April

One has to admire Bill Mackie’s measured tones when an­nouncing yet another nail in the coffin of scientific, Hippocratic medicine in BC [BCMJ 2009;51(1):6]. It is obvious that the government is trying to placate the public’s demand for greater access to medical care, but this is not the way.

It is no secret that the university Faculty of Medicine and clinical practitioners who are currently clinical faculty teachers/mentors do not always see eye to eye.

What is the problem? Most of us enjoy and benefit from the company of learners, and since we remain short of doctors it is vital that we train more.

Nonorganic findings are physical findings that do not have a direct anatomical cause and are distinct from physical findings of organic pathology. They were identified in 1980 by Waddell and colleagues.[1] Although these findings were initially described in patients with low back pain, they may be adapted to patients with neck pain—such as those injured in a car crash.

The General Practice Services Committee (GPSC) this April will launch a $1.17 million, 3-month pilot project linking central Vancouver Island physicians with mental health and addiction resources for patients through a new, secure, web-based database. If successful, the Community Healthcare and Resource Directory (CHARD) will expand across BC and include other health specialties.

“Hey doc, how much omega-3 should I take?” Is it just me, or do the rest of you know everything about vitamins and alternative remedies? Everyone, including some physicians, seems to jump on the bandwagon and encourage patients to try this vitamin or that treatment, often on some apparent expert advice. For example, saw palmetto was supposed to relieve symptoms of prostatism until a double-blind randomized trial reported in 2000 (in our lesser-known sister journal, the New England Journal of Medicine) blew that out of the water—forgive the metaphor.