Nicholas Pimlott

Toronto

Scientific Editor at Canadian Family Physician

Family physician, teacher, journal editor, father, husband, soccer coach and cycling fanatic.

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Articles

The more things change, the more they stay the same

1 week ago | cfp.ca | Nicholas Pimlott

The German-born American physician and writer Martin Fisher, famous in his day for his aphorisms, is credited with saying half of the modern drugs could well be thrown out of the window, except that the birds might eat them. It sounds like he was an environmentalist physician well ahead of his time. It is surprising how little we physicians sometimes know about the medications we prescribe, even those prescribed routinely.
A field guide to aging

2 months ago | cfp.ca | Nicholas Pimlott

I woke upand I was old—It’s hard to judgeif this new countrywas worthits costsEileen R. Tabios,Mom Betty Addresses the Nature of ProportionAging and its attendant risks and losses—some visible, others not—is a theme of the February 2025 issue of Canadian Family Physician. Since 2018 the journal has published the Geriatric Gems series, curated and contributed to by Dr Chris Frank from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont, and Dr Frank Molnar from the University of Ottawa in Ontario.
Improving primary care research reporting

Jan 22, 2025 | cfp.ca | Nicholas Pimlott

Canadian Family Physician (CFP) begins 2025 by introducing the Consensus Reporting Items for Studies in Primary Care (CRISP) checklist to its tools for journal authors and peer reviewers. What is CRISP and why is it important to CFP and its research contributors, peer reviewers, and readers? The CRISP checklist is built upon a 5-year program of rigorous research that engaged the worldwide, interprofessional, interdisciplinary community of primary care.
What the pandemic taught us

Jan 22, 2025 | cfp.ca | Nicholas Pimlott

This month marks the fifth anniversary of the first case of what would become known as COVID-19 being reported at a hospital in Toronto, Ont, where I live and work.1Do you remember where you were when you heard of (or saw) your first case of COVID-19? I do. I was in a restaurant celebrating a family birthday when the news broke.2 Having worked as a physician in previous pandemics, beginning with the AIDS crisis, the news cast a pall over the rest of the evening.
Use of AI in Family Medicine Publications: A Joint Editorial From Journal Editors | AAFP

Jan 9, 2025 | aafp.org | Sarina B. Schrager |Dean A. Seehusen |Sumi M. Sexton |Jon O. Neher |Nicholas Pimlott |Marjorie Bowman | +5 more

The family medicine journal editors provide a unified statement about AI in academic publishing for authors, editors, publishers, and peer reviewers based on current understanding of the technology, which is rapidly advancing.
Change is not possible unless it is feasible

Dec 5, 2024 | cfp.ca | Nicholas Pimlott |Brian Hutchison

On Friday, August 16, 2024, 3 days before he died, Dr Brian Hutchison kindly agreed to sit down with me virtually for this interview. Brian co-authored a research article in the May issue of Canadian Family Physician entitled “Assessing the impact of Canadian primary care research and researchers. Citation analysis,”1 which has been widely read.
Of care continuity and brick walls

Oct 15, 2024 | cfp.ca | Nicholas Pimlott

In a recent brilliant guest editorial in the Annals of Family Medicine, Dr Otto Maarsingh of the Netherlands asked the Pink Floyd–inspired question, “The wall of evidence for continuity of care: how many more bricks do we need?”1 He went on to provide overwhelming supporting evidence for the many ways continuity of care with a primary care provider like a family physician benefits patients, physicians, and health care systems.
Getting beneath the surface of things

Sep 13, 2024 | cfp.ca | Nicholas Pimlott

Every once in a while I get stuck when writing an editorial. Sometimes it is because there is no obvious theme or through-line in the content of the journal, although our team diligently tries to identify one for each issue. More often it is simply because I am stuck on the surface of things.
Canadian Family Physician: 70 years and counting

Jun 17, 2024 | cfp.ca | Nicholas Pimlott

In Alan Bennett’s Tony award–winning play The History Boys, about a group of students preparing for University of Oxford and University of Cambridge entrance examinations under the tutelage of 3 very different teachers, 1 of the educators tells the pupils:The best moments in reading are when you come across something—a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things—which you had thought special and particular to you.
Restoring the particular to family medicine

May 14, 2024 | cfp.ca | Nicholas Pimlott

The more specific we are, the more universal something can become. Life is in the details. Jacqueline WoodsonThe May issue of Canadian Family Physician features 2 articles that, on first reading, may seem completely unconnected to each other. The first is a reflective commentary entitled “Missing the person.