gaslighting more than 3 years into the pandemic

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.
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. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

Emergency department crowding has gone beyond hallways onto ambulance ramps. Now there’s nowhere left to wait.

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.
Even though chronic pain is recognized by scientists as a disease in its own right, it remains largely under-recognized, under-diagnosed and, above all, subject to many prejudices. (Shutterstock)

Chronic pain: An invisible disease whose sufferers are unfairly stigmatized

Although chronic pain is recognized by scientists as a disease in its own right, it remains largely under-recognized, under-diagnosed and, above all, associated with numerous prejudices.
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.
Research suggests that supports are more likely to be provided to meet the needs of the majority of people with cancer who are older, rather than to younger people with cancer. (Shutterstock)

Finding community online after finding a lump: Social media and younger adults with cancer

Younger cancer patients have unique challenges, and resources often target older patients. Social media brings younger cancer patients together to share information, emotional support and hope.
A new rule is intended to let patients comparison shop for hospital services. Black Lollipop/iStock via Getty Images

How to make comparing prices of an MRI or colonoscopy as easy as shopping for a new laptop

Health researchers hope a new regulation requiring hospitals to post their prices will tame soaring health care costs, but compliance and standardization are hurdles.
A guest looks out from a Sheraton hotel window in Mississauga, Ont., on Feb. 22, 2021, as new air travel rules come into effect in Canada. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

COVID-19 hotel quarantine: Exemption for ‘essential’ medical travel confuses doctors, patients

Canadian government travel restrictions are an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19 variants. But vague language around exemptions for medical travel may confuse the physicians who can grant them.
Given the observed and anticipated growth of telemedicine since the beginning of the pandemic, it would be a good idea to clarify and co-ordinate the rules applicable to it in Canada. Shutterstock

What the rise of telemedicine means for Canada’s legal system

The legal uncertainty surrounding telemedicine services is not without consequences. Patients may not have access to public protection remedies.
Private insurers saw telehealth claims increase over 4,000% from 2019 to 2020. Solskin/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Health insurers are starting to roll back coverage for telehealth – even though demand is way up due to COVID-19

Widely adopted in the US when pandemic precautions kept people home, telehealth faces a challenge as insurance coverage changes, right when its popularity had surged.
White House physician Sean Conley gives an update on the patient-in-chief on Oct. 3. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

VIP patients can be a headache for their doctors

When a celebrity, politician or other influential person checks in, a health care team can feel pressured to give in to a VIP’s wishes.
The coronavirus pandemic has created an environment of uncertainty, fear and despair – emotions that erode mental health. AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy

A perfect storm for medical PTSD: Isolation, intensive care and the coronavirus pandemic

COVID-19 patients are spending weeks in intensive care units, isolated and alone, knowing they have a disease that doctors don’t fully understand. It’s a recipe for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Emergency rooms across the country have seen sharp drops in the number of patients seeking care for problems other than COVID-19. AAron Ontiveroz/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images

‘I thought I could wait this out’: Fearing coronavirus, patients delayed hospital visits, putting health and lives at risk

Delaying medical care comes at a cost, both human and financial. The patients some emergency rooms have been seeing are a lot sicker and more likely to need hospitalization.

Top contributors

More