Dr. Anna MD

Canadian Healthcare Hard Truths #7
Human Error in Medicine is a Leading Cause of Death in North America https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK225187/
As we experience front line worker burnout, staff shortages, complex patients and out of date technology “medical error” and iatrogenic events will happen even more. We should not keep penalizing individuals, instead look at how we can reinvent systems like GE, Motorola and the Airline Industry did. These are not single errors, they are chronic system errors and 25% of them can be attributed to side effects of drugs or drug interactions. 2 major system advances in recent years have been 1) including the pharmacists 2) pharmacogenomic testing.
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Instead of focusing on prevention, lifestyle management, & education, most American mainstream media advertisements focus on chronic illness, that is largely preventable, with lifestyle modifications. There is no magic silver bullet for bad habits due to lack of education and support. Good habits start at home and in school. How about much higher funding for recreation centres, school programs, & significantly higher taxes on junk food? Some chronic conditions are inherited and unavoidable, but many, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high lipid profile, lung and bladder cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and many other health issues like polymyalgia rheumatica, anxiety, insomnia, chronic pain, & chronic fatigue can be alleviated with lifestyle management.

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Let’s go back in time to the Greater Victoria Hospital Society in 1991. Why were things so good? Family practice , emergency room doctors and interns ran the hospital…not the Health Care Administration Association.https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Research/HealthCareFinancingReview/Downloads/CMS1191815DL.pdf We had fresh porridge in the morning, on site laundry services, cleaning staff that we socialized with and knew on a first name basis…so what happened? Population grew so hospital staff grew but not in the clinical roles! Labour unions fought for more hospital administration which doubled but nursing and doctor numbers remained the same. More federal transfer payments to bandaid a broken system will not fix anything. Someone bold needs to cut administration in 1/2 because they are not the people who will change your wound dressing, give you a bed pan or cast your broken leg.
We need more “support” workers…respiratory therapists, LPN’s, Social Workers, Specialized nurses to help with pain management and sedation, therapists etc…people who actually help sick patients and not just go around with clipboards collecting data on “quality assurance ”, “infection control”, “surgical times”, “computer numbers”, and deciding who qualifies for an N95 😷 mask. I asked for one once (pre COViD) and my request was turned down because the patient “did not meet the criteria”🤨.

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My parents immigrated to Canada, from Communist Poland, in 1975. Like all immigrants, they worked very hard, never complained, so I could have a better life in Canada. They never
boasted of their accomplishments so I’m going to boast for them! I used to see them as opinionated Eastern European people with rigid traditional values. Today I see them as unbelievably forward thinking, accepting and tolerant of the human condition. I am very lucky to have them teaching me by example and reminding me not to be a “Don Quixote”😅.
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I started being suspicious of “Dutch tests” and “Bioidentical Hormones” when a pharmacy owner approached me, with an all expenses paid trip to Florida, to learn exactly what to say and how to prescribe. Somehow the consumer is duped into thinking that “Natural” or “Bioidentical” is better (poison ivy is “natural”). If that is what you think, then by all means continue using aromatherapy, crystals and naturopaths and stop complaining that you need a real doctor 🤷‍♂️.
The facts: to help transition into the wisest phase of your life you need to do both aerobic and weight training, limit alcohol and caffeine, quit smoking and pay attention to the types of food you eat (less processed, lots of fruit and veggies).
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Recurrent Kidney Stones…a few tips on what you can do to prevent them. If you cannot remember anything I said try lemon water in the morning, stay well hydrated all day long, don’t use calcium supplements, and be careful with juicing for calcium oxalate stones (80%) and meat/keto with uric acid stones (20%). Remember real food is often medicine and be very wary of supplements.

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Real Life…The Dishwasher Series.

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