When considering the possible outcome of any given situation, I often find myself beginning with the worst possible scenario and working backwards from that (my friends will attest to this). I don’t see that as a bad thing. It’s RT Risk Management 101 – prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Even in […]
The astonishing array of personal information available at our fingertips has had two very different effects on our society, our healthcare system and on us as healthcare professionals. One is the growing awareness that we need to safeguard our privacy from the technology that has encroached on virtually every part of our lives. The other […]
The other day I downloaded a device driver to my computer in an (unsuccessful) attempt to fix something. And when the long, wordy agreement notice came up, I will freely admit that I didn’t read it – but instead quickly clicked “I agree”. I suppose its human nature to just want to get the job […]
Over the past 8 years, I have been asked a number of times “whose responsibility is it to ensure that I am competent to do my job”. The short answer is easy – you are. Certainly your employer has a stake in you being the most competent professional possible, and hopefully they do what they […]
For some reason I can’t quite understand, there have recently been a number of very serious privacy breaches involving health care professionals being caught snooping into patient personal health records. Surprisingly, some of these incidences have involved fairly high profile individuals (such as was the case concerning former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford)1, and some have […]
By now you have probably heard about the individuals who thought it would be “hilarious” and “amazing” to direct an extremely obscene comment at a CityNews reporter covering a TFC game. Their behaviour was undeniably shameful and disgraceful – and the reporter (good on her) called them on it.But what is truly fascinating about this […]
I think we can all agree that we’ve had to work pretty hard to become RRTs. First, there were three years of schooling (only two for oldsters like me – but still), the HPTC exam, and then years and years of ongoing professional development. But did you know that each year approximately 35 RRTs have […]
While working as a staff RT a number of years ago, a ward clerk referred to me as ‘support staff’. I think she was joking – at least I hope she was – but I was still offended. “I’m not support staff,” I countered. “I’m a health care professional!” We laughed about it at the […]
A health care professional working in a large hospital in the U.S. was fired last year for reposting a picture on Instagram® of an empty trauma room. The photo, which was taken by a colleague, included the caption “man vs. 6 train” and depicted a room recently used to treat a patient who had been […]
If you are like me, the events that took place in Paris the other week have left you shocked, angered, and – ultimately – deeply saddened by the senselessness of it all. I don’t profess to understand the many complex factors that result in one group of people attacking another, and that isn’t even really […]
