CMAJ Podcasts

Hospitals today can look like shopping malls or, depending on your level of cynicism, Toys R Us. Some scholars of history argue these design changes reflect advances in medical knowledge and technology. But Annmarie Adams, a scholar of medical architecture and director of the McGill University School of Architecture, has a different take. Full article (subscription required): www.cmaj.ca/lookup/do...

Interview with Dr. David Liu, Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Radiology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. In their clinical practice guideline, Dr. Liu and colleagues provide recommendations on the diagnosis and management of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), including anticoagulation, thrombus removal strategies and inferior vena cava filters. The poor outcomes seen...

Highlights of the September 22nd issue of CMAJ, presented by Dr. John Fletcher, editor-in-chief. In this issue: funding for Cochrane Canada must continue, nasal balloon autoinflation as an effective and simple intervention for glue ear, recovery from severe mental illness is more than just symptom management, guidelines for reducing pain during vaccine injections, and more. Full issue table of con...

Interview with Dr. Sheryl Spithoff, addiction medicine specialist and family physician at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto. In a CMAJ analysis article, Dr. Spithoff and colleagues look at policies in jurisdictions where cannabis has already been legalized. A Canadian government formed after October 2015 may move away from prohibitionist policies and create a legal framework for cannabis. If so,...

Interview with Dr. Noni MacDonald, Professor of Pediatrics at Dalhousie University with a clinical appointment in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Recent evidence from Ontario suggests that vaccine hesitancy and refusal may be on the rise. In a commentary published in CMAJ, Dr. MacDonald and colleague Ève Dubé discuss the importance of immunization su...

In older adults living in long-term care facilities, fractures cause pain, agitation, immobility and transfer to hospital. Based on systematic reviews of the evidence, this guideline provides recommendations to prevent fractures in this vulnerable group. These evidence-based strategies are presented by Dr. Alexandra Papaioannou, Professor of Medicine at McMaster University in the Division of Geria...

Highlights of the September 8th issue of CMAJ, presented by Dr. Diane Kelsall, deputy editor. In this issue: rethinking treatment in older patients with spinal cord injury, why the federal government must play an active role in health care, imaging for early stage breast cancer, regulating electronic cigarettes, the need for speed in acute ischemic stroke, and more. Full issue table of contents: w...

Interview with Dr. Jocelyn Gravel, pediatric emergency physician and research director at Sainte-Justine hospital in Montreal. In a research article published in CMAJ, Dr. Gravel and colleagues derived and validated a clinical decision rule to identify skull fracture following minor head trauma in young children. The rule should make it possible to identify about 90% of skull fractures in young ch...

Interview with Dr. Matthew Johnson, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Renewed interest in the use of psychedelic drugs as treatments for illnesses such as anxiety, addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder has led to small controlled studies. In association with psychotherapy some psychedelic drugs have shown good effects w...

Interview with Anna Taddio, Professor in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto. This guideline, co-authored by Dr. Taddio, provides practical recommendations for reducing pain during vaccine injections in all age groups. Pain from vaccine injections is common, and concerns about pain contribute to vaccine hesitancy across the lifespan. Full guideline: https://www.cmaj.ca/...

Interview with Dr. Kris Aubrey-Bassler, family physician and associate professor in the Primary Healthcare Research Unit at Memorial University. In their observational study, Dr. Aubrey-Bassler and colleagues analyzed administrative data for all hospital births in Canada (except Quebec) between April 2006 and March 2009, comprising nearly 800 000 babies and 800 000 mothers. Instrumental variable a...

A research article by McAlister et. al., published in CMAJ, looks at level of physician experience and its effect on important patient outcomes that proxy for quality of care. Physician groups were stratified according to years since graduation. Dr. Matthew Stanbrook, deputy editor, provides an editor's summary of the article and its findings. Full article: https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1...

CMAJ deputy editors Dr. Matthew Stanbrook and Dr. Kirsten Patrick discuss an editorial written by Dr. Stanbrook. Too often, at election time, Canadians ignore pressing health care concerns and let economic fears dominate how we vote. This needs to change. A plan for strong federal leadership in health should be front and centre in this year’s election. Full article: https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/...

Highlights of the August 11th issue of CMAJ, presented by Dr. Diane Kelsall, deputy editor. In this issue: association between frailty and risk of early readmission or death, too much preoperative testing before low-risk surgical procedures, prevention of urinary tract infections in patients with spinal cord injury, noninsured services provided with insured cataract surgery, improving the reportin...

Interview with Valerie Tarasuk, Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences and cross-appointed to the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. In a research article published in CMAJ, Tarasuk and colleagues found that income-related problems with access to food were associated with increased use of health care services and health care costs. Policy interventions th...

Interview with Dr. Michael Hill, neurologist and Director of the Stroke Unit at the Foothills Hospital in Calgary, and Associate Professor of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Calgary. In a review article published in CMAJ, Dr. Hill and colleagues compare ischemic stroke with acute coronary syndrome. Both are caused by sudden arterial occlusion and time to treatment is a critical factor...

Interview with Dr. Mark Tyndall, infection disease specialist, Professor of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia, and Executive Director of the BC CDC. In a commentary published in CMAJ, Dr. Tyndall draws attention to the fact that although new treatments for hepatitis C virus are much more effective, we must not forget to address the social drivers of the disease, es...

Interview with Dr. Ian Williamson, Associate Professor of Primary Care with the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton in the UK. In a pragmatic randomized control trial published in CMAJ, Dr. Williamson and colleagues found that nasal balloon autoinflation is a feasible, safe and effective treatment that should be used more often. Having children with chronic otitis media with effus...

Highlights of the July 14th issue of CMAJ, presented by Dr. John Fletcher, editor-in-chief. In this issue: benefits and risks of owning a pet, model for predicting death one year after hospital admission, variations in treatment strategies for stable ischemic heart disease, CMAJ Humanities launches a redesigned section, phototoxic reaction after making sangria, resurgence of pertussis, and more. F...

Health research involving people in marginalized populations can be challenging, and recruitment is often difficult. One approach, respondent-driven sampling, takes advantage of connections between people in these groups, who recruit each other in a chain-referral (friend of a friend) manner. In this interview, Dr. Ann Jolly, Associate Professor in the School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Pre...

Practice guidelines recommend that imaging to detect metastases not be performed in the majority of patients with early-stage breast cancer who are asymptomatic. In a research article published in CMAJ, Dr. Demetrios Simos and colleagues found that, despite these recommendations, most Ontario women with early-stage breast cancer underwent imaging to detect distant metastases. Dr. Matthew Stanbrook...

Dr. Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, joins CMAJ News to reflect on his career fighting two of the most feared viruses of our time. In 1976, he codiscovered Ebola. And as founding director of UNAIDS, Dr. Piot has been a champion in the global response to HIV. For these efforts, he recently received the Canada Gairdner Global Health Award. In this podcast...

Highlights of the June 16th issue of CMAJ, presented by Dr. Diane Kelsall, deputy editor. In this issue: Canadian policies on radon, developmental coordination disorder in school-age children, social egg freezing, nitrofurantoin for UTIs in older women, psychotic disorders among immigrant populations, and more. Full issue table of contents: http://www.cmaj.ca/content/187/9.toc Comments or question...

Interview with Dr. Sacha Bhatia, cardiologist at Women’s College Hospital and UHN in Toronto and Director of the Women’s College Hospital Institute for Health System Solutions and Virtual Care. In a CMAJ research article, Dr. Bhatia and colleagues found that preoperative ECG and chest radiography were performed more frequently than suggested in guidelines. Using routine health records for 1.5 mill...

Interview with Dr. Chryssa McAlister, eye physician and surgeon in Toronto and Kitchener, Ontario, with academic appointments at McMaster University and the University of Toronto. In an analysis article published in CMAJ, Dr. McAlister and colleagues say it is important to discuss with patients any noninsured services (such as specialized diagnostics, procedures and special-feature intraocular len...