Where Do We Even Begin

I have always been interested in the medical world. As a child I was in and out of hospital a ton due to lots of underlying, though luckily mild, childhood ailments. This gave me a very young and deep seeded appreciation for going into the hospital feeling unwell, getting lots of tests by very nice hospital staff, then leaving home either feeling better or with a prescription for medicine that almost always worked a week later. It was a simplistic view of the medical field, but it has shaped my interest and my career trajectory to this day.

I started my career in Diagnostic Medical Sonography (DMS). Through the Dalhousie University program, I had the opportunity to study the current Canadian health care system through various lenses including health law, health care delivery models, and foundations of health care practices. I have worked in multiple provinces in Canada as well as in the emergency rooms abroad in England and Scotland. This real-life perspective showed me that, while ultrasound as a diagnostic imaging tool is invaluable and provides such incredible technology and diagnostic opportunity to patients, there are ways we can improve what exams patients receive and the timeline it takes to do so.

I grew frustrated by experiences I was witnessing on a regular basis due to inefficient delivery models. I have seen patients postponing physiotherapy treatment awaiting a musculoskeletal ultrasound to confirm an exam which can be conducted clinically. I have seen patients sent for multiple multimodalities testing to confirm heart burn. While neither of these scenarios harmed anyone, they are standard practices that cost the Canadian universal health care system money on unnecessary testing, subjects patients to unnecessary medical treatment, and delays treatment while they await specialized or complex imaging.

We can do better, but where do we start?

I have started a Master of Health Studies program to try and answer that very question. How can we improve Canadians access to timely and correct testing? What middle steps are currently standard practice that do not add to the patient care and can be removed or circumvented?

This question is not limited to Canada. Working abroad showed me alternative health care delivery system models. What is being done outside of Canada that could be integrated into our own existing health care model? What are other countries doing better? How is Canada leading the way for other countries? How can we look beyond our borders to obtain a globally optimized health care system?

I guess there's only one thing to do. Let's get started and see how many of these questions we can answer