NIH and ETHICS
The National Institute of Health has a healthy $28 billion research budget. Recent additions to their personnel policy about relationships with the pharmaceutical companies have some employees in a quandary. The new rules severely limit the relationship between NIH employees and the outside organizations. While the "Pollyanna" portion of my brain applauds this effort to avoid conflict of interest, the logical side of me knows that you can't control every aspect of a person's life, nor should you try to. Is the secretary's stock portfolio really based on her "inside" knowledge of the drug manufacturing process? Is the researcher pushing to use a test developed by the manufacturer who just paid him $20,000 as a consultant? Which seems more plausible to you? I believe in the inherent morale values of most people. Those who choose a career in medical research do so, hopefully based primarily on their desire to improve the world, and for financial reward only as a secondary goal. It's a fascinating debate. Check it out.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=st...
PAIN MANAGEMENT and the CAREGIVER
Duke University has instituted a series of 3 one hour sessions for patients and their partner/caregiver about pain management. These classes are for patients who are expected to have less than 6 months to live. The benefits of these sessions show increased awareness of patient pain, more confidence in administering pain medications, less stress on both the patient and caregiver and a better understanding of pain management. Brief synopsis may be found out http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=st...
Full text is available at the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, March, 2005.
BENEFIT or BURDEN of SCREENING MAMMOGRAPHY
There have been numerous articles touting or decrying the benefit of screening mammographies. This article, published after an Australian study, does a good job of demystifying the logistics behind a research project. Their approach is logical and it is a good article to read if you want to gain insight into what factors go into a study, what data is included, how participants are selected. Whether you agree with the findings or not, it is a good piece to read just to increase your knowledge of how studies are designed.
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/f...
HHS Agency for Healthcare and Healthcare Research and Quality has launched a new website - Patient Safety Network (PSNet). The goal is to prevent medical care and improve patient safety. There is a ton of information, lots of resource links and conference postings. The site has options for healthcare administrators, consumers, providers and can be customized for your needs. Give it a spin at http://psnet.ahrq.gov.
