Health committee  We also build in incentives here. We can't control the information that is sent or given to family physicians either by mail, by detailers who drop in, and so on. However, what our members require is a certain number of accredited hours of education in order to maintain their mem

Health committee  The truth is that, like everybody else in society, our members—the family physicians—are exposed to marketing messages all the time, and they can differentiate between marketing and education. So, in fact, I think that they recognize a hierarchy of information they get from all s

Health committee  I'll start and I'm sure others will contribute to this. I think what you've put your finger on is really at the core of the problem. We wouldn't prescribe these drugs if they weren't powerful, so these are powerful agents for good, but they are also powerful agents of potential

Health committee  In our system of accrediting continuing education, we have built into that system very strong and strict safeguards against bias and lack of balance entry into the programs where you get credits. We're very stringent on ensuring that the evidence that's put in front of our member

Health committee  I'll just say that the College of Family Physicians of Canada endorses the report from the National Advisory Council on Prescription Drug Misuse, which validated harm reduction as one of the important strategies in dealing with drug misuse.

Health committee  A lot of the training is on the job and part of it is that every patient is different and every situation is different, so, in fact, it's certainly hard to train for every situation you're going to encounter in a brief period of medical school. Having said that, we certainly hav

Health committee  It's hard to argue against improved information, and I think we would all agree that the more information we have when it comes to making that prescribing decision, the better it is, both about the drugs we're prescribing and certainly about the individual patient and the risks t

Health committee  I'll start, if you like. There's certainly no shortage of clinical practice guidelines in any of the areas of drug prescribing. In fact, our problem in many ways is not that there's not enough information, but that there's in fact too much information. The difficulty for family p

Health committee  At our level, we're working at building consensus. We're working on connecting members electronically to help members themselves help each other make difficult clinical decisions about patient care when there isn't a guideline that applies or when too many guidelines apply. So c

Health committee  It's right at the centre of our minds when we're thinking about prescription drug misuse. That's why our board went out of their way to make that motion in 2012 that I cited. In fact, what we see with this drug is true, as you said Ms. Davies, about a number of drugs we prescribe

Health committee  I hope this is better. Mr. Chair, should I start from where I was in my presentation or should I start from the beginning?

Health committee  Thank you again, Mr. Chair, and members of the Standing Committee on Health. As associate executive director of the College of Family Physicians of Canada, and as a practising family physician, I'm privileged to be here with you today, and I thank you very much for the invitatio

Health committee  Thank you. Good afternoon, members of the Standing Committee on Health and Mr. Chair. As associate executive director of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and as a practising family physician, I'm privileged to be with you today and I thank you for the invitation. Th