How were Wait Times for Priority Procedures in Canada Impacted during the First Six Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic?
In 2020, health systems across Canada responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by making rapid changes to reduce the risk of exposure for patients and staff and to allocate resources toward the treatment of COVID-19 patients. This included postponing surgical and diagnostic procedures. Data collected by the Canadian Institute for Health Information show that these interventions resulted in longer wait times across all provinces in April–September 2020 for scheduled surgical procedures, such as hip and knee replacements and cataract surgeries. The impact on wait times for cancer surgeries and diagnostic imaging varied b...
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - January 28, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Utility, Limitations and Opportunities for Using Linked Health Administrative Data to Study Homelessness in Ontario
Homelessness is a significant social issue within Canada but is difficult to quantify at the population level. In this paper, we discuss the development and use of a case ascertainment algorithm that identifies people experiencing homelessness through health administrative data. We highlight the appropriateness of various uses of this method given its key strengths and limitations. Finally, we discuss plans to improve this methodology and broaden its use through the addition of linkable administrative data from non-health sectors, such as emergency shelters and social services organizations. (Source: Healthcare Quarterly)
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - January 28, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Resetting the Future of Healthcare Leadership
(Source: Healthcare Quarterly)
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - October 25, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Building Environmentally Sustainable Health Systems in Canada: The Time Is Now for Emergent and Strategic Leadership
This article provides an overview of student and trainee leadership among health-related fields in response to the climate crisis and highlights the formation of a trainee-led organization focused on building capacity among emerging leaders in healthcare. We share key lessons learned by this group that are essential for all leaders seeking to leverage interdisciplinary action toward sustainable health systems in Canada. (Source: Healthcare Quarterly)
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - October 20, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Commentary: The Future of Aging in Canada
Much is already written on how the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged Canada's frail, elderly population – the impact of the global pandemic turned the decades-long challenges within our nation's long-term care sector into daily news coverage. While no commission or report can ever begin to relieve the pain and suffering of individuals who lived through the pandemic, healthcare leaders owe it to all to respond to the urgent call for action to re-envision elder care for the future.
The time to act is now. Our leaders need to collaborate and connect with our seniors to take quick action on their recommendations. Our leader...
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - October 20, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Leadership Perspective: Partnering with Patients to Co-Design Healthcare Systems
The ability to partner with patients to design healthcare systems is an increasingly critical skill for healthcare leaders. Guest editors Anne Wojtak and Neil Stuart spoke with Vincent Dumez, co-director of the Montreal-based Centre of Excellence on Partnership with Patients and the Public, to gain an understanding of what true patient partnership looks like and how healthcare system design can be transformed. (Source: Healthcare Quarterly)
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - October 20, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Foundations, Functions and Current State of Collaborative Leadership: A Case of Newly Developing Integrated Care in Ontario
In 2019, the Government of Ontario announced a health system transformation to end hallway healthcare by implementing integrated care systems known as Ontario Health Teams (OHTs). Establishing an integrated care system is a monumental task requiring collaborative and participatory leadership structures. Based on a survey of 480 OHT signatory members and 125 in-depth interviews with leaders from 12 OHTs, we describe how developing OHTs conceptualized and executed leadership. While collaborative leadership is common, the approaches are varied and the leadership structure is informed by contextual differences. We provide sugg...
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - October 20, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Leading through Crises: Healthcare Supply Chain Strategies and Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Challenges
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted healthcare organizations globally, particularly from a supply chain perspective. Leaders with successful responses have drawn upon their toolkit to anticipate threats, recognize crises, respond decisively, visibly engage in problem solving and facilitate communication. By harnessing these skills, leaders have tackled COVID-19-related challenges, including panic buying, organizational goal misalignment, staff anxiety and criticism. By applying crisis management theory and presenting learnings from interviews with American and Canadian healthcare leaders, we present solutions and lessons le...
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - October 20, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Leadership during a Crisis: Observations by Emerging Leaders during the COVID-19 Pandemic
During crises, leaders must address fear, give people a role and purpose and emphasize experimentation, learning and self-care. A survey of emerging health leaders rated the frequency with which they observed their organizational leaders and themselves engage in these crisis leadership functions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings revealed significant differences between emerging and more experienced leaders' behaviours in acknowledging fears and providing reassurance, managing individual health and role modelling good self-care and encouraging others to practise good self-care. Emerging leaders rated themselves as enga...
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - October 20, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Impactful Approaches to Leadership on the Front Lines of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lived Experiences of Canadian Paramedics
This article will discuss impactful approaches to leadership in paramedicine – differentiating between successful and failed strategies to leading and supporting teams amid rapid change on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19. (Source: Healthcare Quarterly)
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - October 20, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Leveraging Innovative Leadership Models within Community and Healthcare Organizations to Support Safe School Reopening during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Little has been published on successful leadership models within integrated care systems. Within East Toronto Health Partners, there have been considerable efforts at the executive leadership level to empower local leadership, particularly physician leaders, to develop and execute effective solutions across the community. What does distributed leadership look like, and what does it take to implement it? A number of activities demonstrating the impact of a distributed leadership model in East Toronto are outlined in this paper, offering an effective defence against the enormous challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. (Sou...
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - October 20, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Leadership Perspective: Addressing Canada’s Opioid Crisis – Reducing the Harm of Leadership
While the COVID-19 pandemic has been the major focus for healthcare leaders since early 2020, the opioid crisis has been growing in the background. Confronting this emerging problem will require new thinking. Guest editors Anne Wojtak and Neil Stuart spoke with Scott Elliott, executive director, and Patrick McDougall, director of Knowledge Translation and Evaluation, at the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation in Vancouver to gain their insights into how leaders can respond effectively. (Source: Healthcare Quarterly)
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - October 20, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Commentary: Laying the Groundwork to Meaningfully Engage Indigenous Leadership
To advance equity, diversity, inclusion and reconciliation, healthcare organizations are increasingly recruiting Indigenous leaders. While it is crucial to involve Indigenous Peoples in solving the problems they experience, serving in these roles presents dilemmas and often harm to the Indigenous incumbents. Non-Indigenous healthcare organizations are encouraged to lay the groundwork for right relations with Indigenous Peoples and sustainable workplaces for Indigenous leadership through understanding and accepting accountability for the problem, getting comfortable with discomfort and being truly prepared for systemic chan...
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - October 20, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
Commentary: Moral and Ethical Leadership in the Age of Diversity, Equity, Inclusiveness and Social Accountability
This article weighs three important moral and ethical considerations for leaders in healthcare: their obligations to society, their privilege as leaders and how value goes beyond a simple cost analysis. Leaders highly motivated by the bottom line have avoided the long overdue action on moral and ethical considerations critical to a more just and fairer society. Leaders are now being tasked to develop strategies for health equity, anti-oppression, anti-racism, social justice, diversity, equity and inclusiveness, community engagement, the social determinants of health and environmental accountability, and to demonstrate that...
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - October 20, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Long-Term Care in Canada
This study investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on LTC residents across Canada during the first six months of the pandemic, including how care changed for residents, using data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information's LTC and acute care databases. The results suggest that LTC residents received less medical care, with fewer physician visits and hospital transfers compared with the same period in 2019. They also had less contact with family/friends compared with the same period in 2019, which was associated with higher levels of depression. In provinces where it could be measured, the number of LTC r...
Source: Healthcare Quarterly - October 20, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research
