The Canadian Health Care Crisis Just Became Personal

This week has brought my family up close and personal with Canada’s overburdened and sometimes depersonalized health care system.  Last Wednesday my mother broke her leg.  My dad took her to the nearest emergency (at the Durham hospital) where she was evaluated and sent home with a partial cast to wait for surgery.  The attending MD also prescribed Ibuprofen as my mom mentioned she doesn’t tolerate some Tylenol (most likely due to the codeine).  The pharmacist rightfully caught the fact that my mother was scheduled for surgery and Ibuprofen can thin the blood leading to potential bleeding problems in the operating room.  After some phone calls, this was worked out and she was re-prescribed Tylenol without codeine. 

My mom was then referred to the Grey Bruce Regional Health Centre in Owen Sound (Ontario) for surgery to pin the broken tibia in her right leg.  She was told she would be able to get in within the next couple of days.

My family called the hospital on Thursday several times and were told that things were too busy to take my mother in yet but said if she got a letter from the attending MD she could go to London Ontario and wait for her surgery there.  However, she chose to wait for an opening in Owen Sound (which is only 30 minutes away) instead of driving 3 hours to London with a partially casted, extremely painful broken leg.

On Friday my family called the Owen Sound hospital and were told that there was no record of my mother requiring surgery and they would need get her information again.  By that afternoon, the hospital found her information and mom was booked in for surgery at 10 am Saturday morning.  She was instructed not to have any food or water. 

On Saturday morning she arrived at the hospital expecting surgery by 10 am.  However, after a 9 hour wait, without food, water, or painkillers, she was told that there was a mix-up with her 10 o’clock surgery time and she would be rescheduled.  At this point, the swelling around her broken tibia had gone down which allowed the bone to separate and move freely with the slightest movement.  This caused her excruciating pain.  So, on Saturday night she was put up in the hospital and rescheduled for surgery again the next morning. 

Finally, at noon Sunday morning (5 full days after breaking her leg) my mother underwent surgery to get two pins and a plate placed into her leg as well as an unexpected bone graft and muscle repair.  What an ordeal. 

It is hard to believe that this happens in Canada.  I have always stated that conventional medicine is ultimately best suited for acute situations but I’m beginning to have my doubts that this generalization can be applied to all hospitals in Canada.  Shame on the Grey Bruce Regional Health Centre.

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Transition time

The last few weeks have seen a tremendous amount of change for my family and I.  After writing Board exams, we packed up our apartment in Toronto and took a cross Canada road trip to relocate to Calgary Alberta.  This has also been a time of transition from medical student life to business owner. 

Over last 4 years, as the title of this blog indicates, I have provided prospective students and advocates a unique inside perspective of life as a student of naturopathic medicine.  Although I will never stop learning and always be a student of medicine, I'm not certain this blog title is still appropriate.  Anyhow, as the next few months unfold, I will give some updates on the transition from student to practitioner.

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Board, Board, Board!

It has nearly been a week already since taking the Ontario Board certification exams.  I should be used to people being intensely analytical and critical about my performance after years of practical sessions and exams, but somehow the Board examiners seemed to have a skill for making my mind go blank.  The experience was very, very humbling; in fact, it was somewhat traumatic!  The good news is that I'm told many of us will feel this way but ultimately do very well.  It is part of the affliction of being a perfectionist!

In Ontario, graduates' skills in physical and clinical diagnosis, instrumentation, Chinese Medicine and acupuncture, and spinal manipulations are all tested in practical exam sessions.  There is certainly a lot on the line as a failing grade requires a retake exam next February and an inability to start a practice in the mean time.  It is a lot of pressure to say the least.  And what is worse is that we do not know our results until October!

In the meantime, I wish everyone of my colleagues all the best with their exam results and with beginning their next chapter in the naturopathic journey, wherever it takes them.

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Post NPLEX II

If I were to make a list of all the things I would loved to have known well while writing the 400 questions on the NPLEX exams, it would be a pretty long list!  I feel like each exam question was written by a specialist from a particular field of study and we were required to take our best stab at it with a generalist's training.  Well, I guess who better to write the perfect question anyways than a specialist!

Probably one of the unforeseen challenges for me was on the second day after writing the elective TCM and acupuncture exam.  During the first 20 or so questions of the afternoon core clinical exam, what happened was when I would see a case where a patient comes in with poor memory, palpitations...etc., etc., I would think, "that's got to be a heart blood deficiency," or whatever TCM diagnosis corresponded to the symptoms.  Then, I'd remember that this part of the exam needed a Western diagnosis. 

Well, it sure was a mental marathon and, I'd have to say that it was harder than I thought it would be.  But, that is the past and it's on to Board exams this weekend.  After this weekend, then we can finally celebrate!

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Think three weeks of summer left

That's right, when this is all over, there are still 3 weeks of summer left to enjoy.

All the best to everyone who is writing their NPLEX and Board certification exams next week.  We've made it this far so we can do it!

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NPLEX & USMLE

I guess I'm competitive by nature!  I think it takes a significant amount of competitiveness just to complete 8 years of school and then continue another 3 months of intensive studying/reviewing to prepare for NPLEX and Boards.  So, I recently could not help noticing while I was studying in a Toronto Public Library that a young woman sat down at the same table to study with her laptop and a book, "Step-Up to USMLE Step 2."  Now, I just bought this book a week ago. 

For those not sure why I would buy this book, naturopathic doctors follow a somewhat similar licensing and board certification track to medical doctors with some variation in the order.  The United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 2 is similar to our NPLEX 2 exams and many naturopathic graduates use the USMLE books as a part of their review material.

So, what fascinated me was the simplicity of this particular young woman's study tactics as she read her Step-Up to USMLE Step 2 book and wrote supplemental information from some online medical sources onto the pages (I realize that she will undoubtedly have many medical reference texts at her disposal).  Now on the cover of this book it says, "Comprehensive yet concise coverage...Perfect prep tool for Step 2 CK and a head start for the Step 2 CS" (note: CK = Clinical Knowledge and CS = Clinical Skills).  Yes, I really like the book because it is very concise; but comprehensive?

Wow, if that is the definition of comprehensive, what do you call the plethora of review notes, manuals and textbooks most ND graduates use to prepare for our exams?!  No disrespect intended, I just found it comical in light of some comments by outspoken critics of naturopathic doctors.  I realize conventional medicine is no walk in the park either but, if you want a real challenge: try naturopathic medicine!!

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Happy Canada Day!

I've just returned from 5 days in Calgary where I attended the CAND's Health Fusion conference.  This year's topic was Environmental Medicine and the speakers were absolutely amazing.  The conference was focused on tactics to avoid chemical and heavy metal toxins, how to recognize symptoms of toxic induced loss of tolerance and how to get the body to excrete these toxins when they are absorbed.

I even had the privilege to meet one of the greatest water rights advocates, Maude Barlow (Council of Canadians), who spoke on the last day of the conference.  Interestingly, the day after the conference was over, I traveled just east of Calgary to visit family where I found out that they are unable to drink the ground water due to contamination by agriculture.

I have always been a patriotic Canadian but there is now a sense of urgency to protect Canada, our water, agriculture and wildlife for the next generation.  We can't take these things for granted!

Well, I must get back to work as I'm also feeling a great sense of urgency to continue studying with only 5 weeks remaining before NPLEX and Board exams. 

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