The Master's Chronicles

The understanding of health has evolved into a multi-factorial concept. It is a concept influenced by several determinants such as; the social and economic environment, the physical environment, and the person’s individual characteristics and behaviours (World Health Organization, n.d.). Chronic diseases remain one of the leading causes of death and health complications within Canada. Chronic Renal Failure, also known as Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) falls under this umbrella. In nuclear medicine, we can conduct several renal scans (including Lasix Renal scans and Captopril studies) that assess a variety of kidney related diseases and disorders such as renovascular hypertension, tumors or cysts, kidney disease and the rejection of a kidney transplant. Therefore, I come in contact with patients with CKD. Chronic kidney disease is defined as the presence of kidney damage or reduced kidney function for more than 3 months and requires either a measured or estimated glomerular...

Health Priorities: NB vs NS My colleague Andrea Goldstein ( E-portfolio ) and I have collaborated on a short presentation that compares and contrasts the health system and health determinants in the province of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and how they "stack up" against the Canadian national average.                                                    (New Brunswick's Wellness Strategy 2014-2021) Please see the link below for access to the presentation: https://sway.office.com/2wEYCH0O8DuTATyK

PART 2 NEW BRUNSWICK (Special Benefits Insurance Services, n.d.) (If you have not yet read Part 1, you can find it here ) In New Brunswick New Brunswick is a small province of 747,101 residents as of 2016. (Statistics Canada, 2018). As the only official bilingual province in Canada, the province determined it to be necessary to have two health systems within itself that catered to the linguistic needs of its population. Horizon Health Network was established to provide healthcare services to mainly Anglophones (with bilingual capabilities) while the Vitalité Health Network provides services to Francophones. According to their respective websites, “Horizon Health Network (Horizon) operates 12 hospitals and more than 100 medical facilities, clinics and offices throughout New Brunswick." (Horizon Health Network, n.d.). “Vitalité Health Network is a regional health authority providing and managing health care and services in an area covering northern and south...

PART 1 CANADA (Russell, 2016) There has been an ongoing debate on the definition of health and the determinants of health in society. “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.” ("Constitution of WHO: principles", n.d.). This previously accepted WHO definition has been criticized by many as being insufficient and out-dated and as such, the search is on to find a more applicable concept to health and its determinants. In Canada Canada is a country that is overall considered to be healthy. With public healthcare provided to all citizens and permanent residents, universality and accessibility is not an issue for most Canadians. However, within the country itself, many differences are not...

( Health is a 21st Century Skill Lunch & Learn , 2018) As healthcare professionals, the word health forms the whole basis of our profession and as human beings. Each New Year, we wish each other good health and prosperity, we use the saying “healthy and happy”, the question “girl or boy?” is often responded with “We don’t care as long as they’re healthy”. With health being so important, how do we define this? The World Health Organization (WHO) updated their original definition of health in 1948 to state  “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” ("Constitution of WHO: principles", n.d.).  However, with the ever-changing demographics of today’s society and the many factors that contribute to one’s health, there is a debate as to whether this definition is “enough”.   In my opinion, the WHO’s definition expressing health as being a combination of factors and not simply r...

Professionalism Audit This audit allowed me to reflect on my role as a healthcare professional and the interprofessional collaborations and relationships that take place within the healthcare setting. Each patient presents with their own physical or psychological burdens and we need to remember that the care we provide to them needs to be individualized to that person. We know the saying and I paraphrase, the patient may not remember your name, but they will remember how you made them feel and the care you provided to them. In my opinion, my fit within the health care system is multi-faceted; a direct provider with the ability to brighten a person’s day, perform my job effectively and help to improve the healthcare system at the floor level.  Despite being able to work independently as a nuclear medicine technologist, I am not alone in my work. I often work within my nuclear medicine team, however, this audit allowed me to look outside of the diagnostic imaging “bubble”. I was...