Category Archives: Conversations in Complexity

What it Means to be a Good Academic Citizen – Part 2



The academic research environment is changing and researchers report struggling to adapt in order to be successful. Funding shortfalls are perennial, but what systemic shifts should occur to enable researchers at all career stages to be productive and successful?
Continue reading What it Means to be a Good Academic Citizen – Part 2


What it Means to be a Good Academic Citizen – Part 1



Upon publishing “Healthy research ecosystem – healthy researchers? The researcher as an organism of focus within a ‘research ecosystem’ in Academic Matters in mid-March 2019, Ross Upshur and Michelle Nelson, convened to critique themes from their paper and discuss a number of other academic matters not originally mentioned in the paper but have boggled the minds of many academics far and wide for a long time. Continue reading What it Means to be a Good Academic Citizen – Part 1


Health Leadership Perspectives to Deploy a Seamless Integrated Care for the Older Adults in Catalonia



In this podcast, Ross Upshur, interviews Marco Inzitari, discussing the mechanisms and nuts and bolts of integrated care provided to the elderly population in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Dr. Inzitari is the current President of the Catalan Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology and the Director of Intermediate Care, Research and Teaching of Parc Sanitari Pere Virgili in Barcelona.
Continue reading Health Leadership Perspectives to Deploy a Seamless Integrated Care for the Older Adults in Catalonia


“I was there for her”: A Caregiver’s Story



Gordon MacGregor, a member of the Alternate Level of Care Patient and Caregiver Council, in an interview with Ross Upshur reflects upon his personal experience taking care of his wife in a span of nearly 30 years. His experience with the health system is what thousands of patients and family caregivers undergo on daily basis. The interview highlights both positive and not so positive aspects of care and the need to take care of the instances that patients might find rather inconvenient or challenging to overcome. Continue reading “I was there for her”: A Caregiver’s Story


Striving for a Better Healthcare for the Elderly in Canada; An interview with Jane Barratt, the Secretary General of the International Federation on Ageing



Jane Barratt in an interview with Ross Upshur reflects on different aspects of elderly care and explains how it could be improved in Canada. In the interview, she gives an example of other countries and how they have been successful in laying the foundation for a more robust elderly care.
Continue reading Striving for a Better Healthcare for the Elderly in Canada; An interview with Jane Barratt, the Secretary General of the International Federation on Ageing


When All Roads Seem to Lead to Healthcare Complexity



ST: A Palliative Approach to Decision Aids to Help Improve Patients’ Medical Choices
Pete Wegier in this interview with Ross Upshur discusses complexities of the end of life care and how coordination in this care setting could be optimized by the use of new communication technologies. Interestingly, his journey from computer science to cognitive psychology, to medical decision making and later to the space of palliative care has equipped Pete with tools that could help untangle some of the problems in this most complex area in health care.   Continue reading When All Roads Seem to Lead to Healthcare Complexity


The Need for Intra- and Inter-sectoral Collaboration in Healthcare, in Interview with Michelle Nelson



Michelle Nelson in an interview with Ross Upshur discusses the importance of intra- and inter-sectoral collaboration in healthcare and explains how the voluntary sector could be engaged to support improved patient and family experiences and the outcomes. Continue reading The Need for Intra- and Inter-sectoral Collaboration in Healthcare, in Interview with Michelle Nelson


Simplifying the Complexity of Palliative Care



Jeff Myers, in this interview with Ross Upshur, discusses the evolution of palliative care and the evidence that has accumulated outlining its impact on outcomes for patients, families, and systems. With early efficacy studies having focused on end-of-life experiences for patients with cancer, strong evidence now clearly delineates a role for palliative care from the time of diagnosis for any person with serious illness and their family. Continue reading Simplifying the Complexity of Palliative Care


Safer Opioid Prescribing and Non-opioid Alternatives for Chronic Pain



Abhimanyu Sud, in an interview with Ross Upshur, talks about the current opioid crisis, the challenges and the opportunities to respond to the crisis at different levels including improved prescriber education and use of evidence-based non-opioid alternatives for chronic pain. Continue reading Safer Opioid Prescribing and Non-opioid Alternatives for Chronic Pain