Guest: Professor Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, Professor in the School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies at the University of Ottawa Ontario’s registered nurses will now be able to independently prescribe some medications such as vaccines, medicines to quit smoking and for pain relief or wound care.The government sees this part of its efforts to tackle Ontario’s acute healthcare crisis — with more than two million people currently lacking a family doctor. This is the latest in a series of recent moves to expand the role of some health professionals to try and fill the gap, including pharmacists and midwives. We explore what this means for healthcare. This episode was produced by Paulo Marques, Brian Bradley and Saba Eitizaz.