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. David Urbach, head of the Department of Surgery at Women's College Hospital in Toronto; Dr. Danielle Martin, a family physician in Toronto and chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto; and Dr. Mohamed Alarakhia, a family physician in Waterloo and CEO of the non-profit eHealth Centre of Excellence.

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’ Solutions for Immediate Action advocacy document. Listen in as we hear from Dr. Sundeep Banwatt, a family physician in Mississauga and the clinical director of the integrated primary care centre CarePoint Health, and Dr. Riva Levitan, a family doctor in Ottawa who works in a family health organization.

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: Doctors’ Solutions for Immediate Action advocacy document. Listen in as we hear from Dr. Devon Shewfelt, emergency physician at Alexandra Hospital Ingersoll in southwestern Ontario, and Dr. Russell Goldman, director of the Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital. 

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. That has led to physician burnout and a large number of unattached patients. He explains that taking some of those burdens off the plates of family doctors would allow doctors to focus on treating patients and make becoming and staying a family doctor more appealing.

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 considers the unique needs and perspectives of these communities. 

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 an artificial intelligence form. 

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 Practice Network, describe the work they’re doing to break down barriers and equitably service patients of diverse populations.

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 Care. While working on those bigger issues, the OMA has proposed three short-term solutions it recommends the government include in its 2023-24 budget. We hear from the OMA President and a panel of expert physicians.

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.