INTRODUCTION Health Canada states that waiting list information and management systems in Canada are woefully inadequate, especially for elective surgical procedures. Understanding the reasons for waiting is paramount to achieving fairness and equity. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of demographic and clinical factors and surgeon volume on waiting times for laparoscopic ch...

BACKGROUND Self-help for social phobia has not received controlled empirical evaluation. AIMS To evaluate the efficacy of pure self-help through written materials for severe social phobia and self-help augmented by five group sessions with a therapist. These conditions were compared with a waiting-list control and standard, therapist-led group therapy. METHOD Participants with severe genera...

We report an empirical analysis of the responses of the supply and demand for secondary care to waiting list size and waiting times. Whereas previous empirical analyses have used data aggregated to area level, our analysis focuses on the supply responses of a single hospital and the demand responses of the GP practices it serves, and distinguishes between first outpatient visits, inpatient admi...

1. Liver transplantation is currently offered as a therapeutic option for patients with a wide range of end-stage liver diseases. 2. Conventional wisdom suggests that patients who receive a liver transplant have a greater expected lifetime when compared to comparable candidates on the waiting list. 3. The model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) scoring system is an excellent predictor of morta...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Disparities in time to placement on the waiting list on the basis of socioeconomic factors decrease access to deceased-donor renal transplantation for some groups of patients with end-stage renal disease. This study was undertaken to determine candidate factors that influence duration of dialysis before placement on the waiting list among candidates for deceased-donor ...

© 2002 Canadian Medical Association S waiting lists are seen by many as epitomizing the shortcomings of our public health care system. Yet, they can also be interpreted as being the result of a societal compromise between the founders’ promise of universal access to care and the reality of currently committed resources. Regardless of one’s perception, the debate about the “appropriate length” o...

Objective: To assess patient and surgeon views on maximum acceptable waiting times (MAWT) for hip and knee replacement, their determinants and their relationship to levels of urgency based on the Western Canada Waiting List Priority Criteria Score (PCS). Methods: At the decision date for surgery, orthopaedic surgeons assessed consecutive patients with the PCS and MAWT. Patients were surveyed 3–...

In the United States, patients with end-stage liver disease must join a waiting list to be eligible for cadaveric liver transplantation. Due to privacy concerns, the details of the composition of this waiting list are not publicly available. This paper considers the benefits associated with creating a more transparent waiting list. We study these benefits by modeling the organ accept/reject dec...