Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to K Cottrell.
Educators are rising to the challenge of making continuing medical education relevant, valuable and enjoyable for physicians. Lectures are being replaced by small-group, interactive sessions that try to ensure physicians come away with clinically relevant information that will affect daily practice. Community-based programs also allow physicians to fit learning into their busy lifestyles.
Many Canadians are interested in alternative medicine, and burgeoning public interest in herbal remedies has not gone unnoticed by Canada's drug companies. McNeil Consumer Products recently began selling a migraine prophylaxis made from the plant feverfew. Physicians who would like to see herbal medications subjected to outcome studies and quality-control standards, with evidence of risks and benefits being made available to consumers, welcome the interest the companies are showing. Meanwhile, physicians and pharmacists are trying to respond to consumer demand by increasing their own knowledge about herbal medications.
Society expects today's physicians to be expert clinicians, effective communicators, resource managers and health care advocates, all rolled into one. This is changing both medical school curricula and the way medical students are selected. During a homecoming weekend at Queen's University, faculty brought medical alumni up to date on the selection process. "I remember writing a little not saying that I wanted to come into medicine and sending it off with my transcript, and that was it," noted Dr. Robert Madsley, the vice-dean. Today, the situation is much different.
Even though an estimated 3.5 million Canadians are affected by hypertension, speakers at a World Conference on Hypertension Control questioned whether it is generally cost effective to treat younger men and women who have mild hypertension. Nonpharmacologic treatment via weight loss and lifestyle modification should be the first-line treatment, speakers stated. They looked at the basic principles for evaluating the economics of hypertension management and made recommendations on the cost effectiveness of treating various patient groups according to age and severity of their hypertension, and on the selection of diagnostic-evaluation procedures and antihypertensive medications.
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Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Admitting surgical patients as day cases rather than for overnight stays is one way of improving the use of resources and cutting waiting lists. But the way bed-use statistics are now presented can be misleading, and Kevin Cottrell, regional statistician, North Western RHA, suggests ways in which the treatment of day cases could be standardised and an accurate picture of hospital activity achieved.
A method of estimating catchment populations which is easily understood and calculable is described by Kevin Cottrell, North Western RHA statistician. It is based on traditional statistical theory and as such is robust in its application. It can give fairly accurate determinations of the population served by various services.