CMAJ Podcasts

Dr. Ken Flegel, senior editor for CMAJ, interviews Dr. Finlay McAlister, Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Alberta and Assistant Director of the Epicore Centre. In a CMAJ research article, Dr. McAlister and colleagues followed 495 patients and found that frail patients are twice as likely to be readmitted or die within 30 days after discharge. The authors suggest that the Clinica...

Vancouver surgeon Dr. Neil Pollock reflects on changing demand for male circumcision both in Canada and the developing world. CMAJ Article: https://www.cmaj.ca/content/187/10/E295To request a transcript of this podcast, contact cmajgroup@cmaj.ca Comments or questions? Text us. Join us as we explore medical solutions that address the urgent need to change healthcare. Reach out to us about this or a...

Highlights from the May 19th issue of CMAJ, presented by Dr. John Fletcher, editor-in-chief. In this issue: ultrasound or near-infrared to guide peripheral IV catheterization in children, validation of a 1-hour rule-out rule-in algorithm for myocardial infarction, social media in medical education, global tobacco control, elder abuse, and more. Full issue table of contents: http://www.cmaj.ca/cont...

Dr. Matthew Stanbrook, deputy editor for CMAJ, interviews Maria Bennell, epidemiologist in Evaluative Clinical Sciences at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto. Mrs. Bennell and colleagues have published a study involving more than 39 000 patients receiving angiography in 18 cardiac centres between 2008 and 2011. They found that there is a twofold variation in the ratio of revascularizatio...

Dr. Moneeza Walji, editorial fellow, interviews Dr. Jason Nickerson, Clinical Investigator at the Bruyère Research Institute in Ottawa. Hospitals, medical personnel and patients are increasingly being attacked in conflict zones. International bodies have resolved to foster better reporting of such incidents. However, more must be done on a global level to bring perpetrators to account, argues Dr....

Dr. Kirsten Patrick, deputy editor, interviews both Dr. Ronald Labonté, Canada Research Chair in Globalization and Health Equity at the Institute of Population Health and Professor at the University of Ottawa, and Dr. Raphael Lencucha, Assistant Professor in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy at McGill University. In their commentary, published in CMAJ, Labonté and Lencucha propose a...

Dr. Kirsten Patrick, deputy editor for CMAJ, interviews Dr. Kelly Anderson, epidemiologist and Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Western University, co-author of a research article published in CMAJ. The authors of this cohort study that examines linked health and registry data from Ontario find that, among first-generation immigrants, some groups may be more at risk whereas...

Dr. Kirsten Patrick, deputy editor for CMAJ, interviews Dr. Corinne Hohl, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of British Columbia and scientist at the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Evaluation in Vancouver. Currently, Bill C-17 (Vanessa's Law) does not require health care providers to document serious adverse drug reactions, but mandates that health care institut...

Dr. Moneeza Walji, editorial fellow, interviews Dr. Amit Garg, nephrologist at London Health Sciences Centre and Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Western University. Dr. Garg and colleagues found that nitrofurantoin was less effective than other antibiotics for treatment of UTI in a large cohort of older women, regardless of the women’s estimated kidney function. Full article: https:...

Dr. Diane Kelsall, deputy editor, interviews Dr. Rob Whitley, Principal Investigator with the Douglas Institute in Montreal and Assistant Professor of psychiatry at McGill. In a commentary published in CMAJ, Whitley and colleagues discuss the steps needed to foster mental health “recovery”, which refers to the process whereby people with severe mental illness progress to live an autonomous, contri...

Dr. Diane Kelsall, deputy editor, interviews Dr. Jason Stull, veterinarian and Assistant Professor at Ohio State University. Dr. Stull has co-authored a review article published in CMAJ. The authors say that health care providers should counsel patients regarding safe pet ownership, particularly those who are pregnant or who have altered immunity, and families with exotic pets and very young child...

Dr. Moneeza Walji, editorial fellow, interviews Dr. Prabhat Jha, founding and current director of the Centre for Global Health Research in Toronto. In their commentary published in CMAJ, Dr. Jha and colleagues say that slowing tobacco sales in the next decade will depend on strengthening its implementation by increasing excise tax and improving anti-tobacco legislation. Published April 20, 2015, d...

Highlights from the April 21st issue of CMAJ, presented by Dr. Diane Kelsall, deputy editor. In this issue: Canada can afford universal pharmacare, failure to address at-risk drinking, drinking water advisories, persistence of meningococcal immunity, heart failure and ejection fraction, pitted keratolysis. Full issue table of contents: http://www.cmaj.ca/content/187/7.tocTo request a transcript of...

Dr. Moneeza Walji, editorial fellow, interviews Dr. Angel Petropanagos, postdoctoral fellow at Dalhousie University in Halifax. Some women who anticipate fertility decline due to the natural aging process may now choose to freeze their eggs to preserve their future fertility. Dr. Petropanagos discusses the benefits, risks, ethical concerns and societal implications of this practice to provide fami...

Highlights from the April 7th issue of CMAJ, presented by Dr. John Fletcher, editor-in-chief. In this issue: reducing imaging for low-back pain, incidental findings of genetic mutations and whether or not Canadians want to know about them, fair pricing for old orphan drugs, childhood obesity guidelines, and more. Full issue table of contents: http://www.cmaj.ca/content/187/6.toc Comments or questi...

Dr. Diane Kelsall, deputy editor, interviews Dr. Xuyi Mimi Wang, fellow in geriatrics at McMaster University. In a review published in CMAJ, Dr. Wang and colleagues discuss the complex and common issue of elder abuse. Although evidence to support screening and any particular intervention is weak, physicians must be skilled in handling this important problem. Wang and colleagues discuss an advocacy...

Dr. Matthew Stanbrook, deputy editor for CMAJ, interviews Dr. Danielle Martin, family physician and VP of Medical Affairs and Health System Solutions at Women's College Hospital in Toronto. Dr. Martin and colleagues say that implementing universal public coverage of prescription drugs in Canada would be estimated to reduce total spending by $7.2 billion while increasing government costs by on...

Dr. Diane Kelsall, deputy editor, interviews Dr. Patricia Parkin, pediatrician at the Hospital for Sick Children, professor with the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine. CMAJ recently published new recommendations from the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care, where Dr. Parkin is chair of the child obesity working group. The Task Force recommends structured behavioural interventions...

Highlights from the March 17th issue of CMAJ, presented by Dr. John Fletcher, editor-in-chief, and Dr. Domhnall MacAuley, associate editor. In this issue: how different duty schedules affect day-time sleepiness of residents, using the Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale (RUDAS) cognitive assessment tool for multicultural populations, who gets appropriate follow-up after visiting an emergen...

Interview with Paula Brauer, head of the adult obesity working group at the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care. This latest guideline from the Task Force, published in CMAJ, focuses on the growing epidemic of obesity in adults, recommendations for prevention of weight gain and use of behavioural and pharmacologic interventions to manage overweight and obesity in adults in primary care....

Highlights from the March 3rd issue of CMAJ, presented by Dr. Kirsten Patrick, deputy editor, and Dr. Domhnall MacAuley, associate editor. In this issue: seasonal variation of nocturnal leg cramps, concerns over the use of quinine to treat leg cramps, quality indicators of pharmacotherapy, dangers of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole co-prescribed with spironolactone, IV immunoglobulin as therapy, hum...

Interview with Dr. Sheryl Spithoff, addiction medicine specialist and family physician at Women's College Hospital in Toronto who co-authored a commentary published in CMAJ. Spithoff and Dr. Suzanne Turner say the Canadian health care system provides inadequate access to effective treatment for at-risk drinking and alcohol use disorders. However, improved physician training, combined with str...

Interview with Dr. Dennis Ko, interventional cardiologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto and senior scientist with the Institute of Clinical Evaluative Sciences. Dr. Ko and colleagues found that patients discharged after an emergency department visit for chest pain were less likely to be seen within 30 days by a primary care physician or cardiologist if they had known cardiac or c...

Highlights from the February 17th issue of CMAJ, presented by Dr. Kirsten Patrick, deputy editor, and Dr. Matthew Stanbrook, deputy editor. In this issue: adverse outcomes among patients co-prescribed clarithromycin and statins, cost-effectiveness of screening for hepatitis C, sofosbuvir to treat hepatitis C, unsanctioned travel restrictions related to Ebola, caring for Aboriginal patients, lung-p...

Interview with Dr. Raza Naqvi, assistant professor of geriatrics at Western University. In their systematic review and meta-analysis published in CMAJ, Dr. Naqvi and colleagues found that the RUDAS, a brief and freely available tool, compares well with standard tools assessing cognitive deficits. It was developed for particular use among patients whose first language is not English, which makes it...