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Wait times for medical procedures in Canada are universally thought to be too long, particularly for elective procedures. In this paper we point out the conceptual and practical difficulties surrounding wait list management in Canada. We suggest that while waits need to exist as a distributive allocation policy, the data to make informed decisions about wait times and their impact on patient care is absent. We also show that current wait list initiatives lack an underlying conceptual model of why waits occur. The paper concludes with a discussion of why operational research (OR) models are not in greater use for wait list management and suggest a program of research to improve knowledge uptake for OR models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout their careers, physician-scientists must adapt to the dynamic landscape of the medical research environment. As such, current physicianscientist trainees must overcome unique obstacles on the path to productive research careers. In the paper by Levit et al. in this month's Clinical and Investigative Medicine issue, Canadian research leaders describe the challenges and opportunities for the next generation of physician-scientists [1]. They paint a cautiously optimistic picture. The current article is an outlook and concurrent "call to action" for how ongoing physician-scientist concerns can be conquered from the perspective of a current Canadian MD-PhD student. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides summaries of several papers presented on Department of Medicine Research Day at the University of Alberta in May 2001. `Survey of Perioperative Care by Canadian General Internists,' by T.H. Taher et al; `Implications of Antinuclear Antibody Positivity in Healthy Individuals,' by S.O. Myckatyn et al; `Prevalence and Prediction of Metabolic Bone Disease in Chronic Liver Disease,' by J.C. McDermid et al.

Information about several papers discussed during the second joint congress of l'Association des Médicins Biochimistes du Québec (AMBQ) and the Canadian Association of Medical Biochemists (CAMB) held in Canada on October 7 to 9, 2009 is presented. It highlights the scientific sessions provided by key speakers Jean Dubé Bernard Fruteau-de-Laclos and Bassam A. Nassar. It also mentions other papers presented regarding pharmacotoxicology and clinical toxicology.