April

Some issues ago I wrote about the fact that the recent Bill 25 permitted pharmacists to renew and adapt prescriptions. I argued that pharmacists who are masters of pharmacopoeia, given limits and conditions, could reasonably be allowed some expansion of their scope of practice. I argued that fighting this legislation would not be a good hill to die on.

Unfortunately I found another hill, one worthy of dying on; naturopath prescribing.

In spite of the substantial amounts invested by Canadian governments in the provision of top-quality municipal drinking water, bottled water has gained in popularity over the last decade.

In British Columbia, 23% of residents receive more than 75% of their daily water intake from bottled water.[1] Last September, Metro Vancouver ran a campaign promoting the consumption of tap water. Bottled or tap water? Knowing the facts is essential to making informed decisions respecting water consumption.

No one who has ever met Linda Clendenning would say that she is retiring. Her effervescence, intelligence, integrity, and com­passion mark a personality that has been a standard at the College Library for almost 40 years. Linda came to us as a newly minted graduate of the University of Alberta and the UBC School of Librarianship in 1969.

Botulism is a rare but serious disease of both children and adults. Neurotoxins produced from the bacterium Clostridium botulinum produce a descending, symmetrical, flaccid paralysis that may result in respiratory distress and death. We review the epidemiology of infant and adult botulism in British Columbia and Yukon between 1996 and 2007 and present an overview of the clinical manifestations of the disease, requirements for public health follow-up, clinical management, and available treatments.

An increasingly favorite topic being discussed in the current journals I receive is that of medical education. Its various aspects are closely appraised and, in particular, the newer methods and standards of postgraduate training are spiritedly scrutinized.

However, in my opinion not enough attention or print is devoted to the teachers themselves. This got me thinking of some of the clinicians under whom I trained, and there then emerged an impression that I am certain is correct. Namely, that in modern medicine and its teaching, there are not enough characters.