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Sound Mind: conversations about physician wellness and medical culture

The personal cost of leading Canada’s public health response to COVID-19

For most physicians, the fight against COVID-19 took place away from public scrutiny. But for public health physicians, their words, their work, and sometimes their raw emotions, have taken centre stage. Two of Canada’s chief medical officers of health – Dr. Saqib Shahab from Saskatchewan and Dr. Catherine Elliott from the Yukon – share the toll the pandemic has taken on them and their colleagues.

“It was only a few months in where I thought, no human can really keep this pace: new evidence coming in every day...the pace of meetings and press conferences, and evidence-based decisions, and the weight of these types of decisions.”Dr. Catherine Elliott

In this episode, host Dr. Caroline Gérin-Lajoie speaks with Dr. Elliott about what causes moral distress among public health physicians and recent survey results from the Public Health Physicians of Canada showing high rates of burnout among its members.

On Dec. 8, join Dr. Gérin-Lajoie and other physicians to discuss this topic in a CMA Wellness Connection peer support session. Register by clicking here:

Want to learn more about physician wellness? Visit the CMA Physician Wellness Hub for curated, clinically-based tools, resources, and research on all the topics covered in this podcast.



Sound Mind: conversations about physician wellness and medical culture
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