Patient Compliance

A new guideline aimed at helping clinicians identify the difficult-to-diagnose acute aortic syndrome is published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Acute aortic syndrome (AAS) is a life-threatening condition that underlies 1 in 2000 visits to the emergency department for severe chest or back pain. The rate of misdiagnosis is estimated to be as high as 38%, and the risk of death can increase 2% for every hour of delay in diagnosis.

Another record for monthly overdose deaths related to illicit drugs has been set in British Columbia, prompting the former provincial health officer to call for radical steps to reduce fatalities including access to pharmaceutical-grade heroin produced in Canada. Dr. Perry Kendall, now interim director at the BC Centre on Substance Use, said access to injectable diacetylmorphine needs to be ramped up after a sharp rise in overdose deaths four years after he declared a public health emergency.

Study reports significant delay in time to hospitalization compared to usual care when LAIAs are used in patients with early-phase schizophrenia

I think it’s about time to speak up for the mouth; the bowels have been getting entirely too much attention lately—as if they’re the only successful owners of a microbiome, the only hall that can accommodate a massive rally without needing crowd control. And they seem to thrive on numbers more than quality; there are very few first-names in the bowels. Very few memorable leaders.

Although the Canadian border has been closed since March 21 to limit the spread of COVID-19, the number of international travelers counted at Canadian airports has increased considerably in recent weeks. Between June 29 and July 12, 91,300 travelers entered Canada, according to the Canada Border Services Agency. About 40,000 of the 91,000 passengers were neither Canadian citizens nor permanent residents of the country.

Eight COVID-19 cases have been identified among the several thousands of people who attended rallies in Calgary and Edmonton. Similar events were held around the world after the death of George Floyd, a Black man whose neck a Minneapolis police officer compressed with his knee for nearly nine minutes.

Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro is escalating his pay dispute with doctors, asking the College of Physician and Surgeons to make rules to stop doctors from withdrawing services en masse. Shandro, in a letter dated June 18, says patients—particularly those in rural areas—have a right to timely access to care and that the college has to do more to make sure that happens.

The second in a video series from Dr. John Crosby

Nearly two weeks after a loosened travel agreement between their provinces came into effect, Atlantic Canadian premiers are not rushing to set a date to welcome visitors from the rest of the country. The Atlantic travel "bubble'' that opened July 3 allows residents of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island to travel between the four provinces without being required to self-isolate for 14 days.