Blog: Infoway Connects

Posted on December 10, 2019 by Krista Balenko

Telehomecare is enabling more Canadians to receive care at home, transforming the patient experience and helping to improve their quality of life by avoiding hospital stays and trips to the emergency department. It has also saved a significant amount of money for health systems across the country.

Posted on December 3, 2019 by Dr. Rashaad Bhyat

The past several decades have seen tremendous advances in medical care. As a society, we often celebrate these results and applaud how innovation has improved our health and our lives overall. But what is often overlooked are the unintended — and often unnoticed — consequences of these advancements.

Posted on November 26, 2019 by Seema Nayani 

This blog post builds upon a conversation with pharmacist Abhay Patel during our PrescribeIT^® panel webinar on March 28, 2019.

Posted on November 19, 2019 by Ellie Yu

In our previous post, we discussed the expansion of Crisis Text Line powered by Kids Help Phone and the demographics of its users. Crisis Text Line powered by Kids Help Phone is available across Canada. In just one year, there have been more than 140,000 texting conversations with young people across the country and more than 10 active rescues and lives saved every day.

Posted on November 8, 2019 by Rashaad Bhyat and Katie Bryski

When it comes to health, little things can catch us by surprise.

During a recent chat, my colleague Katie related, “I was hiking last summer when I cut myself on dirty metal. Just a random accident, my hand hit a railing wrong.”

Posted on October 24, 2019 by Ellie Yu

Over the past few years, Infoway has been investing in the expansion of Kids Help Phone services to young people in Canada. Kids Help Phone is the only 24/7, national support service in Canada that offers professional counselling, information and referrals, and volunteer-led, text-based support to young people in both English and French. A young person who needs mental health support can reach Kids Help Phone by phone, text, mobile app or through a website, whenever they want, however they want.

Posted on October 15, 2019 by Krista Balenko

Canadians with mental health issues are struggling to navigate the health system and often don’t know where to begin, resulting in trips to hospital emergency departments or, sadly, doing nothing at all. There is also still a stigma associated with having a mental illness that makes it difficult for them to reach out for help.

Posted on October 8, 2019 by Mario Voltolina

Do you regularly fill out quizzes or subscribe to apps that track and collect details about your health or wellness habits? If so, you’ve likely clicked “agree” without actually reading what you are agreeing to — and you are not alone.

Posted on September 24 by Dr. Steven Reynolds

I’ve been a practising physician for 10 years and, as a clinician, I’ve always understood the importance of giving patients access to their health information. A recent experience helped me see things from the patient’s point of view, making me even more convinced that we have to break down the barriers that block access.

Posted on September 17, 2019 by Bobby Gheorghiu & Chad Leaver

In our previous post we highlighted a leading insight from the 2018 Canadian Physician Survey where 92 per cent of family physicians who use six to nine EMR functionalities stated that they ‘provide more efficient health care with electronic records.’ It has been a general assumption that physicians will integrate advanced EMR functionalities to support patient care as their years of experience using an EMR increases. Beyond just improving practice efficiencies, evidence has also highlighted clinician, patient and system value of using multiple EMR functionalities to support patient care, suggesting that advancing meaningful EMR use is a key catalyst to realizing value-based outcomes.

Posted on September 10, 2019 by Bobby Gheorghiu & Chad Leaver

Physicians are extremely busy. That’s why it’s important to identify solutions that can increase efficiency. One such solution is meaningful use of electronic medical records (EMR) — physicians that use more advanced functionalities in their EMR report greater efficiencies.

Posted on August 28 by Michael Green

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In conjunction with our Annual General Meeting with our Members, Canada’s Deputy Ministers of Health in July, Infoway launched our Annual Report. The title of this year’s report, A New Day in Health Care is Coming, reflects the rally cry of ACCESS 2022, a social movement intended to capture hearts and minds of the full range of people who can work together to change the health system. We are proud of the progress that we’ve collectively achieved to date and we are committed to continuing our efforts to implement digital innovation that will empower Canadians to better manage their health, provide clinicians with the solutions they need to better serve their patients and enlist industry and others to help build a modern 21^st century health system.  

Posted on August 6 by Dr. Martin Vogel

As a practicing physician it is imperative that my day-to-day effort is focused on providing the best patient care possible. Unfortunately, much of my time is spent on administrative duties.  The bulk of the paperwork on my desk each day is communication  with specialist physicians, pharmacists and other health care providers. Many of my patients are surprised to hear that in almost all cases it is only possible for me to communicate on patient matters with health care providers via fax or phone.

Posted on July 30, 2019 by Dr. Rashaad Bhyat

This blog post builds upon a conversation with Dr. Neil Naik during our PrescribeIT® panel webinar on March 28, 2019.

Eighty-five per cent of family physicians now use electronic medical records (EMRs). This has laid the groundwork for a further modernization of how Canadians interact with their primary care provider, including how medications are prescribed and managed.

Posted on July 10, 2019 by Dr. Neil Naik, Family Physician, Waterloo ON.

In our comprehensive health system, patients work with a myriad of health care professionals to meet their specific needs. Physicians, pharmacists, hospitals and personal support workers, to name a few, all contribute to a patient’s holistic care. Communicating with each other can be difficult — especially as many care providers continue to rely on outdated and unsecure methods of communication — mainly, the fax machine.

Posted on May 7, 2019 by Dr. Caroline Correia

As physicians, we constantly look for ways to improve our practice, including staying up-to-date on the latest research, guidelines and best practices to ensure we offer our patients the best care available. Part of this also includes making sure our practices are run efficiently and effectively so that our energy is focused on patient care and not on time-consuming administrative work, wherever possible.

Posted on April 25, 2019 by Dr. Mohamed Alarakhia

Physicians, nurse practitioners, pharmacists and other clinicians all play an important role in patient care. In the current landscape of the health care system, providers far too often operate in silos. Despite this recognition, we still haven’t fully figured out how to break down barriers and address patient care seamlessly.

Posted on April 8, 2019 by Michael Green

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It takes just one simple online search to uncover all sorts of dangers and warnings around social media use. From loss of productivity to impairing sleep, there is no lack of research or experts citing the downsides of online communities and digital mediums for communication. One area in particular that has often made media headlines is how social media has been found to affect the mental health of Canadians across the country — especially youth.

Posted on March 19, 2019 by Seema Nayani

One of the places I frequent is my local Tim Horton’s (very Canadian of me, eh?). When I’m picking up my medium steeped tea double-double, I marvel at the ability of the staff to complete orders in a timely, and accurate manner. Tim’s, and other establishments that pride themselves on consistency of their final product, have analyzed their workflows to a science. They provide a streamlined experience — their menus are pared down, they use technology to communicate efficiently within their locations, and the staff follow standardized processes.