The Canadian Medical Association’s new three-year strategy, CMA 2020, aims to make the organization more outward-facing and patient-focused. The changes came after a period of soul-searching on what the purpose of the CMA was, and how it could best serve its members and the public, said Dr. Brian Brodie, chairman of the board of directors. “We […]
Canadian Medical Association Journal
Drugs are going missing, but why?
Dr. Jacalyn Duffin, a hematologist and medical historian at Queen’s University in Kingston, first became aware that certain drugs were sometimes getting hard to find in 2010, when her patient at a cancer clinic wanted to stop chemotherapy because she couldn’t get prochlorperazine, a common anti-nausea drug. Duffin was shocked. “I just couldn’t believe that […]
Evolution in models of primary care
British Columbia has jettisoned its ambitious 2013 election promise to match everyone in the province with a family doctor. It’s yet another sign that governments are beginning to recognise an evolution in the provision of primary medical care — an evolution that’s supported by the College of Family Physicians of Canada. The GP for Me program had […]
CMAJ gets interim editor amid governance shake-up
Dr. Diane Kelsall, a long-time CMAJ deputy editor and editor of CMAJ Open, has been appointed interim editor of the CMAJ as part of the journal owner’s restructuring and modernization plan. On Feb. 29, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) board of directors dismissed the journal’s editor-in-chief, Dr. John Fletcher, who had held the post for four […]
Online tools improve mental health in primary care
Mental health issues make up a big part of the workload for primary care physicians. In Ontario, about 20% of patient visits to primary care practitioners are related to mental health, and in many more visits, mental health issues underlie physical symptoms. But most frontline health care workers often don’t get much training in mental […]
Calls for more independence for government medical officers
Physicians are calling for Canada’s chief medical officers of health to be given greater independence from provincial governments following the recent firing of New Brunswick’s medical officer, Dr. Eilish Cleary, for reasons that remain unknown. “The position is too important to allow people to be arbitrarily dismissed,” says Dr. James Talbot, the former chief medical officer of […]
Survey aims to capture patient experience
Patients who have spent time in hospital in Canada will soon be asked to rate their experience as part of an effort by the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI) to document and improve patient care across Canada. “CIHI has been really focused on health system performance reporting, and the kinds of things you need […]
Ebola needed better coordinated Canadian response
Canada needs to step up its game when responding to international disease outbreaks, says New Brunswick’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, who spent more than six months in Africa with the World Health Organization during the Ebola outbreak. Dr. Eilish Cleary was disappointed that the Public Health Agency of Canada was not able to deploy teams […]
Patient safety a matter of design
An international group of health care systems has begun a year-long project to gather and share data on how to design systems to improve patient safety. Leading Health Systems Network (LHSN), a partnership between Qatar’s World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) and Imperial College London, launched the Safer Care Accelerator in March to share best […]
Qatar is a research bonanza for foreigners
Qatar’s heavy investment in medical research is attracting Canadians. For Kim Critchley, dean of the University of Calgary’s Qatar campus, the biggest advantage to doing research in the tiny Arabian Gulf country is clear: the availability of research funding. “You have this large funding pool, and less competition to access funds,” she says. “Your chance […]