CMAJ Podcasts

In this narrative, Dr. Jonathan Gray remembers a former patient who has been labeled a pedophile. This true story reminds us that it’s often easy to condemn but far more difficult to understand. Dr. Gray is a forensic psychiatrist at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, in Ottawa, Ontario. His Humanities Encounters article is published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. It is called &q...

Canada has long been the only high-income country with a universal health insurance system that excludes universal coverage of prescription drugs. In this podcast, Steve Morgan and Michael Wolfson, two prominent health policy and economics researchers, propose a detailed funding model for national pharmacare that would result in savings. Steve Morgan is a professor of health policy in the School o...

In this podcast, Dr. Tina Hu and Dr. Adam Pyle describe in detail how to treat opioid use disorder with buprenorphine-naloxone (Suboxone). They cover which patients are good candidates, how it compares to methadone, how it should be administered, what needs to happen in terms of follow-up. They discuss all of this in the context of the latest evidence. Dr. Tina Hu is a family medicine resident phy...

In this podcast, we hear from Dr. Ronald Epstein, family physician, palliative care physician, author, musician, researcher. He is also an expert on integrating mindfulness in medicine. He is the subject of a Humanities Profile article published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The article is written by Dr. Miriam Shuchman, who is both psychiatrist and journalist. Full humanities artic...

Major prizes, such as the Gairdner or the Nobel, are one of the indicators of how well we’re doing in health and biomedical research in Canada. In this podcast, Dr. David Naylor analyzes why there has been a decline in the number of Canadians winning major health research prizes. Dr. David Naylor is professor of medicine and former president of the University of Toronto. He has a longstanding inte...

Two conversations about partnering with patients to improve health research. This podcast offers practical tips and lessons learned along the way. First, researcher Joanna Henderson and youth-partner Jacqueline Relihan chat about their project that seeks to improve youth access to mental health and addiction services. Jacqueline shares how youth like her helped shape the research study from the ve...

In this narrative, Dr. Shaurya Taran, recounts the time he did an observership in northern India where he was born. The Kullu Valley, as he says, is a place where mysticism runs as deep as the tree’s roots and where the sacred deodars were protectors of the people. Dr. Taran is a third-year internal medicine resident at the University of Toronto. His Humanities Encounters article is published in t...

In this podcast, Dr. Heather Orpana and Dr. Justin Lang discuss the Canadian data from the Global Burden of Disease Study, a large and systematic effort to describe the burden of diseases and injuries in 195 countries over the past 3 decades. Heather Orpana is a research scientist at the Public Health Agency of Canada, and an adjunct professor with the School of Epidemiology and Public Health at t...

In this podcast, Dr. Amit Garg discusses curcumin, its anti-inflammatory properties, and its usage as a natural health product. He describes a randomized-controlled trial he co-authored. In the study, oral curcumin was found to have no effect on biomarkers of organ injury and inflammatory response after abdominal aortic aneurysm repair. Dr. Amit Garg is a nephrologist and professor of medicine, ep...

In this podcast, Dr. Mara Sobel and Dr. Melissa Walker discuss screening, assessing, and diagnosing ovarian cancer, for the primary care physician. Dr. Melissa Walker is a fifth-year resident in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Toronto. And Dr. Mara Sobel is an OBGYN and Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. Both work at Women’s College Hospital at the Preventive Ovarian...

In this podcast, Dr. Sheldon Tobe and Dr. Rahul Jain discuss the 2018 update to the Canadian Cardiovascular Harmonized National Guideline Endeavour (C-CHANGE). This guideline is meant for primary care physicians to help manage patients with heart disease or patients at risk for heart disease. Dr. Sheldon Tobe is co-chair of the C-CHANGE process, nephrologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre an...

In this podcast, Prof. Anita Kozyrskyj explains the link between usage of household cleaning products, changes in the gut microbiota and increased risk of obesity in children. She also explains the opposite results they found with usage of eco-friendly cleaning products. The study she co-authored is published in CMAJ.Prof. Anita Kozyrskyj is a researcher and professor in the department of pediatri...

In this podcast, Dr. Bram Rochwerg and Dr. Shannon Fernando discuss Sepsis-3, the Third International Consensus Definitions for Sepsis and Septic Shock. They explain the role of the Sepsis-3 definitions and clinical criteria, and discuss the confusion surrounding their clinical use. Dr. Shannon Fernando is a fifth-year resident in emergency and critical care medicine at the University of Ottawa. D...

Sepsis can have devastating consequences. But it is a disease that it sometimes difficult to identify in a timely manner. In this podcast, Dr. Mark Ansermino, discusses how data-driven automated tools could be the key to fast recognition and treatment of sepsis in children. Dr. Mark Ansermino, is a paediatric anesthesiologist and director of the centre for international child health at BC Children...

In this podcast, Dr. Sharon Straus and Prof. Monika Kastner share the results of their research on effectiveness of interventions for managing multiple high-burden chronic diseases affecting older adults. They discuss whether the single-disease approach to management is better than an integrated multi-disease approach to care. Prof. Monika Kastner is Research Chair in Knowledge Translation and Imp...

We bring you an interview from almost 20 years ago. Michael Bliss, medical historian and celebrated scholar, dug deep into the life of legendary physician Sir William Osler. He shares what he found.-----------------------------------Subscribe to CMAJ Podcasts on Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Overcast, Instacast, or your favourite aggregator. You can also follow us directly on our...

In this narrative, Dr. Donald Weaver takes his dad to the Alzheimer clinic for a check-up. He meets funny characters along the way. Dr. Weaver is a neurologist and director of the Krembil Research Institute in Toronto, Ontario. His Humanities Encounters article is published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. It is called "In the Alzheimer waiting room."To read the article: www....

In this narrative, Dr. Tony Bruno shares the story of a young patient he treated overseas during a humanitarian mission. Dr. Bruno is a family and emergency doctor in Calgary, Alberta, who works primarily as an international humanitarian physician. His Humanities Encounters article is published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. It is called "Yousef's story."To view the ph...

In this narrative, Dr. Mike Gross shares the story of the death of his father and reflects on medically assisted dying in this context. Dr. Gross is an orthopedic surgeon at the QEII Health Sciences Centre and a professor at Dalhousie University School of Medicine in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His Humanities Encounters article is published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. It is titled &quot...

In this podcast, Dr. Ainsley Moore discusses a clinical practice guideline on behalf of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care. This guideline, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, reexamines the evidence behind a routine part of prenatal care: screening for asymptomatic bacteriuria in pregnancy. Dr. Ainsley Moore is a family physician and Associate Clinical Professor...

In this narrative, Dr. Damon Dagnone shares how helping others with grief can be healing. Dr. Dagnone is an emergency physician at Kingston General Hospital and Associate Professor at Queen’s University School of Medicine in Kingston, Ontario. His Humanities Encounters article is published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. It is titled "Facing grief." Full article: www.cmaj.ca...

In this interview, Dr. Dallas Seitz explains community-based approaches to identifying and supporting older adults with dementia and their caregivers. He summarizes the latest evidence from the literature. Dr. Dallas Seitz is a psychiatrist and health services researcher. He is also associate professor and Chair of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at Queen'...

In this interview, Dr. Susy Hota and Dr. Susan Poutanen explain fecal microbiota transplantation as an effective treatment for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection. They also explain risk management and proper administration of the treatment, and how the medical field is starting to explore this treatment option for other diseases. Dr. Susy Hota is medical director of Infection Prevention and...

In this podcast, Dr. Hemant Shah and Dr. Jordan Feld discuss a clinical practice guideline from the Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver on the management of chronic hepatitis C. The guideline is published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Dr. Hemant Shah is Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and Clinical Director at the Toronto Centre for Liver Dise...

Dr. Beverly Goodwin, a community-based psychiatrist and former family physician in Smiths Falls and Carleton Place, Ontario, reads her article called "Stanley and me." In this narrative, Dr. Goodwin shares an encounter with a particular patient in her psychiatry clinic. This patient helped remind her of the power physicians can hold over their most vulnerable patients. Her Humanities Enc...