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ACPM Headlines
February
11, 2002
ACPM HEADLINES, the electronic newsletter for
members of the American College of
Preventive Medicine, highlights recent
happenings at the College, developments in
preventive medicine, and ACPM member
activities.
We encourage your feedback on the
newsletter.
If you have comments or items you
would like to include in the newsletter,
please e-mail Mike Barry at mab@acpm.org.
In
this issue:
1.
ACPM expands JobFinder service
2.
Value of mammography questioned: ACPM
responds
3.
ACPM completes preventive services
audience analysis
4.
Preventive Medicine 2002 approaches
5.
Tobacco company claims smokeless
products a safe alternative
6.
Medical student survey indicates
increased emphasis on population
medicine
7.
Clinical preventive services update:
aspirin therapy
8.
Community preventive services update:
socioeconomic factors
9.
Eve Slater confirmed as Assistant
Secretary for Health
10.
Members in the news: Satcher, Frank
1.
ACPM JOB SERVICE ADDS PHYSICIAN EXECUTIVE
POSITIONS
ACPM
recently expanded its on-line JobFinder
service to include physician
administrative and executive jobs.
The new arrangement has resulted in an
average of 50 additional job postings
available to preventive medicine
physicians through this interactive
service. JobFinder provides a
state-of-the-art electronic forum for the
exchange of career information between
preventive medicine physicians and
potential employers. The free
service-made possible through the
HEALTHeCAREERS Network of association
career programs-enables candidates to
research job postings by discipline and
location. For more information,
visit www.acpm.org <http://www.acpm.org>
and click on JobFinder.
2.
ACPM DEFENDS VALUE OF MAMMOGRAPHY
SCREENING
ACPM
along with several prominent national
organizations recently spoke out in the
New York Times in support of the evidence
linking reduced breast cancer mortality
rates to screening mammography. The
full-page ad, paid for by the American
Cancer Society, was in response to the
public debate emanating from a recent
report published in the British medical
journal, The Lancet. The report
concluded there was no scientific support
for breast cancer screening with
mammography.
The
co-signers of the ad -- which also
included the AMA, American Academy of
Family Physicians, and the American
College of Surgeons -- noted that, despite
the findings in the Lancet study,
"...the evidence as a whole solidly
supports reduced breast cancer mortality
rates due to screening mammography.
Early breast cancer detection means a
greater chance for successful treatment
and a greater range of treatment
options." The ad strongly urged
women "to continue to follow the
advice of their physicians and the leading
medical organizations" and issued the
warning that "If women are dissuaded
from getting regular mammograms, lives
will be lost."
3.
ACPM RELEASES RESULTS OF AUDIENCE ANALYSIS
ACPM
recently released the results of the
product development and testing phase of
its study to analyze audiences of
preventive services recommendations.
The two-year research study, funded by the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, analyzed
the information needs of selected
audiences about preventive services, then
developed and tested products and delivery
methods to reach those audiences.
The work of the U.S. Preventive Services
Task Force and the Task Force on Community
Preventive Services was the primary focus
of the study.
The
final report, "Analyzing Audiences of
Preventive Service Guidelines: Product
Testing and Development," evaluates
the effectiveness of several new and
existing products in reaching clinicians,
health plans, health departments, and
consumers. The report recommends
ways to improve the value and reach of
these products among the audiences.
For more information, or to obtain a copy
of the final report, contact Jessica
Cafarella ( jdc@acpm.org <mailto:jdc@acpm.org>).
4.
ANNUAL MEETING APPROACHES: DON'T MISS OUT!
Today
is the last day to pre-register for ACPM's
annual meeting, Preventive Medicine 2002,
which will get underway in nine days in
San Antonio, Texas. If you are still
undecided about attending, please look
closely at this year's fabulous line-up of
educational sessions, prominent speakers,
and social events. Log on to
www.preventivemedicine2002.org
<http://www.preventivemedicine2002.org>
and register today! For you
last-minute types, fear not: ACPM will
offer on-site registration.
If
you have not registered for one of this
year's pre-meeting skill-building
institutes, we encourage you to take
advantage of these popular learning
venues. For example, the Agency for
Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and
the American Water Works Association are
co-sponsoring a day-long institute titled
"Waterborne Disease and Water
Pollution: What Every Physician in Your
Community Needs to Know." This
day-long workshop will provide a clinical
overview of the diagnosis and management
of waterborne disease and the health
effects of water pollution, as well as
strategies for risk communication to
discuss these environmental health issues
with patients. The events of September 11
emphasize the need for health care
providers to recognize unusual disease
trends and early warning signs, and this
institute will provide the tools needed to
assist in the diagnosis process. A
second component of the institute will
address the challenges facing the water
utility community tasked with providing
safe drinking water in America. See the
attached agenda and learning objectives
for more information.
5.
TOBACCO COMPANY TOUTS SMOKELESS TOBACCO AS
SAFE ALTERNATIVE
The
public health community is once again
mobilizing to respond to an
unsubstantiated claim by a tobacco
company. This time the culprit is
the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company (USSTC),
which claims that smokeless tobacco
products are a "safe substitute for
smoking cigarettes." In an
effort to promote the sales of its
products, USSTC has appealed to the
Federal Trade Commission asking for a
ruling allowing it to make this health
benefit claim. USSTC says that it wants to
be able to include in its advertisements a
statement that "the use of smokeless
tobacco involves significantly less risk
of adverse health effects than smoking
cigarettes."
The
Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and other
public health organizations are organizing
a public health response to this action.
6.
MORE POPULATION MEDICINE BEING TAUGHT IN
MEDICAL SCHOOLS? SURVEY DATA SUGGEST SO
The
Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)
has released a preliminary analysis
showing that an increasing percentage of
medical students feel that the instruction
time spent on population-based topics is
"appropriate." A
corresponding declining number of students
who rate such instruction time as
"inadequate" mirrors this
trend. The trend is consistent
across the spectrum of topics queried,
including: public health and community
medicine; community health and social
services; health promotion and disease
prevention; screening for diseases;
infectious disease prevention; clinical
epidemiology; and biostatistics. The
analysis reflects four years (1998-2001)
of responses from AAMC's Medical School
Graduation Questionnaire, which has been
annually administered to graduating
medical students in all U.S. allopathic
schools of medicine since 1978. For
more information, contact Raj Sabharwal (
rsabharwal@aamc.org) <mailto:rsabharwal@aamc.org)>.
7.
CLINICAL PREVENTIVE SERVICES UPDATE:
ASPIRIN THERAPY
The U.S.
Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) on
January 14 strongly recommended that
clinicians discuss the benefits and harms
of aspirin therapy with healthy adult
patients who are at increased risk of
coronary heart disease (CHD), primarily
heart attacks. Recent studies reviewed by
the USPSTF found that regular use of
aspirin reduced the risk of CHD by 28
percent in persons who had never had a
heart attack or stroke but who were at
increased risk. Those considered at
increased risk for CHD are men over the
age of 40, post-menopausal women, and
younger persons with risk factors for CHD,
(e.g., smoking, diabetes, hypertension).
Visit <http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2002/aspirpr.htm>
to see AHRQ's press release and links to
the recommendation, fact sheets, and an
online cardiovascular risk calculator.
8.
COMMUNITY PREVENTIVE SERVICES UPDATE:
SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS
The Task
Force on Community Preventive Services has
recently completed systematic reviews of
early childhood development interventions
and family housing interventions.
These reviews focus on an assessment of
the effectiveness of these interventions
to address sociocultural factors that
influence health.
Based on
its review, the Task Force: strongly
recommends publicly funded, center-based,
comprehensive early childhood development
programs for low income children aged 3-5
years; recommends housing subsidy
programs for low-income families that
provide rental vouchers for use in the
private housing market and allow families
choice in residential location; and
concludes that insufficient evidence is
available on which to assess the
effectiveness of mixed income housing
developments that provide safe and
affordable housing in neighborhoods with
adequate goods or services.
Findings
have been published as part of the CDC
MMWR Recommendations and Reports Series
< <http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5101a1.htm>>.
9.
SLATER CONFIRMED AS ASSISTANT SECRETARY
FOR HEALTH
The
Senate January 25 confirmed by unanimous
consent the nomination of Eve Slater,
M.D., as Assistant Secretary for Health at
the Department of Health and Human
Services. Dr. Slater previously
served as senior vice president for
clinical and regulatory development at
Merck Research Laboratories. A
graduate of Columbia University College of
Physicians and Surgeons, Dr. Slater has
also served as Chief of the Hypertension
Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital.
10.
MEMBERS IN THE NEWS: SATCHER, FRANK
U.S.
Surgeon General and ACPM Fellow David
Satcher is stepping down this month from
his post as the nation's spokesman on
public health issues. He held the
office since Feb. 13, 1998, including a
year-long stint as a Clinton
administration holdover in the Bush
administration.
For the
immediate future, Dr. Satcher will be a
Visiting Senior Fellow at the Henry J.
Kaiser Family Foundation and he will work
on a book about his experiences as surgeon
general. Next fall, Dr. Satcher will
assume the directorship of the newly
created National Center for Primary Care
at the Morehouse School of Medicine in
Atlanta.
ACPM
Fellow Arthur Frank has accepted a
position at the Hahnemann School of Public
Health in Philadelphia where he will head
up the Center for Occupational and
Environmental Health. Dr. Frank, who
serves as ACPM Treasurer, will assume this
position in July 2002.
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