CMAJ open
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To support patient-oriented setting of priorities for depression research in Alberta, the Patient Engagement Platform of the Alberta Strategy for Patient Oriented Research's Support for People and Patient-Oriented Research and Trials Unit and Alberta Health Services' Addiction and Mental Health Strategic Clinical Network, along with partners in addictions and mental health, designed the Alberta Depression Research Priority Setting Project. The aim of the project was to survey patients, caregivers and clinicians/researchers in Alberta about what they considered to be the most important unanswered questions about depression. ⋯ This project is a fundamental step that has the potential to positively influence depression research. Including the voices of Albertans with lived experience will create advantages for depression research for Albertans, researchers and research funders, and for patient engagement in the research enterprise overall.
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People who experience trauma represent a large pool of potential organ donors. Our objective was to describe organ donation by patients with and without trauma in Nova Scotia. ⋯ In Nova Scotia, 40% of patients with trauma who died in hospital were potential organ donors, yet only 39% of these patients were referred for donation. More work is required to improve organ donation within the trauma population.
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Emergency department efficiency is a priority across Canada. In the United States, scribes may increase the number of patients seen per hour per physician; however, Canadian data are lacking. We sought to implement scribes in a Canadian emergency department with the hypothesis that scribes would increase the number of patients seen per hour per physician. ⋯ In this pilot study, the use of scribes resulted in an increased number of patients seen per hour per physician. Because this was a small study at a single centre, further research on the effects of scribes in Canada is warranted.
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The Canadian government has committed to an endgame target of less than 5% tobacco use by 2035. The aims of this study were to assess baseline levels of support for potential endgame policies among Canadian smokers, by province/region, demographic characteristics and smoking-related correlates, and to identify predictors of support. ⋯ There is considerable support among Canadian smokers for endgame policies that go beyond current approaches to tobacco control. Our findings provide a baseline for evaluating future trends in smokers' support for innovative measures to radically reduce smoking rates in Canada.