Canadian Health Information Podcast

From staffing shortages and physician burnout to department closures and lengthy wait times, there is little question that Canada’s emergency departments are overwhelmed. Some EDs are so busy that hallways are packed with gurneys of patients waiting days to be admitted or, in some cases, choosing to walk away without receiving the emergency care they need. In this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Fa...

As Canada’s population ages, it is expected that an increasing number of people will become frail. Individuals living with frailty have an increased risk of the following: hospitalizations, longer hospital stays, hospital readmissions, emergency department visits and in-hospital death. New data shows that more than one-third of all hospitalized older adults in Canada are at risk of frailty. On thi...

Hospital harm — medical conditions that patients experience in hospital that they did not have when they were admitted — is on the rise. A new CIHI analysis shows that 1 in 17 patients admitted to hospital was unintentionally harmed during their stay. Meanwhile, nurses and other health care workers charged with caring for patients in Canada are struggling. Sick time and overtime hours are skyrocke...

Sky-high temperatures, wildfires clouding cities with smoke, damaging floods and many people suffering from mental health issues related to anxiety about global warming. In this episode of the CHIP, we are joined by Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, to discuss the effects of climate change on health, some of the larger changes that are needed and what average people in Canada...

The federal government reached a funding agreement recently with Canada’s provinces and territories that will add roughly $46.2 billion in new money over 10 years to be directed at 4 priority areas: family health services, health workers and backlogs, mental health and substance use, and a modernized health system. In this episode of the CHIP, we speak about what this agreement will mean for avera...

More people in Canada are receiving palliative care near the end of their lives than ever — but a lot of work remains. A new CIHI analysis shows there are still many who are not getting the care they need. In this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro speaks with Dr. Naheed Dosani — a palliative care physician at St. Michael’s Hospital at Unity Health Toronto, the lead physician for Palliative Edu...

Virtual health care in Canada has boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic, offering Canadians unprecedented online access to medical professionals. Now, as the day-to-day effects of the pandemic are lessening in much of the country, the question on many minds is “will I still have this convenient option going forward?” In this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro speaks with Dr. Ewan Affleck, the sen...

Canada’s health care systems were already facing numerous challenges with wait times for surgeries before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Now those problems are far worse. On this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro speaks with Dr. David Urbach, head of the department of surgery at Women’s College Hospital and professor at the University of Toronto, about how hospitals and health systems in Canada ar...

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed some clear gaps in Canada’s health care systems, including the need to better understand the roots of health inequalities and disparities based on race. On this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro speaks with Dr. Chika Stacy Oriuwa, poet, author, advocate and the only Black woman ever selected as sole valedictorian at the University of Toronto’s medical school, abou...

In this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro speaks with nurse practitioners Cindy Fehr and Stan Marchuk about where their field fits in Canadian health care and the challenges they face. Episode transcripts can be found on our podcast web page . Learn more about the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) . Say hello on LinkedIn , Facebook and Instagram , or subscribe to our YouTube cha...

Overuse of medical procedures and tests is a serious concern that costs Canada’s health care systems a lot of time and money and can even be harmful to patients. Host Avis Favaro is joined by Dr. Janet Reynolds and Dr. Wendy Levinson of Choosing Wisely Canada to discuss the roots of this issue, the progress made since a previous report on the topic in 2017 and alternatives to reduce overuse. This...

Canada is facing an unprecedented shortage of health care professionals. COVID-19 is partly to blame, with some doctors and nurses simply burned out by the huge demands the pandemic has put on them. But there are several other key factors, including severe workplace stresses and a large cohort entering retirement age. On this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro discusses the causes of these issu...

The COVID-19 pandemic changed life as Canadians knew it beginning in spring 2020, and among the hardest-hit groups were children and youth. On this week’s show, host Avis Favaro digs into the data with CIHI’s manager of Health System Analytics, Liudmila Husak. She is then joined by Chris Daken of Fredericton, N.B., who talks about losing his 16-year-old daughter, Lexi, to suicide amid the pandemic...

The COVID-19 pandemic forced health care systems across the country to rapidly shift priorities to help save lives, but the result has been a huge backlog in care that will likely take a long time to fix. On this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro chats with Laura Greer, who developed breast cancer while missing out on screening tests during the pandemic; thoracic surgeon Dr. Christian Finley o...

Season 3 of the Canadian Health Information Podcast is coming soon and here to introduce herself ia our new host, Avis Favaro. Episode transcripts can be found on our podcast web page. Learn more about the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). Say hello on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram, or subscribe to our YouTube channel. You can also stay up to date on the latest news and upcoming...

COVID-19 has impacted every aspect of the health care system in Canada, and one area where that impact is being felt the most is organ donation and transplantation. In 2020, there was a 14% decrease in solid organ transplants, with 4,129 Canadians on wait-lists to receive a transplant and 276 deaths while on wait-lists. Dr. Joseph Kim, nephrologist and co-chair of Health Canada’s Organ Donation an...

Canada’s universal health care system is a pillar of Canadian pride, but factors including geography and social determinants of health unfortunately mean that access to health care for Canadians living in rural and remote areas is often not the same as for those living in urban areas. We speak with Dr. Katharine Smart, a pediatrician who practises in Yukon and president of the Canadian Medical Ass...

The federal government’s recent speech from the throne included a key passage outlining the need for a better national health data strategy. We chat with Janet Davidson, administrator of the Nova Scotia Health Authority, and David O’Toole, CIHI’s president and CEO, about the importance of high-quality health data and how system enhancements could improve outcomes for people in Canada. Episode tran...

Canada typically spends billions of dollars a year on its health care systems, and for the first time, that number soared to over $300 billion in 2020 — spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. Helen Angus, Ontario’s deputy minister of health when the pandemic arrived in Canada, and Kim McGrail, a renowned health policy professor at UBC, join us on the CHIP to discuss the effects the pandemic has had on...

Since the start of the pandemic, many Canadians have turned to online resources to stay informed. The crisis has been accompanied by an overabundance of information, and not all of it true, which has made it very difficult for people to find facts and reliable sources. We speak with André Picard, award-winning author and journalist, and health columnist at The Globe and Mail, about what it’s like...

People in Canada observed the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation this autumn, after a heartbreaking summer that saw the recovery of thousands of remains from unmarked graves on the grounds of former Residential Schools across the country. We speak to Dr. Evan Adams, a Coast Salish from Tla’amin First Nation near Powell River, B.C., who is a renowned physician and public health expert,...

Since the first COVID-19 case in Canada was reported on January 25, 2020, Canadians’ lives have been affected on many fronts. There are still many unknowns factoring into what the future may look like, so we’ve brought in an expert to help Canadians understand some of what may lie on the other side of the pandemic: the chair of CIHI’s board of directors, Dr. Vivek Goel. Episode transcripts can be...

The global Covid-19 pandemic has been extremely taxing on many people’s mental health. In some cases, this has led to thoughts of self-harm and suicide. On this episode, we speak with two mental health care workers who help provide insight on the ongoing crisis and give us a glimpse behind the curtain at the lives of the responders on the other side of the phone lines. Episode transcripts can be f...

Frontline healthcare workers in Canada have been disproportionally impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic – with a high number of cases and deaths. Respiratory Therapist Andrea Sikora and Dr. Kim Spencer share how the pandemic has affected their personal and professional lives and how they’ve coped through this extremely challenging time. Episode transcripts can be found on our podcast web page. Learn...

Dr. Alex Mihailidis, one of the top scientists at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, dedicated his life to developing technology to help people. When a scary accident landed him in his own facility for months, he learned some key lessons that changed his perspective forever. Episode transcripts can be found on our podcast web page. Learn more about the Canadian Institute for Health Information...