More than 60 staffers and clients at the Foothills hospital's emergency care department shared their experiences, and emerging from those conversations were four main issues

Researchers at the University of Calgary have created a new program that will train front-line staff at hospitals on how to treat patients with mental and substance use disorders with more patience and empathy.

The program is a product of a series of focus groups conducted by the team led by nursing professor Jacqueline Smith, who said the group received nearly $1 million from the Calgary Health Foundation in 2019 to study the issue.

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“It was very clear that there were a lot of inequities in the emergency department with those presenting with addiction and mental health,” said Smith, a former regi

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