Each year, there are over 15 million visits to emergency departments across Canada. But new CIHI data shows that 15% of these — that’s 1 in 7 — could potentially have been treated by a doctor or nurse practitioner in primary care. While ED doctors don’t want to discourage anyone from going to emergency, they do acknowledge that this statistic highlights the crisis in primary care happening in Canada. This episode is available in English only.

https://www.cihi.ca/en/understanding-health-care-trajectories-of-people-living-with-dementia

The federal government reached a funding agreement recently with Canada’s provinces and territories that will add roughly $46.2 billion in new money over 10 years to be directed at 4 priority areas: family health services, health workers and backlogs, mental health and substance use, and a modernized health system. In this episode of the CHIP, we speak about what this agreement will mean for average people in Canada and how quickly we can expect to see the effect of this funding. Our guests are Dr. Jennifer Zelmer, president and CEO of Healthcare Excellence Canada; Annamarie Fuchs, a former registered nurse and author of Partners in Health Conversations; and Teri Price, whose brother died tragically in 2012 after falling through the cracks in our health care system. This episode is available in English only.

More people in Canada are receiving palliative care near the end of their lives than ever — but a lot of work remains. A new CIHI analysis shows there are still many who are not getting the care they need. In this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro speaks with Dr. Naheed Dosani — a palliative care physician at St. Michael’s Hospital at Unity Health Toronto, the lead physician for Palliative Education and Care for the Homeless (PEACH) at Inner City Health Associates and medical director at Kensington Hospice — about the future of palliative care in Canada and why it is such a critical part of health care. This episode is available in English only.

Virtual health care in Canada has boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic, offering Canadians unprecedented online access to medical professionals. Now, as the day-to-day effects of the pandemic are lessening in much of the country, the question on many minds is “will I still have this convenient option going forward?” In this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro speaks with Dr. Ewan Affleck, the senior medical advisor for health informatics at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta and chair of the Alberta Virtual Care Coordinating Body, about the future of virtual care in Canada and why he is so passionate about continuing its growth. This episode is available in English only.

Canada’s health care systems were already facing numerous challenges with wait times for surgeries before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Now those problems are far worse. On this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro speaks with Dr. David Urbach, head of the department of surgery at Women’s College Hospital and professor at the University of Toronto, about how hospitals and health systems in Canada are trying to deal with the huge backlog of surgeries and what could be done to fix the problems for the long term. This episode is available in English only.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed some clear gaps in Canada’s health care systems, including the need to better understand the roots of health inequalities and disparities based on race. On this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro speaks with Dr. Chika Stacy Oriuwa, poet, author, advocate and the only Black woman ever selected as sole valedictorian at the University of Toronto’s medical school, about the value of race-based data and the importance of Black representation in health care in Canada. This episode is available in English only.

In this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro speaks with nurse practitioners Cindy Fehr and Stan Marchuk about where their field fits in Canadian health care and the challenges they face.

Overuse of medical procedures and tests is a serious concern that costs Canada’s health care systems a lot of time and money and can even be harmful to patients. Host Avis Favaro is joined by Dr. Janet Reynolds and Dr. Wendy Levinson of Choosing Wisely Canada to discuss the roots of this issue, the progress made since a previous report on the topic in 2017 and alternatives to reduce overuse.

This episode is available in English.

Canada is facing an unprecedented shortage of health care professionals. COVID-19 is partly to blame, with some doctors and nurses simply burned out by the huge demands the pandemic has put on them. But there are several other key factors, including severe workplace stresses and a large cohort entering retirement age. On this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro discusses the causes of these issues along with possible solutions with Dr. Leigh Chapman, Canada’s new chief nursing officer, and Dr. Doug Sinclair, the vice president of Medicine, Quality and Safety and former chief of emergency medicine at IWK Health Centre in Halifax.  

This episode is available in English only. 

Audio clips courtesy CBC News, CTV News, CityNews

The COVID-19 pandemic changed life as Canadians knew it beginning in spring 2020, and among the hardest-hit groups were children and youth. On this week’s show, host Avis Favaro digs into the data with CIHI’s manager of Health System Analytics, Liudmila Husak. She is then joined by Chris Daken of Fredericton, N.B., who talks about losing his 16-year-old daughter, Lexi, to suicide amid the pandemic; and by Dr. Chris Wilkes, the division head for child and adolescent psychiatry for Alberta Health Services and the University of Calgary, on how mental health experts have been dealing with the effects the pandemic has had on our kids. This episode is available in English only.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced health care systems across the country to rapidly shift priorities to help save lives, but the result has been a huge backlog in care that will likely take a long time to fix. On this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro chats with Laura Greer, who developed breast cancer while missing out on screening tests during the pandemic; thoracic surgeon Dr. Christian Finley of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton; orthopedic surgeon Dr. Kishore Mulpuri of BC Children’s Hospital; and family physician Dr. Michael Green of Kingston, Ont., about their experiences during the height of the pandemic, the challenges health systems face and what needs to be done to get things back on track. This episode is available in English only.

40 amputations a day are performed at hospitals across Canada. And the single biggest culprit is diabetes. Host Avis Favaro meets with • Harish Rangan, who knows first-hand what it’s like to lose a limb to the disease • Dr. Karim Manji, director of the Zivot Limb Preservation Centre in Calgary, whose team is working on ways to reduce the number of amputations, with encouraging early successes This episode is available in English only.

Season 3 of the Canadian Health Information Podcast is coming soon and here to introduce herself ia our new host, Avis Favaro.

COVID-19 has impacted every aspect of the health care system in Canada, and one area where that impact is being felt the most is organ donation and transplantation. In 2020, there was a 14% decrease in solid organ transplants, with 4,129 Canadians on wait-lists to receive a transplant and 276 deaths while on wait-lists. Dr. Joseph Kim, nephrologist and co-chair of Health Canada’s Organ Donation and Transplantation Collaborative Data System Working Group, and patient Sandra Holdsworth, liver transplant recipient and award-winning advocate, join us on the CHIP to discuss what it’s like for physicians and patients inside the system and what can be done to save and improve more lives.

Canada’s universal health care system is a pillar of Canadian pride, but factors including geography and social determinants of health unfortunately mean that access to health care for Canadians living in rural and remote areas is often not the same as for those living in urban areas. We speak with Dr. Katharine Smart, a pediatrician who practises in Yukon and president of the Canadian Medical Association, to learn more about the challenges and opportunities associated with providing and receiving health care in rural and remote Canada.

The federal government’s recent speech from the throne included a key passage outlining the need for a better national health data strategy. We chat with Janet Davidson, administrator of the Nova Scotia Health Authority, and David O’Toole, CIHI’s president and CEO, about the importance of high-quality health data and how system enhancements could improve outcomes for people in Canada.

Canada typically spends billions of dollars a year on its health care systems, and for the first time, that number soared to over $300 billion in 2020 — spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. Helen Angus, Ontario’s deputy minister of health when the pandemic arrived in Canada, and Kim McGrail, a renowned health policy professor at UBC, join us on the CHIP to discuss the effects the pandemic has had on health care costs across the country. They also share their perspectives on what system planners should consider moving forward, and what Canadians should expect from these systems that are such a source of national pride.

Since the start of the pandemic, many Canadians have turned to online resources to stay informed. The crisis has been accompanied by an overabundance of information, and not all of it true, which has made it very difficult for people to find facts and reliable sources. We speak with André Picard, award-winning author and journalist, and health columnist at The Globe and Mail, about what it’s like to report during the pandemic, how social media has changed his work and the long-term effects he hopes COVID-19 will have on Canada’s health systems.

People in Canada observed the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation this autumn, after a heartbreaking summer that saw the recovery of thousands of remains from unmarked graves on the grounds of former Residential Schools across the country. We speak to Dr. Evan Adams, a Coast Salish from Tla’amin First Nation near Powell River, B.C., who is a renowned physician and public health expert, about the legacy of the Residential School system, its long-term impact on Indigenous health and the state of medical care for First Nations, Inuit and Metis people in Canada.

Since the first COVID-19 case in Canada was reported on January 25, 2020, Canadians’ lives have been affected on many fronts. There are still many unknowns factoring into what the future may look like, so we’ve brought in an expert to help Canadians understand some of what may lie on the other side of the pandemic: the chair of CIHI’s board of directors, Dr. Vivek Goel.

The global Covid-19 pandemic has been extremely taxing on many people’s mental health. In some cases, this has led to thoughts of self-harm and suicide. On this episode, we speak with two mental health care workers who help provide insight on the ongoing crisis and give us a glimpse behind the curtain at the lives of the responders on the other side of the phone lines.

Frontline healthcare workers in Canada have been disproportionally impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic – with a high number of cases and deaths. Respiratory Therapist Andrea Sikora and Dr. Kim Spencer share how the pandemic has affected their personal and professional lives and how they’ve coped through this extremely challenging time.

In this special edition of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro sits down with David O’Toole as he contemplates the biggest challenges and successes of his 10 years as CIHI’s president and CEO.

To read more about the Pan-Canadian Health Data Charter click here.

This episode is available in English only.

Dr. Alex Mihailidis, one of the top scientists at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, dedicated his life to developing technology to help people. When a scary accident landed him in his own facility for months, he learned some key lessons that changed his perspective forever.

While COVID-19 has knocked the opioid crisis out of the headlines, the factors that led to it are still in play. Even worse, many have been amplified. We speak with Josée Joliat, a public health nurse at Public Health Sudbury, and Dr. Mark Lysyshyn, the medical health officer at Vancouver Coastal Health, to get their perspectives on what pandemic measures and restrictions have meant in their communities. Vous préférez les balados français? Voyez le Balado d’information sur la santé au Canada.

Long-term care homes account for the highest rates of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Canada. The pandemic has revealed deeply concerning issues with the state of these facilities. Host Alex Maheux speaks with Dr. Samir Sinha, director of geriatrics at Sinai Health, about the root causes of these issues and how they are being addressed. Vous préférez les balados français? Voyez le Balado d’information sur la santé au Canada.

The Canadian Health Information Podcast (CHIP) offers in-depth conversations about Canada's health systems featuring people and data you can trust. We speak to the people behind the health policy and data, Canada’s health systems as well as those on the front lines and discuss the work being done to keep Canadians healthy. 

With an exodus of family doctors — due to burnout caused by heavy workloads, difficulties getting patient referrals and financial stress — 1 in 5 Canadians do not have direct access to primary care. Why is family medicine so important and what can we do to repair this over-burdened health care sector? Listen as host Avis Favaro speaks with 2 physicians who say they know how to turn this around — and that every Canadian should have the right to basic health care near their homes. Guests are • Dr. Jane Philpott, Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences, and Director, School of Medicine, Queen’s University; family physician; and former federal minister of health • Dr. Tara Kiran, Fidani Chair of Improvement and Innovation, University of Toronto; and Family Physician and Scientist, St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto This episode is available in English only.

According to the latest CIHI data, almost all (93%) patients experiencing homelessness were admitted to hospital via the emergency department — a high proportion that suggests inadequate access to primary care. In this episode of the CHIP, we’ll hear about the complex health needs of the growing number of people who are unhoused and turning to hospitals for help, and how doctors are working toward solutions. Guests are • Dr. Louis Francescutti, an emergency physician at the Royal Alexandra Hospital and the Northeast Community Health Centre in Edmonton, Alberta • Dr. Andrew Bond, executive medical officer at Inner City Health Associates and co-founder of the Canadian Network for the Health and Housing of People Experiencing Homelessness (CNH3) This episode is available in English only.

From staffing shortages and physician burnout to department closures and lengthy wait times, there is little question that Canada’s emergency departments are overwhelmed. Some EDs are so busy that hallways are packed with gurneys of patients waiting days to be admitted or, in some cases, choosing to walk away without receiving the emergency care they need. In this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro sits down with guests working on the front lines to discuss the ongoing crisis gripping Canada’s emergency departments, the impact on workers and patients, and what’s being done to ease the burden: • Dr. Fraser Mackay, emergency physician and assistant director of Workforce Planning for the Department of Emergency Medicine in Saint John, New Brunswick • David Leary, a veteran paramedic and spokesperson for Ambulance Paramedics of British Columbia. This episode is available in English only.

As Canada’s population ages, it is expected that an increasing number of people will become frail. Individuals living with frailty have an increased risk of the following: hospitalizations, longer hospital stays, hospital readmissions, emergency department visits and in-hospital death. New data shows that more than one-third of all hospitalized older adults in Canada are at risk of frailty. On this episode of the Canadian Health Information Podcast, host Avis Favaro speaks with Dr. Kenneth Rockwood, clinical research professor of frailty and aging at Dalhousie University in Halifax, about the harms of frailty and what we can do to better protect older adults at risk. This episode is available in English only. Learn more about frailty risk here: https://www.dal.ca/sites/gmr/our-tools/clinical-frailty-scale.html

Hospital harm — medical conditions that patients experience in hospital that they did not have when they were admitted — is on the rise. A new CIHI analysis shows that 1 in 17 patients admitted to hospital was unintentionally harmed during their stay. Meanwhile, nurses and other health care workers charged with caring for patients in Canada are struggling. Sick time and overtime hours are skyrocketing. In this episode of the CHIP, we are joined by Kate Parson, Health Human Resources program lead at CIHI; Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions; Kathleen Finlay, founder and CEO of The Compassion Innovation Lab and founder of the Center for Patient Protection ; and Annette Elliott Rose, vice president of Clinical Care Strategy and chief nurse executive at IWK Health to discuss these findings and what they mean for patients and the people who care for them. This episode is available in English only.

Clips from the following sources were used in this recording:

CTV News (Drivers dodge flames and smoke from Nova Scotia wildfire | DRAMATIC VIDEO)

CBC News (As unprecedented fire year rages on, experts warn of longer, more destructive seasons)

Reuters (Nova Scotia floods cause 'unimaginable' damage)

CTV News (State of emergency in Quebec | Mass flooding across the province)

The Guardian ('The era of global boiling has arrived' warns the UN – video)

CTV News (B.C. family suspects wildfire smoke contributed to 9-year-old's fatal asthma attack