OMA Spotlight on Health

Many Ontario patients are waiting weeks or even months to see a specialist. In this third episode of a three-part series, physicians explain how a centralized referral system could help alleviate anxiety and uncertainty around wait times, based on the Ontario Medical Association's Prescription for Ontario: Doctors’ Solutions for Immediate Action advocacy document. Listen in as we hear from Dr...

Primary care in Ontario is in crisis, and team-based care is a key solution to helping the 2.3 million people in the province without a family doctor. In this second episode of a three-part series, physicians explain the benefits of team-based care for themselves, the patients they serve and the system as a whole, based on the Ontario Medical Association's Prescription for Ontario: Doctors’ S...

A rise in hallway health care and bloated emergency departments has become a norm in Ontario's health-care system. This first episode of a three-part series hears from physicians working in the home- and community-based care sector in the province, as they discuss the issues behind hospital overcrowding and the solutions based on the Ontario Medical Association's Prescription for Ontario...

In this episode, Dr. David Barber, chair of the OMA’s Section on General and Family Practice and assistant professor at Queen’s University’s department of family medicine, discusses the challenges facing the primary health system in Ontario, along with some possible solutions. He speaks about how family doctors are facing growing administrative burdens and increasing care requirements for patients...

Statistics reveal that less than one per cent of Canadian doctors identify as Indigenous. In this podcast episode, physicians discuss the barriers to mental-health services Indigenous doctors face and how the OMA’s Physician Health Program is working to bridge these gaps. Through personal stories and clinical experiences, they share the importance of culturally competent care that understands and...

Physicians weigh in on the influential role doctors can play outside of their practices as advocates for health care. Personal stories and perspectives shared illustrate the difference they’ve made in their communities, health-care settings and the system overall, as well as the patients who benefit most.

Studies show that the use of medical scribes to document details of patient visits and take on onerous paperwork has relieved physicians, freeing them up to focus on the work they do best: personalized, one-to-one patient care. In this podcast, doctors discuss the evolving role of medical scribes, training required, financial implications on a practice and their future potential both in human and...

Physicians speak to the importance of multicultural representation in Ontario’s health-care system, and the need for culturally sensitive care that considers patients’ social determinants of health. Sharing their professional experiences, family and emergency physician, Dr. Latif Murji and Dr. Catherine Yu, medical director of Health Access Thorncliffe Park and chair of the East Toronto Family Pra...

The Ontario Medical Association is calling on the provincial government to put money in the upcoming budget to find and keep more doctors, address wait times and improve palliative care. The OMA has a comprehensive plan for fixing the health-care system over the next few years, Prescription for Ontario: Doctors’ 5-Point Plan for Better Health Car e. While working on those bigger issues, the OMA ha...

In this second part of two-part Spotlight on Health podcast series for Black History Month, Ontario doctors discuss how physicians can build relationships and cultivate trust with Black patients, while emphasizing the need for an increase in Black physician and medical school representation to provide equitable health care to Black Ontarians. 

This February, during Black History Month, five Ontario physicians discuss how systemic racism infiltrates into Ontario’s health-care system, the implicit biases Black patients face and inequitable care they often receive. Solutions, they say, need to focus on removing inequities, listening to Black communities and building up trust in a system known for its historical mistreatment of Black people...

In the second part of this Spotlight on Health podcast episode, Ontario doctors and physicians in training discuss how medical schools are adapting and innovating curriculum to meet the demands and challenges of the health-care system, while preparing the next generation of doctors for the future. Training, they agree, must prioritize a community-focused, team-based approach to health care that su...

In the first part of this Spotlight on Health podcast episode, Ontario doctors and physicians in training discuss the future of medicine and the role medical schools, technological innovation, societal demands and next-generation doctors will play in its evolution. Reflecting on professional experience, they share how a health-care system that focuses on health human resources and team-based care,...

Medical technologies, such as artificial intelligence and data analytics, are shifting how physicians make decisions and treat their patients in real time, whether in a specialist’s clinic or an emergency department. Yet, their potential is far from fully realized. In the second episode of this two-part podcast, four physicians – Dr. Chandi Chandrasena, family physician in Ottawa and chief medical...

Ontario physicians are amid a digital transformation, adopting increasingly sophisticated technologies that help better serve patients and simplify day-to-day operations across health-care settings. In the first episode of this two-part podcast, four physicians – Dr. Chandi Chandrasena, family physician in Ottawa and chief medical officer at OntarioMD; Dr. Amol Verma, physician of general internal...

Our health-care system is evolving to keep up with technological innovation and evolving patient needs. Behind this transformation, today’s physicians are adapting, balancing the rise in medical information, increased administrative demands, elevated patient expectations and increasingly complex care requirements. In this podcast, Dr. Veronica Legnini, a family physician in Kingston and chair of t...

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the conversation around mental health and the effects of burnout on our physicians and medical community to the forefront. We’ve become increasingly aware that those treating patients must also look out for their own health and well-being. In this podcast, Dr. Jon Novick, medical director of OMA’s Physician Health Program, and Dr. Judy Suke, a family physician focused...

The OMA is calling for increased access to palliative care, as way to ease the strain on the health-care system overall. In this podcast, Dr. Sandy Buchman, a palliative care physician and medical director of North York General Hospital's Freeman Centre for the Advancement of Palliative Care, talks about how palliative care could be delivered more effectively, how increasing hospice beds woul...

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges for our health-care community, the impact of which is still being felt today, almost three years later. In this podcast, Dr. Frank Sommers, founding chair of Disaster Psychiatry Canada at the University of Toronto, addresses the toll health disasters, like pandemics, take on society dependent upon the effects and subsequent reacti...

With virtual care now a permanent official component of Ontario’s health-care system, physicians continue to experiment with how best to serve patients under a hybrid model. In this podcast, Dr. Hemant Shah, Toronto hepatologist and vice-chair of the OMA’s Negotiations Task Force, and Dr. Stephen Cooper, a family practitioner on Manitoulin Island, discuss the rise of virtual care out of necessity...

In addition to earning less due to a gender pay gap, female doctors come up against other financial inequities on the job such as being tasked with uncompensated work or lacking return-to-work support post maternity leave. In this podcast, Dr. Stephanie Zhou, a Toronto addictions physician and financial lecturer, breaks down how to overcome these barriers, while offering valuable fiscal advice to...

The gender pay gap is an unpleasant reality in many industries and is also pervasive in Ontario's health-care system. In this second of a two-part series, Dr. Clover Hemans, co-chair of the OMA Women Committee; Dr. Simron Singh, medical oncologist and member of the OMA Burnout Task Force; and Dr. Samantha Hill, cardiologist and OMA past president continue their discussion on the gender pay ga...

The gender pay gap is a persistent reality spanning Ontario’s health-care system. In the first of a two-part series, Dr. Clover Hemans, co-chair of the OMA Women Committee; Dr. Simron Singh, medical oncologist and member of the OMA Burnout Task Force; and Dr. Samantha Hill, cardiologist and OMA past president shed light on what’s behind the challenges female physicians face across their careers an...

On this episode, we hear from Dr. Tim Guimond, the mental health director at HQ Toronto and Dr. Amy Bourns at family physician at Sherbourne Health Toronto, who discuss the impact of the pandemic on LGBTQ patients and ways care can be improved for this community.

On this episode, we hear from Dr. Jim Wright, OMA chief of Economics, Policy and Research on what the association and its members learned from the worst health-care crisis in generations. From the importance of building trusting alliances among stakeholders and government officials to updating a pandemic plan every five years, this experience with COVID will not be forgotten.