Media Releases

June 6th, 2016

Doctors Nova Scotia reaches tentative agreement with government

Dartmouth, N.S. - Doctors Nova Scotia has reached tentative agreements with the Department of Health and Wellness on new four-year contracts, if ratified by Nova Scotia’s physicians.

September 21st, 2017

Doctors to meet with elected officials about federal tax changes

Nova Scotia’s physicians will meet with provincial and federal elected officials on Saturday to share their concerns about proposed federal tax changes on private corporations.

May 10th, 2018

Nova Scotia’s doctors makes recommendations on palliative care

Today, during National Palliative Care Week, Doctors Nova Scotia released 10 recommendations to improve palliative care in Nova Scotia.

October 18th, 2017

Expanding the role of nurse practitioners

Doctors Nova Scotia has always taken the perspective that there is a role for all health-care providers in the system, but one can’t replace another.

October 4th, 2017

Correcting the record: DNS is 3,500 physicians

Doctors Nova Scotia is 3,500 members; including practising and retired physicians, residents and medical students.

September 1st, 2017

Proposed federal tax changes

About 75 percent of the province’s physicians are incorporated as small business owners. If the proposed tax changes come into effect, they stand to lose between 10 and 30 percent of their take-home pay.

March 22nd, 2017

Physician recruitment and retention

Dear editor:

Janet Knox, CEO of Nova Scotia Health Authority and Denise Perret, Deputy Minister of Health and Wellness have both recently stated that Nova Scotia has the highest rate of physicians to patients in the country.

October 20th, 2016

A Toxic Soup of Painkillers - Thoughts on the Opioid Epidemic

The opioid epidemic that is gripping North America is an emerging issue for Nova Scotians and for our health-care system. Misuse of opioids, such as hydromorphone, oxycodone and morphine, has been a significant problem in Nova Scotia for more than a decade.

September 29th, 2016

Nova Scotians deserve access to a family physician now - not five years from now

Dear editor,

As a family physician in a collaborative practice, I know first-hand the benefits of team-based care and the value of having nurse practitioners and family practice nurses in community clinics. My patients benefit from this type of collaboration every single day.

February 12th, 2016

Two Deaths; they couldn't be more similar, they couldn't be more different

There has been extensive debate in Canada these past two years about physician assisted-death. This debate is important, timely and controversial. It has occupied the resources of many medical, legal and advocacy groups.

November 12th, 2015

How to talk to your doctor about unnecessary tests & treatments

Do you ask questions about the risk or potential harm of some treatments or discuss safer options?

October 8th, 2015

A Decade of Change For Seniors in Long-Term Care Facilities in Nova Scotia

Barry Clarke and his team have engineered a major change in the way that family physicians provide primary care to seniors in nursing homes in the Halifax area.

September 29th, 2015

Levelling up; what medical students really need to know to succeed

Each May, the graduating class of Dalhousie Medical School awards one of their professors the Silver Shovel Award. It’s an honour that recognizes teaching excellence, rewarding a professor’s dedication, compassion and commitment to helping their students succeed.

September 21st, 2015

In Nova Scotia physicians & communities work together for better health care

Over the past year the Clare physicians have started mentoring residents, allowing them to return home to study and work alongside local doctors while doing their training.

September 10th, 2015

Why your doctors donated $178K to enhance communities just like yours

Doctors are often leaders in their communities, not only because they provide care to thousands of patients, but because they create and support programs and events that enhance the welfare of the province’s communities.

September 2nd, 2015

Mentoring next generation of physicians; leading recruitment in rural Nova Scotia

Dr. Kenny Yee’s career has not gone how he originally intended, but he says in the end he wouldn’t change a thing.

August 26th, 2015

Dr. Manohar Bance makes impressive gains in diagnosing and treating hearing problems

The key to maintaining momentum is keeping the end goal in sight: This is about helping patients.

May 11th, 2018

Collaboration & consistency are keys to better prescribing practices

Dr. Rhea MacDonald, a family physician in Inverness, Cape Breton was uncomfortable with her own opioid prescribing practices and felt she had to make some changes to deliver better care and to prescribe more responsibly.

August 12th, 2015

You are a physician; therefore you are a leader

Dr. Cindy Forbes has always been drawn to work that results in positive change.

Her early experiences sitting on boards and committees became the foundation of a career characterized by leadership.

August 4th, 2015

Dr. Elwood MacMullin; a man on a mission

The responsibility to help the underprivileged isn’t something Dr. Elwood MacMullin, a general surgeon in Sydney, N.S., takes lightly.