November

The Divisions of Family Practice initiative is clearly meeting the needs of family physicians across the province. Since its launch almost 2 years ago, the initiative has seen the creation of 18 divisions, representing the interests of physicians in 68 communities. By year-end another two divisions are expected to be added to the total. 

We are approaching the end of an era at our community hospital. As you read this line, you may be expecting a lament on the death of the full-service family physician. The family doctor who has an office practice, hospital privileges, does house calls, does palliative care, delivers babies, and perhaps also does ER work. The dinosaur that has previously been described in these pages, and whose imminent demise has been much lamented. 

Do you think it’s normal for your dentist to check your prostate?” I ask the new hygienist. “Be­cause Dr Plaque checks mine every time I come in.” At this point, somewhat alarmed, the hygienist glances at the last entry in my chart, under which, while unattended, I have written, “prostate normal.” 

After I explain my little joke to the slightly creeped-out young woman, all my appointments go pretty much the following way. “You haven’t had X-rays for a while so we should do them.” 

“Why?” 

“Well, Dr Plaque likes to have them done periodically to check on things.” 

In the first part of this two-part theme issue, we discussed the etiology, diagnosis, and nonoperative treatment of osteoarthritis (OA). 

While the majority of patients, particularly those with small joint OA, respond to nonoperative treatment, surgical treatment is required in an increasing proportion of patients with large joint OA. 

Impairment-related crashes are the leading criminal cause of death in Canada, accounting for approx­imately 1239 deaths, 73 120 injuries, and as much as $12.6 billion in financial and social costs annually.[1] 

Sanctions resulting from conviction are effective in preventing impaired driving.[2-6] However, the injured impaired drivers treated in our emergency de­partments are infrequently convicted of impaired driving. 

References