From Anne Taylor-Vaisey: On this page I have updated a couple of journals (Medical Education, Academic Medicine) and added another journal (Medical Education Online).

From this review in the New York Times, Atlus Software‘s Trauma Center: Second Opinion, played on the new Wii gaming system, sounds incredibly hard. I wonder if it actually does any good as a surgical simulation, or if it’s just a game?

Here’s an interesting article in the Boston Globe about the American Society of Hypetension rejecting a panel discussion on conflicts of interest. The CME committee decided that, with the invited panelists being notable critics of the current system, it would be too biased. From the article:

[former New England Journal of Medicine editor Dr. Marcia Angell] Angell, [Dr. Jerry Avorn, a Brigham and Women’s Hospital physician and Harvard Medical School professor] Avorn, and [Dr. Jerome Kassirer, a former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine] Kassirer were invited to take part in the panel about conflicts of interest by Jean E. Sealey, a researcher and former president-elect of the American Society of Hypertension. Sealey has said the drug industry wields too much influence over the society’s activities through its financial contributions to the group and by paying for honoraria, speakers fees, grants, and research contracts with individual doctors…



The group said in a statement that it sent Sealey’s panel proposal to its continuing medical education review committee, which determined Sealey’s plan to limit the panel to three prominent drug industry critics lacked balance. It suggested adding a Food and Drug Administration official to the roster, but Sealey refused.

This isn’t the first time the society has run into trouble over conflicts of interest (click here and here for some history on the topic.)

I don’t subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, but this article looks interesting from the teaser: Medical Journal Spikes Article On Industry Ties Of Kidney Group:

The New England Journal of Medicine last month published studies warning that aggressive efforts to treat anemia in kidney-disease patients with the drug erythropoietin, or EPO, as recommended by the National Kidney Foundation, appear to increase the risk of heart failure and the need for dialysis. But the medical journal spiked an opinion piece commissioned from one of its senior writers that was critical of the foundation’s reliance on multimillion-dollar donations from the companies that make such drugs.

From the Accreditation Council for CME:

The ACCME has updated its website with two News Releases. One release announces a new collaborative relationship with the National Association of Medical Staff Services (NAMSS) to support NAMSS members and ACCME accredited providers especially as it relates to the integration and fulfillment of ACCME‘s Updated Accreditation Criteria. For more information on this collaborative effort, please visit www.accme.org and view the news release “ACCME to Collaborate with NAMSS” or click here.



The other release informs the CME community that the ACCME has been asked to provide the U.S. Senate Finance Committee with information regarding continuing medical education. For more information on the Senate Finance Committee‘s request, please visit www.accme.org and view the news release “ACCME to Provide U.S. Senate Finance Committee with Information Regarding CME” or click here.

From Anne Taylor-Vaisey: Here is an article by a former boss of mine, Dr. Richard Reznick of the University of Toronto. Published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. The title is Teaching surgical skills: changes in the wind.

If you have an opinion about the charge that periodically comes up that pharma is looking to “invent” diseases for which it has the cure (think hair loss, ED, restless leg syndrome), check out this podcast from our friends at the Pharma Marketing Blog. It promises to be a lively exchange between Neil H. Gray, Managing Partner, Healthcare Trends & Strategies, LLC, with Alex Sugerman-Brozan, Director, Prescription Litigation Access Project, who don’t exactly agree on the topic. I’m putting it on my must-listen-to list for all that downtime I’ll have this weekend (ha).

Here we go again: Drug Files Show Maker Promoted Unapproved Use (from the New York Times).

That’s how one doctor describes a kiosk that dispenses generics in his office, according to this article. Well, it’s an interesting way to get generics samples into docs hands, anyway.

From BMC Central: A hierarchy of effective teaching and learning to acquire competence in evidenced-based medicine:

Background

A variety of methods exists for teaching and learning evidence-based medicine (EBM). However, there is much debate about the effectiveness of various EBM teaching and learning activities, resulting in a lack of consensus as to what methods constitute the best educational practice. There is a need for a clear hierarchy of educational activities to effectively impart and acquire competence in EBM skills. This paper develops such a hierarchy based on current empirical and theoretical evidence.



Discussion

EBM requires that health care decisions be based on the best available valid and relevant evidence. To achieve this, teachers delivering EBM curricula need to inculcate amongst learners the skills to gain, assess, apply, integrate and communicate new knowledge in clinical decision-making. Empirical and theoretical evidence suggests that there is a hierarchy of teaching and learning activities in terms of their educational effectiveness: Level 1, interactive and clinically integrated activities; Level 2(a), interactive but classroom based activities; Level 2(b), didactic but clinically integrated activities; and Level 3, didactic, classroom or standalone teaching.




Summary

All health care professionals need to understand and implement the principles of EBM to improve care of their patients. Interactive and clinically integrated teaching and learning activities provide the basis for the best educational practice in this field.