Author profile
Hamish Hwang, MD, FRCSC, FACS
Background In British Columbia, the prevalence of obesity is increasing at an alarming rate, mirroring trends seen throughout the world.[1,2] The World Health Organization defines an overweight body mass index (BMI)... Read More
Surgical wait times have been a central focus for health policy since the 2003 First Ministers' Accord on Health Care Renewal,[1] which allocated $34 billion for health care. The 2004 Accord and Ten-Year Plan to... Read More
Background General surgeons play an essential role in both urban and rural settings in British Columbia. In urban settings, they perform procedures such as liver transplants and oncology and colorectal surgeries. In... Read More
Inguinal hernia repair is one of the most common procedures performed by the general surgeon. In the United States alone, approximately 750 000 inguinal, 25 000 femoral, and 166 000 umbilical herniorrhaphies are... Read More
Background Colorectal cancer is the second most common cancer in men and the third most common cancer in women in Canada. Every year 21500 new patients are diagnosed and 8900 die from colorectal cancer, making it the... Read More
Excellent outcomes after establishing laparoscopic colon surgery in a nonacademic regional hospital
Background Laparoscopic colon surgery has been shown to be a safe alternative to open colon resections for both benign and malignant disease.[1-3] Postoperative complications are reduced and length of stay in hospital... Read More
History repeats itself. I share Dr Blair’s frustration with PITO (“EMRs and specialists” BCMJ 2009;51[5]:190). I went through the same process about 2 years ago, outlining my concerns that PITO and its $100-million-plus... Read More
WorkSafeBC recently introduced regulations that “safety engineered scalpels” have to replace conventional scalpels—though there is no evidence that they reduce injuries. This regulation was recently implemented across... Read More
As a very satisfied user of the Optimed Accuro EMR program, which I use to run a paperless office hosted my own secure server, I was very disappointed with the choice of vendors for the PITO program. With over $100... Read More