Blogs

New drugs for C. difficile cost almost five times more

February 1, 2012 - I was asked to be interviewed by a representative of Edelman, a firm that is handling public relations for DIFICID, a new drug that treats C. difficile infections. They sent me a questionnaire to find out more about who we are, what our perspective is on this drug, and whether we would like to partner with a drug company on advocacy issues. I agreed to the interview to see what it would be like. In the mean time, I did a bit of research on the drug.

Keywords: 
Sholom Glouberman
Patients' Association of Canada
PAC
C. difficile
C. diff
DIFICID
hospital infections

“Inequalities in Health Research Has Had Little Policy Impact” Katherine Smith, PhD.

January 16, 2012 - I met with Katherine Smith last week to discuss her research into the dearth of policy effects of the British research into inequalities in health. The last fifteen years have been an exceptionally fertile time for inequalities in health research, but not for the policies that would reduce such inequalities. Katherine explored the issue and argued convincingly against the orthodox Canadian view that there are distinct policy and research communities that must be brought together through knowledge brokerage.

Blog category: 
Article
Keywords: 
Sholom Glouberman
Patients' Association of Canada
PAC
patient perspective
health research
Katherine Smith
public engagement
John Wilkinson
policy making

Website Redesign

After much thought, we have decided to redesign PAC’s website and your feedback is crucial to the process. We have designed a short survey to evaluate your experience with PAC’s website and your participation would be greatly appreciated. Take the survey now!

Given that we have a range of users with different backgrounds we want to create a website suitable for everyone. If you’re interested in becoming more involved, please contact us.

NEW: Sholom’s Blog

Be sure to check out the Patients’ Association of Canada blog to see new entries by Sholom Glouberman, President of PAC.

Some of the most recent posts include:

1. Canadian Institute for Health Information’s release of Health Care in Canada, 2011: A Focus on Seniors and Aging. Sholom highlights key figures cited in the report, and discusses how greater patient engagement in our health care system can help to overcome current and imminent challenges.

Redesigning Services with Patients and Families

Patient services in health care organizations are for the most part developed with patients in mind, but with very little patient participation. In order to incorporate the patient point of view into service design and delivery, we’ve started to work with Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care to redesign specific services with family and patient participation. We are beginning with the “Day of Moving In.”