Guidelines

The Liberal government taking steps toward promised changes to federal drug policy, while looking at how to reduce opioid-related deaths during the pandemic. The federal government launched a national consultation on supervised-consumption sites this week, saying they would be seeking comments from a variety of Canadians, including those who operate the sites—and those who use them.

A human rights adjudicator has ruled that the Manitoba government discriminated against a disabled Indigenous boy by not providing adequate health care. The province has been ordered to pay the boy and his mother $42,500. The case centres on Alfred (Dewey) Pruden, who was 16 years old when his human rights complaint was heard last year.

Review provides a comprehensive list of drug-drug interactions, with particular focus on Rx drugs with a narrow therapeutic index

As a member of the Equity in Medicine team, I volunteered to discuss the gender pay gap in Canada for an online hour-long session on a weekday evening in early July. I thought the attendance in the summer would be around a dozen people if we were lucky. The response was incredible, enough to make me hope (faintly) that women physicians in this country may finally have had enough of being treated so unfairly when it comes to remuneration and angry enough to push hard for justified change.

The president of the Canadian Medical Association is warning that the collision of COVID-19 and cold and flu season could bring a new host of health-care challenges when the cold weather sets in. Dr. Sandy Buchman says given the overlap in symptoms, it can be hard for doctors to distinguish the sniffles from the deadly disease.

The Winnipeg Free-Press and the CBC have reported that the CEO of St. Boniface Hospital is not self-isolating after travel in apparent violation of Manitoba's current public health orders. A spokesperson for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority told CBC that Martine Bouchard returned to work at the hospital in Winnipeg on Aug. 10 from her home in Quebec where she'd gone in April and worked remotely.

Paperless registrations, appointments and outdoor administration are among the recommendations from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) for the delivery of influenza vaccinations this season.

Doctors are anticipating that the collision of COVID-19 and cold and flu season could bring a new host of healthcare challenges when the cold weather sets in.