Older people are using substances at a high rate, yet stigma and ageism often prevent them from obtaining appropriate and compassionate care. Dr Sarah Fraser chats with Dr Lara Nixon and Dr Cathy Scrimshaw about what physicians and the system at large can do to enhance access to services, reduce harm, and treat patients with dignity. Dr Nixon is an FP in Calgary and Dr Scrimshaw is Medical Director of the Collaborative Mentorship Network for Chronic Pain and Addiction with the Alberta College of Family Physicians.

Almost 1 year after the Russian invasion of his country, Ukrainian family physician Dr Oleksii Korzh shares his experiences with host Dr Sarah Fraser. Dr Korzh talks about how medical needs and care have changed during the conflict. Find out why family doctors have never been more important to Ukraine’s health care system in this special episode of the CFP Podcast. Dr Korzh is Head of the Department of General Practice and Family Medicine at the Kharkiv Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education.

Read Dr Korzh’s related CFP blog post.

New research shows that family practices were open and seeing patients at the height of the second wave of the pandemic—despite media reports to the contrary. Dr Nick Pimlott interviews Dr Tara Kiran about her important findings and opportunities to rethink how primary care is organized in Canada. Read the article in the November 2022 issue of Canadian Family Physician and share your thoughts on this episode at [email protected].

Flaws in the peer review process and opportunities for improvement are covered in part 2 of our interview with Dr Richard Smith, a well-known former editor of the BMJ. Hosts Dr Sarah Fraser and Dr Nick Pimlott ask Dr Smith about discrimination in peer review and the future of open access publishing.

The Rourke Baby Record, used across Canada today, is an early example of a clinical resource developed by family physicians for family physicians. Your host Dr Nick Pimlott chats with Drs Leslie and James Rourke about the tool’s origins, challenging aspects of its evolution, and its next iteration coming in 2024. Read the related commentary, “Knowledge mobilization for primary care,” in the October 2022 issue of Canadian Family Physician.

Hard truths about medical journals are examined with unflinching honesty in part 1 of this discussion with Dr Richard Smith, a well-known former editor of the BMJ. Hosts Dr Sarah Fraser and Dr Nick Pimlott get Dr Smith’s take on how physicians consume journal articles, research quality, and what publications should strive to do.

As the North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG) celebrates its 50th anniversary, Dr Nick Pimlott hosts Dr Vivian Ramsden in a chat about the organization’s success and plans for the future. Dr Ramsden, NAPCRG’s incoming president and the first nurse to serve in the role, shares insights about the evolution of patient-led research and the value of relationships in this work.

Read Dr Ramsden’s commentary, “Fiftieth anniversary of NAPCRG,” in the September 2022 issue of Canadian Family Physician.

How to use cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to address medically unexplained symptoms is explored in part 2 of this discussion between Dr Sarah Fraser and Dr Peter MacKean. They examine the 5 areas of CBT that family doctors should be attuned to and how applying CBT principles can also benefit physicians—including prevention of burnout.

The untapped benefits of using psychotherapy techniques in everyday practice drive this conversation between Dr Sarah Fraser and Dr Peter MacKean in Part 1 of this podcast. A semi-retired family physician in PEI, Dr MacKean aims to raise awareness and uptake of these methods in family medicine training and practice.

This podcast builds on his article “Potential of a cognitive-behavioural approach to improve patient symptoms in a primary care setting,” published in the February 2022 issue of CFP.

The book mentioned in this episode is Using CBT in general practice: the 10 minute CBT handbook, by Lee David.

Dr Sarah Fraser hosts a discussion on this challenging area of care with Dr Maureen Allen, a family physician in Antigonish, NS. Dr Allen shares insights that research in noninvasive neuroimaging has revealed about how the brain adapts to chronic pain and how we can reframe our thinking about chronic pain to enhance patient care.

This conversation was sparked by the “PEER simplified chronic pain guideline” published in CFP in March 2022. The other key article Dr Allen mentions was published in Brain: “Shape shifting pain: chronification of back pain shifts brain representation from nociceptive to emotional circuits.”