Technology will continue to transform Canada’s healthcare landscape, but, in the mean time, certain innovations—including some that have already permeated other aspects of modern life—remain underused in the country’s medical field, according to physicians.
One innovation that is a staple of modern life but still isn’t widely available in Canada’s healthcare system is email. “I can handle 70% of your problems over email,” said Dr. Michael Evans, a physician at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, speaking at a Toronto panel organized by the Economic Club of Canada. “I can send you stuff. I can broadcast stuff. It makes total sense.”
The option to book appointments online and to access one’s health record through the Internet still isn’t widely available either.
Privacy concerns have been a major obstacle to embracing such technologies, said Rob Fraser, commissioner for the Canadian Nurses Association, who also took part in the panel.
Another obstacle has been risk aversion. “Medicine is full of fairly cautious, incredibly thoughtful, well-meaning people,” Evans said, explaining, however, that it does pay off to take risks and think outside of the box.
Barry McLellan, president and CEO of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, said these concerns were evident when Sunnybrook first introduced its MyChart website. The portal allows patients to access their health record, including information such as lab results, online—often before doctors have the chance to see those results. “Physicians were concerned that patients would misinterpret the information,” said McLellan, also speaking at the panel.
However, he added, patients liked the website because it empowered them and made their lives more convenient.
The future
Although Canada has been slow to adopt some innovations, physicians agree that technological advances will reshape the country’s medical field.
Non-invasive treatments are expected to become more widely available in the future. One example, said McLellan, is high-intensity focused ultrasound, a procedure that destroys benign tumours and other types of diseased or damaged tissue through the local application of high-intensity ultrasound beams. In this procedure, the heat from the ultrasound rays destroys the damaged tissue so there is no need to break the skin.
The procedure also speeds up recovery time and, due to its high precision, saves surrounding tissue from being impacted.
Another innovation expected to become more widespread in the coming years are wearable devices that track patients’ activities. “This is on [you] 24/7. It will monitor your sleep, your sweat, your moods, your blood pressure—and I’m going to monitor that as your physician,” said Evans. “[But] it’s a bit Big Brother-ish. I get that.”