Archive for the ‘Health’ Category
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We’re doctors. This is the glaring hole we see in our national health care conversation
Thursday, October 3rd, 2024
Eliminating out-of-pocket costs for medications used to treat diabetes, cardiovascular disease and chronic respiratory conditions would result in 220,000 fewer ER visits and 90,000 less hospital stays annually, saving the health care system $1.2 billion a year… Unaffordable drugs invoke worry, helplessness and dread and creates a potentially damaging dependency. Granted, it’s difficult to assign a savings to the emotional costs currently being paid, but it’s intellectually dishonest to not even mention them.
Tags: disabilities, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, pharmaceutical, poverty, standard of living
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Doctors want to practice medicine. Instead, we are buried in paperwork
Monday, September 30th, 2024
Administrative burden is a catch-all term to describe all the work a family physician does each day that does not include seeing patients… on average, a family doctor spends 19 hours per week on administrative and clerical tasks. Is it any wonder that recent reports state that medical students don’t want to be family doctors? In fact, 94 per cent of family doctors report feeling overwhelmed with this burden and as a result, some even close their practices…
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Addressing the Crisis in Access to Primary to Primary Care: A Targeted Approach
Sunday, September 29th, 2024
… a major cause for the dysfunction is the reluctance of provincial governments to undertake institutional reforms, for fear of provoking interest groups – particularly physicians’ organizations. The provinces have not made major changes to their health delivery systems since forced to do so by the deficit crises of the 1990s… The author recommends… an aggressive increase in the number of nurse practitioners working in community primary care, usually in multi-discipline clinics; and… rostering patients and expanding capitation in multi-discipline clinics.
Tags: featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, participation
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Why Such Blind Spots Still Exist in Medecine
Sunday, September 29th, 2024
With trust in science on the wane, conspiracy theories and misinformation proliferating and anti-vaxxers… setting a deranged example, this may not seem like the best time to criticize the medical profession. Yet a dose of healthy skepticism may be the healthiest attitude when information seems contradictory, whether it’s about a decades-long practice or newer, faddish procedures…
Tags: Health, ideology
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Senate holding up Pharmacare Act
Monday, September 16th, 2024
… the Health Minister’s and the House Leader’s offices told Canadian Health Coalition representatives they expected the Senate to pass the Pharmacare Act before the summer. The Minister said he had several provinces ready to enter into agreements soon thereafter… But the Senate had different ideas… Now there are indications the Senate SOCI committee is entertaining amendments to Bill C-64… pharmaceutical and insurance corporations have lobbied furiously to derail Bill C-64, or delay it as long as possible.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, participation, pharmaceutical
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Doug Ford wants to stop doctors from handing out clean needles. Here’s why they shouldn’t listen
Monday, September 16th, 2024
The government’s plans include prohibiting provincially funded community health centres with consumption services from distributing clean needles and providing safer supply of opioids and other prescriptions. The government alleges that needle distribution and safer supply threaten community safety and are ineffective ways to treat substance dependent people. The government is wrong on both counts… public health is protected by providing clean needles… and the prescribing of opioids reduces overdose-related mortality.
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, pharmaceutical
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I’ve used a Toronto supervised consumption site for a year. What it’s really like in these facilities Doug Ford is bent on shuttering
Wednesday, September 4th, 2024
The Queen West site provided me with more than a place to safely use drugs. The staff provided medical attention when I needed it, food and snacks when I was hungry, water and juice when I was thirsty, a sympathetic ear and a hug when I despaired. Through them, I was connected with a phenomenal support worker from Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre… They have been my advocate and biggest supporter. With their help, obstacles that seemed insurmountable have vanished.
Tags: Health, ideology, mental Health, pharmaceutical
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The Ford government gets it wrong on drugs
Wednesday, September 4th, 2024
… on what basis has the government concluded that these sites are doing more to aggravate than to mitigate the drug crisis? On what basis has it concluded that public use is more likely to fall and public safety to rise as these sites close? What, other than the political mood or the premier’s oft-stated personal distaste, led it to this decision? The answers to these questions are not apparent either in the government’s announcement or in the available evidence.
Tags: crime prevention, Health, ideology, pharmaceutical
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Pierre Poilievre’s attack on me is a symptom of a larger problem
Wednesday, September 4th, 2024
Poilievre’s referring to these sites as “drug dens” is callous and deceptive. These sites offer a lifeline to those struggling with substance use. The very same harm reduction programs that some leaders are targeting don’t only save lives; they also open the door to treatment and recovery… Instead of mocking, Poilievre and his team could benefit from experts to understand the evidence on the importance of supervised consumption sites as an essential pillar of a multi-pronged approach to address this public health crisis and to make our communities safer for all.
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction
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Dementia risk factors identified in new global report are all preventable – addressing them could reduce dementia rates by 45%
Sunday, August 18th, 2024
… our team proposed an ambitious program for preventing dementia that could be implemented at the individual, community and policy levels and across the life span… The key points include: In early life, improving general education. In midlife, addressing hearing loss, high LDL cholesterol, depression, traumatic brain injury, physical inactivity, diabetes, smoking, hypertension, obesity and excessive alcohol. In later life, reducing social isolation, air pollution and vision loss.
Tags: mental Health, participation, Seniors, standard of living
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