CMAJ Podcasts

Barbara Sibbald, News and Humanities editor for the Canadian Medical Association Journal, reads the CMAJ Humanities Encounters article "Lives uncovered: reflections on encounters with newly arrived Syrians". The article is written by Dr. Janet Warren, a family physician at Hamilton Urban Core Community Health Centre in Hamilton, Ontario. In the article, Dr. Warren describes what it’s lik...

Barbara Sibbald, News and Humanities editor for the Canadian Medical Association Journal, reads the CMAJ Humanities Encounters article "Cathartic narratives for chaotic thinking". The article is written by Dr. Richard Hovey, associate professor in the Division of Oral Health and Society with the Faculty of Dentistry at McGill University. In the article, Dr. Hovey speaks from personal exp...

Diagnostic delay of central nervous system tumours in children has serious implications for the children and their families. Dr. Ran Goldman, Pediatrician at BC Children's Hospital, Professor of Pediatrics at the University of British Columbia and Chief Medical Officer for the website medschoolforparents.com, discusses how practitioners can maintain a high index of suspicion for these rare tu...

Barbara Sibbald, News and Humanities editor for the Canadian Medical Association Journal, reads the CMAJ Humanities Encounters article "First, do no harm". The article is written by Dr. Sarah Tulk, a family medicine resident at McMaster University. In the article, Dr. Tulk reflects on the time she treated a terminally ill patient in the emergency department. Full article: www.cmaj.ca/loo...

Dr. Jennifer Hutcheon, researcher at BC Children's Hospital and assistant professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia, discusses a CMAJ research article she co-authored. Dr. Hutcheon and her colleagues examined whether the closure of obstetric services in smaller communities in BC affected rates of adverse events for mothers or newborns. Full research article: w...

Barbara Sibbald, News and Humanities editor for the Canadian Medical Association Journal, reads the CMAJ Humanities Encounters article "Words, deeds and interpretations". The article is written by Dr. Mary Seeman, professor emerita, in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. In the article, Dr. Seeman, an older psychiatrist, recounts how acting instead of talking can n...

Stuart Kinmond reads the CMAJ Humanities Encounters article "He was a boy with a name". The article is written by Dr. Nicholas Batley, associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the American University of Beirut Medical Centre in Lebanon. The article tells the true story of Dr. Batley’s encounter with a young Syrian refugee on the streets of Beirut. The patient’s name an...

Supraventricular tachycardias represent a range of tachyarrhythmias originating from a circuit or focus involving the atria or the atrioventricular node. Prompt recognition of the specific type of arrhythmia is essential to determine therapeutic management. Dr. Lior Bibas, cardiology fellow at McGill University in Montréal, Québec, discusses various approaches to treatment. He co-authored a review...

People who smoke tobacco may be interested in quitting, reducing their smoking or neither. Physicians can offer interventions for all of these groups. In this podcast interview, Dr. Robert Reid and Dr. Andrew Pipe – experts on smoking cessation from the University of Ottawa Heart Institute’s Division of Prevention and Rehabilitation – offer practical advice to guide physicians in helping their pat...

Stuart Kinmond reads the CMAJ Humanities Encounters article "Cutting through the shame". The article is written by Stephen P. Lewis, associate professor in psychology at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario. In the article, the author reflects on a period of self-injury and what he learned from it. Article: https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.160119------------------------...

Physicians from many specialties may care for inpatients with opioid use disorder. An acute hospital admission is an opportunity to engage with patients who have this common, chronic disorder, discuss addiction treatment and possibly affect the course of their illness. In this podcast, Dr. Joseph Donroe, assistant professor of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine, discusses the best approach to...

Although physicians generally recognize that social determinants influence the health of their patients, many are unsure how they can intervene. Dr. Anne Andermann, Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McGill University in Montreal and founding director of the CLEAR Collaboration, discusses how physicians and allied health care workers can address social determinants in thei...

In this cross-sectional study of grade 9 students in the Niagara region of Ontario, reported use of e-cigarettes was common and associated with potential risk factors, including exposure to use of tobacco by family members and friends, and personal tobacco use. Most teens reported trying e-cigarettes because it was cool/fun/new rather than for smoking reduction or cessation. Dr. Michael Khoury, pa...

Interview with Dr. Mandar Jog, Director of the National Parkinson Foundation Centre of Excellence at London Health Sciences Centre, Director of the Movement Disorders Program in London, Ontario and Professor of Neurology at Western University. Parkinson disease remains a clinical diagnosis, based on motor symptoms and signs. Dr. Jog discusses what’s new in our understanding and treatment of this c...

Interview with Dr. Celia Rodd, Associate Professor of Pediatric Endocrinology at the University of Manitoba. She is also clinician-scientist and epidemiologist at the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba. In their cross-sectional study, Dr. Rodd and her co-author Dr. Atul Sharma found that the prevalence of overweight and obesity among Canadian children decreased from 30.7% to 27.0%...

Interview with Dr. Brandace Winquist, research consultant with the Saskatchewan Health Quality Council, a maternal-perinatal health researcher, and a collaborator with the Canadian Network for Observational Drug Effect Studies. In a research article she co-authored, Dr. Winquist and her colleagues found that the isotretinoin/accutane pregnancy prevention program in Canada was relatively ineffectiv...

Interview with Dr. Camilla Zimmermann, head of the palliative care program at UHN in Toronto, associate professor and Rose family Chair in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto, as well as senior scientist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. In a research article she co-authored, Dr. Zimmermann conducted interviews with patients and their caregivers in an effort to understand att...

Michael Bliss' award-winning books introduced readers around the world to Canada’s greatest medical achievements and heroes, from the discovery of insulin to the "secular saint" Dr. William Osler, a founding father of modern medicine. For these and other contributions to the canon of medical history, Bliss will be inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame on April 14. In this...

Madness is inextricably part of civilization and central to the human experience. Interview with Andrew Scull, professor of Sociology and Science Studies at the University of California, San Diego. Read Andrew Scull’s Medicine and Society essay article published in the CMAJ: https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.151418To request a transcript of this podcast, contact cmajgroup@cmaj.caSubscrib...

This guideline by the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care presents evidence-based recommendations for primary care providers on screening for developmental delay in children aged one to four years with no apparent signs of such delay in primary care settings. The guideline does not offer recommendations for surveillance, case finding or diagnosis of developmental delay. Dr. Patricia Park...

Interview with Donna Dickenson, emeritus professor of medical ethics and humanities at the University of London. Consumer genetic testing, and subsequent personalized medicine are, by some accounts, the harbingers of a revolution in medicine. In the sphere of pharmacology, this conceit has ethical and practical implications, says international ethics expert Donna Dickenson. Full article: https://w...

International guidelines recommend limiting the daily intake of added sugars to less than 5% to 10% of calories. Unlike the 2015 US proposal for changes to the nutrition label, Canada’s proposed changes exclude the declaration of added sugars. The authors of a CMAJ commentary call on the new federal government to rethink this in the interests of public health. Mandating transparency about added su...

The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care (CTFPHC) has updated its recommendations on screening for lung cancer. In contrast to its previous guidance, the task force now recommends using low-dose CT to screen adults between 55 and 74 years of age who are at high risk for lung cancer on an annual basis for three consecutive years. The change in recommendation is based on a systematic review...

Women’s health pioneer Dr. May Cohen will soon join other luminaries in the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. Cohen entered medicine at a time when less than 10% of graduating physicians were female and textbook medical research was based on a 70kg male body. She later went on to shatter that paradigm, co-founding Canada’s first Women’s Health Office at McMaster University, as well as the Women’s Hea...

An examination of clinical data from one Canadian diagnostic centre shows that active surveillance has become an increasingly common management strategy for men with low-grade prostate cancer, instead of immediate treatment. Dr. Rodney Breau, co-author of the research article, explains in this interview podcast. Dr. Breau is a surgical oncologist at The Ottawa Hospital, assistant professor of urol...