After many years of success, EvidenceNetwork.ca is no longer in operation. We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the organization over the past decade including our dedicated researchers, newspaper editors, readers and funders. However, now it is time to move onto new ways of looking at knowledge mobilization and policy. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact Shannon Sampert at s.sampert@uwinnipeg.ca.

Our health system fails the elderly

Solving long hospital wait times requires a fundamental shift in the way we care for the elderly Hospital overcrowding is not a new issue. Limited bed spaces have plagued Ontario hospitals for years and are increasingly straining our system. Not only are long wait times become a shameful expectation when patients arrive in the emergency […]

Cheap, fast, good — pick two?

How to shorten hospital wait times in Canada Long wait times are the vulnerable soft underbelly of the Canadian health system. Canadians treasure our single-payer, publicly funded program of physician and hospital care, virtually as a defining part of our national identity. And yet, increasing legal and political pressure over quick access to elective surgeries […]

Four ways to take your idea for Canadian healthcare innovation beyond the pilot phase

A version of this commentary appeared in the Ottawa Citizen, the Vancouver Province and the Hill Times It all started when the two of us sat down over a cup of coffee. As a family physician and endocrinologist, we stand on opposite sides of a large chasm called patient wait times, and we both started […]

Regulating food marketing to kids

There’s no denying that the food environment influences the diets of Canadian families, and that food industry marketing is part of that environment. Canadian children are now developing chronic diseases that were almost exclusively seen in adults when I went to medical school a few decades back. There has been a big shift in our […]

Waiting for emergency care – how long is too long?

New study sheds light on an old problem A version of this commentary appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press and the Huffington Post Emergency departments in Canada are very busy places. Every year, Canadians make about 16 million visits to emergency rooms and more than one million Canadians are admitted to hospital through emergency departments. Given […]

The inconsistencies of Canadian healthcare

Are wait times for hip replacements in Canada justified — or could they be shortened?   I spent my life teaching actuarial science at a university.  As a result, I calculated lots of numbers:  averages, expected values, variances.  But, they were only numbers.  What I didn’t see was the individual human story behind each calculation. […]

How to eliminate MRI wait lists in the public health system

Value for money appears to be finally getting the attention it merits as Alberta’s new health minister, Stephen Mandel, takes the reins of the portfolio that is close to consuming 50% of the province’s operating budget.

Backgrounder: Surgical wait times for publicly funded health services in Canada

Public opinion polls show many Canadians worry about surgical wait times. Anecdotal media reports and heated political debates encourage this worry. But the question remains: Are Canadians waiting too long for surgery?