Tag: access

Reading of the Week: Kurdyak’s New Paper on Access

September 22, 2016 /

From the Editor

As medical school classes have grown, the supply of physicians has increased across the country. Has this helped address access issues in psychiatry?

How have practice patterns changed over time?

This week’s Reading seeks to answer some basic and important questions around physician supply and access in psychiatry. Following up on a major paper written in 2014, Kurdyak et al. have written another important and relevant paper.

The long and the short of it: there are significant problems with access – and they aren’t getting any better with time.

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Reading of the Week: Values and Schizophrenia, and More

January 14, 2016 /

From the Editor

Welcome to first Reading of the Week of 2016.

Continuing the format started in December, I’ve made several selections here. This week: the obituary of an influential psychiatrist, a clever paper on values and schizophrenia, and a report that considers the use of psychiatric services in Ontario.

In general, Readings in this format don’t have a common theme. That said, this week, a common thread runs through the three selections: challenging assumptions.

Dr. Agid and his co-authors look at the values of those with schizophrenia, challenging the assumption that our patients value what we value; the HQO-ICES report challenges what we think we know about psychiatric care and care delivery in Canada’s largest province. And what can be said of Dr. Robert Spitzer? Well, he made a career out of challenging psychiatric assumptions – much to his credit, and to our benefit.

DG Continue reading