Contemporary Issues

[hartk48]

Hi Everyone!

 

I thought that maybe we could brainstorm together some contemporary issues in medicine, who knows how it will help in the interview?

Right now I have:

Physician-assisted suicide

Ever growing debt

lack of service in rural areas

Abortion?

First nations 

Increasing number of unmatched CMGs 

 

anyone else wants to take a stab at it? 

[la marzocco]

I felt that this was really helpful when I was preparing for my MMI. 

http://www.cmaj.ca/site/misc/bioethics_e.xhtml

[brockboeser6]

I found in my interviews last year that there were a lot of issues that weren't necessarily related to medicine explicitly; thus, I'll throw in some ideas that aren't necessarily directly related to medicine to think about.

Black lives, All Lives, Blue Lives matter movements

Marijuana as medicine

Aging population

Increased mental health issues in youth

Opioid crisis (safe injection sites, addiction, prescription drugs, big Pharma, etc.)

Immigration of refugees amidst terrorism/ISIS

 

[Doctorofmydreams]

I would add:

- humanitarian crises, volunteer/work abroad, medical tourism

- primary care (and lack thereof)

- "alternative facts"

- gun control as a public health issue

- alternative medicines and EBM

- gene editing

[Pippa756]

Issues around 2 of the UoT essays/topics this year:

Discuss the role of listening in cross-cultural communication to better understand the perspectives of people of different backgrounds.
Write a letter to an editor of a newspaper to express your support of Canada's role in promoting women's reproductive health in developing countries.

 

[Torntoiletpaper]

I've also noticed a trend where schools are starting to broaden topics so that they aren't directly related to medicine, but may impact health nevertheless.

Topics like:

- access to information (net neutrality or paying more for certain information) (false medical information online)

- decrease in attention span due to overload of information (news, online, youtube, social media)

- fentanyl crisis (more and more people dying of overdose, but media coverage died down after initial sensation)

- wages not increasing with cost of living (or cost of healthcare)

 

[Pippa756]

On 1/2/2018 at 5:14 PM, Torntoiletpaper said:

I've also noticed a trend where schools are starting to broaden topics so that they aren't directly related to medicine, but may impact health nevertheless.

Topics like:

- access to information (net neutrality or paying more for certain information) (false medical information online)

- decrease in attention span due to overload of information (news, online, youtube, social media)

- fentanyl crisis (more and more people dying of overdose, but media coverage died down after initial sensation)

- wages not increasing with cost of living (or cost of healthcare)

 

The final one might come up with some of the threatened effects of the min wage hike in Ontario with companies starting to pull back on benefits, some of which are directly to health provisions etc.