Intelligent reading

It's great to read intelligent articles. Here are two from the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ).

Speaking of medicine, I hope my readers have caught the CBC production on Tommy Douglas called Prairie Giant.

I learned more about him and Saskatchewan tonight than I ever did in history class. The last episode was quite information - I didn't realize that doctors went on strike in Sask and others were being shipped in - from Ontario and the U.S. of all places. I think those Ontario docs stayed in Sask and the opposing ones came to Ontario...

Anyway, that should be a good enough segway to the excerpts from CMAJ

March 2006 Is Medicine Still a Profession?

First, there is a leakage of physicians' authority resulting from the better education and empowerment of patients. Some patients suffering from a single disease may be better informed about their condition than their physicians, who must keep track of hundreds. Second, an erosion of guardianship is resulting from commercialization of the medical knowledge base.

[…]

Further, to keep up to date with modern medical science, physicians have to rely (and indeed are encouraged to rely) on various summaries of that science in the form of narrative and systematic reviews in peer-reviewed journals, clinical practice guidelines and continuing medical education. But these, too, are being increasingly distorted by commercial self-interest. Thus, not only is the privileged knowledge the profession once possessed no longer exclusive (a good thing), but the integrity of that knowledge is being corroded by commercial interests (not a good thing).


November 2005 Conflict of Interest in Medical Schools in Canada

Before beginning a lecture or talk, speakers at all teaching events in clinical settings must provide statements about their potential conflicts of interest, including stock holdings, honoraria, consultancies and advisory board membership. The disclosure is intended to allow students to decide for themselves whether the information they receive in lectures is truly unbiased and evidence-based, says Dr. Catharine Whiteside, the university's interim dean of medicine.

Under U of T's conflict-of-interest principles, health professionals and medical students are also prohibited from receiving direct industry sponsorship to attend conferences and from accepting payment for proposing patients as research subjects or enrolling them in trials. The conflict policy also requires physicians and medical students to disclose to patients any relationship that creates, or may be perceived to create, a conflict of interest.