There are growing concerns globally of the health and
social harms caused by alcohol.(1) The harmful use of
alcohol resulted in approximately three million deaths
worldwide in 2016 (5.3% of all deaths globally).(1)
Increases in the global burden of disease attributable to
alcohol highlight the importance...
Health systems are moving away from traditional
primary care (e.g., by increasingly shifting to group
practice and interprofessional teams rather than solo
practice primary-care providers), which is often siloed
and results in barriers to timely access to care.(1) The
Ministry of Health of British Columb...
The 14 jurisdictions include one federal/national/panCanadian jurisdiction, 10 provincial jurisdictions, and three
territorial jurisdictions. The first of these jurisdictions
includes both areas of federal government responsibility for
providing healthcare – most notably for Indigenous peoples,
militar...
Hair removal is a necessary pre-surgical procedure prior
to performing genital gender-affirming surgeries such as
vaginoplasty and phalloplasty. For example, a recent
literature review on the topic notes that the use of hairbearing skin in gender-affirming surgical procedures can
result in post-operative...
Opioid addiction has emerged as a pressing publichealth challenge in recent years. From January 2016 to
March 2018 more than 8,000 opioid-related deaths were
recorded.(1) In 2018, the number of apparent opioidrelated deaths continues to rise, with more than 1,000
deaths in the first three months of the y...
Nurses have a long tradition of informally working in
expanded roles in rural and remote communities in
Canada (e.g., outpost nurses).(1; 2) The formalization of
the nurse practitioner role in Canada began in the mid1960s as a response to four interrelated factors: 1)
introduction of publicly funded heal...
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is used “to describe
a broader spectrum of presentations and disabilities resulting
from alcohol exposure in utero.”(1) FASD affects fetal and
brain development and may result in limitations to any of an
individual’s: memory; sensory integration; social
commun...
Momentum for patient and caregiver engagement in
health and social care is growing across Ontario.(1) This
is evidenced by a number of recently released strategies
and frameworks highlighting the importance of
involving Ontarians in their own care as informed
consumers of health and social services. One ...
Provincial and territorial health systems across Canada
continue to struggle with delivering timely access to
primary-care services. In 2016, 74% of Canadians reported
in the Commonwealth International Health Policy Survey
that they received excellent or very good care from their
regular doctor, which is...
Positioning primary care as the cornerstone of the
health system and establishing primary-care providers as
the gatekeepers and coordinators of care has been a
long-sought aim of health systems around the world.
Further, a main aim of this goal in Canada has been to
have a primary-care provider that is r...
