Happy Wednesday! Postcall here, ready for all your joyous, festive occasions — including holiday travel! 🛫

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Air Canada was the first airline to introduce: 🧊De-icing nozzles ahead of the windscreen… 🚭Non-smoking flights between N.A. and Europe... 🚬Smoking bans on all flights within N.A. and the Caribbean… 🤳🏼E-boarding passes… & 🌬️Fixed oxygen systems (well, one of the first).

As for the first computerized reservation system — close! That was another Canadian company in 1963! 🇨🇦

Time for this week’s stories!

• The effects of GLP-1 RAs on the incidence of CRC 💉

• New Canadian Cancer stats 😷

• The bug behind the 🍈 outbreak

• ❓️ The CFPC’s newest board member (and the Baller of the Month) Dr. Meenakshi Natarajan answered our hard-hitting questions

• Listen: Why do doctors still use pagers? 📟️ 

• 🧥 Teens are at it again - this time, they say goodbye to coats.

• Postcall Classics: Bites, picks, and crossword 🧩 galore!

Driving these numbers: Indices are up, as the Bank of Canada held its benchmark rate at 5% last week (signalling its confidence about inflation). Analysts are predicting rate cuts happen in Q2 or Q3 of 2024.

Things your attending might pimp you on 🙋🏽‍♀️👨‍⚕️ 

1. "Do glucagon-like peptide one receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) reduce the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC)?"

A new, population-based study of more than 1.2 million patients with T2DM treated with anti-diabetic agents from 2005-2019 examined the effects of GLP-1 RAs on the incidence of CRC, compared to those prescribed other anti-diabetic drugs. Overall, GLP-1RAs were associated with reduced CRC risk with and without obesity compared with other anti-diabetic agents such as metformin, insulin, sulfonylureas, etc. 

2. "What are the new Canadian Cancer stats?"

A new Canadian Cancer statistics report was published in November 2023, highlighting some interesting trends. Importantly, colorectal cancer's incidence rate is declining the fastest among all cancers. On the other hand, cervical cancer has seen its first significant incidence increase since 1984. Lastly, lung cancer diagnoses are slightly higher in females than males, although lung cancer mortality is declining faster than any other cancer.

3. Which bug is behind the cantaloupe outbreak?"

At least five people in Canada have died in a salmonella outbreak linked to contaminated cantaloupe. Food inspectors have traced the contamination to specific companies in Mexico, the US, and Canada, amidst recall warnings issued by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The virulence of the outbreak is unknown, given that the responsible strain of Salmonella is thought to be rare. 

🏀 Baller of the Month: Dr. Meenakshi Natarajan 🎱

It’s been 4 weeks since the 3-year residency decision, and the dust is finally beginning to settle. Which means Postcall readers might be wondering: who are the doctors representing my interests at the CFPC?

This past week, we sat down with Dr. Meenakshi Natarajan (one of the newest board members and Dec.’s Baller) to learn more about her and the path that brought her to volunteer her time with the college. Who is she? 

• With 10 years in medicine under her belt, she juggles work in urgent care, in remote Indigenous communities as a hospitalist, in a surgical assist role. And teaches medical students at both Western and UofT! 🏥

• A diverse pre-med background that includes managing a symphony 🎶 and working with students with disabilities.

• She practised in a small town right out of residency, where she embedded herself in the community, meeting the pharmacist, school principals, and police, who later proved vital in her healthcare delivery. 🏘️

• She’s led a number of community projects, including teddy bear clinics, food buying clubs, and a community garden. 👩🏽‍🌾

It’s no wonder she loves the saying: “If you want something done, give it to a busy person.” 💪

Since she's joining the board of the CFPC, we asked how she feels about some of the criticisms the college has faced this year.

On scope creep from allied healthcare: 

On extending FM residency to 3 years: 

On communicating with GPs across Canada:  

If you’re aspiring to get involved with the CFPC (or similar organizations), Dr. Natarajan's advice is straightforward: take the initiative, ask about opportunities, and be willing to learn and adapt. She did… and that’s a Baller move.

To read about CFPCs advocacy initiatives or to get involved, click here. 

Every month we showcase a Baller physician. Volunteering to do surgeries abroad? Baller. Started a sick side hustle? Baller. If you know of any Ballers in your life you want to nominate, let us know at [email protected].

🍔 Quick Bites

1: ⛑️ If you want a quick reminder of how Canada’s health care system shapes up worldwide, check out the graphic above, courtesy of OECD Health at a Glance 2023. According to their summary: OECD countries spend 8.8% of GDP on healthcare (which hadn’t changed much since 2013), but by 2021, this had risen to 9.7%. Also, life expentancy fell by 0.7 years on average between 2019 and 2021. Where’s Canada? Fairly average.

2: 🦷 The federal government is rolling out its new $13-billion dental-care program, with the earliest participants to receive coverage as soon as May 2024. First covering kids under 18, and then seniors aged 87 and over, the program will assist households with income below $90,000 and no access to existing private insurance plans. Households under $70,000 get even more benefits.

3: 🧑🏽‍⚕️New research from McMaster has shown that patients and doctors are able to use virtual care “safely and effectively.” Virtual care has been on the rise in Canada, as we covered last month (“The Tea on Virtual Care 🍵🫖”), causing questions about its safety also to rise. The new tea? Virtual visits is “just as safe as in-person care.” In fact, virtual care patients “had better outcomes” — though that probably has something to do with the severity of illness that sought an in-person vs. virtual visit.

4: 😅 B.C. naturopaths are lobbying for the right to prescribe opioid-use disorder medication to help out in the opioid epidemic. Nurses were given this authority earlier in the year (provided they’ve done training with the Centre on Substance Use). But naturopath’s training on pharmacology is limited, and OAT is not without side effects. We’d love to hear your opinion on this debate below!

We’ll share the results of this poll next week 🖖.

Postcall Picks ✅ 

🛫 Travel: Check out Travel + Leisure’s 10 Holiday Travel Hacks that Travel + Leisure Editors swear by.

👂Listen: to this episode of Planet Money: Why do doctors still use pagers?

👀 Watch: Teens are at it again - they’re too cool for jackets. This CBC feature interviews some of them, as well as Dr. Melissa Lem, to find out the implications. ⬇

🕹️ Game ⛳️

It’s like coffee for your brain, but in puzzle format! 🤯

First question: What do you call bowel telescoping causing abdominal pain?

What satisfaction does time make in the woods if no one’s there to hear it? Share with a friend! 🌲 

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