Category: Resource Allocation

  • 100. Case: Chatting About Hopes and Goals

    You are a social worker who is part of a rehab team.  During lunch, the conversation turns to one of the patients that you and your team is working with. The patient was in a scooter accident and suffered multiple fractures. They are struggling to regain their ability to walk and can often be heard…

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  • 66. Case: Blood Transfusions

    Joyce Skinner is a 38 year old woman with non-curative leukemia. She is the single mother of two children, ages 11 and 8, and her ex-husband is ‘out of the (parental) picture’. Since her leukemia diagnosis, Joyce has approached her progressive hematological cancer in an assertive manner, seeing it as her responsibility to fight to…

    View Case Study: 66. Case: Blood Transfusions
  • 59. Case: HPV Vaccine for Boys

    PEI is expanding its human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination program to include grade six boys. Girls have been receiving the HPV vaccine since 2007. HPV is the most common sexually-transmitted infection among young adults. It can lead to genital warts and, in girls, cervical cancer. For boys it can also lead to cancers of the…

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  • 58. Case: Harm Reduction

    Medical Officers of Health from British Colombia, Nova Scotia, and Saskatchewan have written to advocate for emphasizing harm reduction in the approach to cannabis and other illegal drugs (including possible legalization). “Evidence-based drug treatment programs are cost effective, and significant benefits should be derived, at both individual and societal levels, through an increase in scale.…

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  • 57. Case: Caregiver Stress

    Dr. Morrison has been the only physician in his small community of 1,500 people for about 15 years and is known as the “Town Doc.” When he first moved to town, he quickly became friends with many people and involved in the community. However, the longer he practiced, the more awkward his social life became.…

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  • 55. Case: What is My Obligation?

    A family physician in a small, remote community assesses a patient, who is a local schoolteacher, as developing a post-partum psychosis. He feels he lacks adequate training or experience to manage her care. He recommends she seek treatment at a distant large mental health centre but she refuses to travel to the centre because of…

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  • 49. Case: Reality Check?

    A clerk and resident are frustrated after a morning of taking histories from and doing physical examinations of patients referred to the GI Clinic. As you (the attending clinic gastroenterologist) are going over the morning’s work with them, the clerk and resident complain that most of the patients seem to have less clinically significant symptoms…

    View Case Study: 49. Case: Reality Check?
  • 41. Case: Ethical Budgeting

    This is the day you’ve been dreading as manager of the geriatric day program at your local hospital. Word has come down that your budget is going to be cut by 15% in the next fiscal year (indeed everyone’s budget at your facility faces the same cut). You have three months to determine how this…

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  • 40. Case: All Things Being Equal…

    As a member of your health region Foundation Board, you know that there is going to be a rather intense, lengthy, and difficult discussion tonight. A high profile community member recently passed away and left $500,000 in her will to the Foundation. This was an unexpected donation and means that the Foundation is in a…

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  • 39. Case: Setting Priorities

    In the wake of a mass casualty event, a hurricane that devastated much of Nova Scotia, blood resources within the province are extremely scarce. There is not enough blood to meet all the legitimate blood-related health needs of Nova Scotians, and the blood supply is not expected to increase significantly in the next two months.…

    View Case Study: 39. Case: Setting Priorities