Monday, November 2, 2009

Great deal, only for hostile doctors though


3 comments:

  1. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Education in the United States
    Testimony for the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee

    October 30, 2009Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Education in the United States
    Testimony for the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee
    October 30, 2009
    Kenneth J. Friedman, Ph.D.
    Treasurer of the International Association of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME
    Director of Public Policy for P.A.N.D.O.R.A., Inc.
    Scientific Adviser to Lifelyme, Inc.
    Board Member and Chair of the Medical Student Scholarship Committee, New Jersey
    Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Association
    Board Member, Vermont CFIDS Association


    Good morning!

    My name is Kenneth Friedman and I am a medical school professor.

    I have been asked by the IACFS/ME to comment upon the status of Chronic Fatigue
    Syndrome education in the United States.


    Comments on The Academic, Medical School Environment

    The Director of the Office of Ethics and Compliance of my employer has informed
    me that my off-campus activities related to CFS which include: testifying
    before this Committee, serving on this Committee, providing continuing medical
    education courses, establishing medical student scholarships and assisting with
    healthcare legislation are not part of my responsibilities as a University
    Professor. I am told that I will be punished with a penalty as severe as
    termination of my employment for these activities.

    I am not a unique target. Colleague Ben Natelson has left the same school. A
    different medical school has refused to permit access to their medical students
    to discuss CFS or inform them of a medical student scholarship. A statewide
    health care provider, with no physician capable of managing CFS patients refuses
    to permit a CFS training session for their physicians. The failure of the CDC
    to convince the medical-academic establishment of the legitimacy of CFS, and the
    urgent need for its treatment, has created this environment.

    Comments on Medical Student Education

    High ranking officials of medical education have testified before this Committee
    that they are powerless to control the curriculum of medical schools, and cannot
    mandate the inclusion of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in the medical school
    curriculum.

    Were the CDC to mandate the reporting of CFS to the Federal Government, as it
    does for other illnesses, the National Board of Medical Examiners would have no
    choice but to put CFS questions on the National Boards. If CFS questions were
    to appear on National Board licensure examinations, medical schools would have
    no choice but to include CFS in their curriculum.

    I have appeared before this body on two separate occasions arguing for the use
    of existing student programs within both the NIH and the CDC to rotate medical
    students through NIH and CDC laboratories. I have pleaded for dialogue and
    feedback on any of my proposals. I have heard nothing.

    The only mechanism for medical student education for CFS is the medical student
    scholarship programs run by patient advocate organizations. We now have
    programs running in three states. How many scholarship programs must be mounted
    by state patient advocate groups before the CDC mounts a single, national
    medical student program?

    Comments on Continuing Medical Education for Physicians

    To my knowledge, the CDC�s on-line continuing medical education CFS course is
    the only involvement of the federal government in healthcare provider education.
    Does the CDC honestly believe that sitting in front of a computer screen for a
    few hours will make a physician capable of diagnosing and treating CFS?

    From the CFS Community's perspective, what is the impact of the on-line course
    on diagnosis and treatment of CFS? From Vermont CFIDS: there is no increase in
    the number of physicians who diagnose or treat CFS in this state. From NJCFSA:
    the number of requests for physician referrals to our helpline has not
    diminished.......

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  2. .....cont.



    Comments on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Educational Materials

    In my opinion, all federal and private sector literature concerning Chronic
    Fatigue Syndrome is out of date. There is no established mechanism for updating
    health care provider literature. Of the available literature, the most
    authoritative and accepted source of information on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is
    a physician�s diagnosis and treatment manual not produced by the Centers for
    Disease Control, not produced by the National Institutes of Health, but produced
    by the New Jersey Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Association: the Consensus Manual
    for the Primary Care and Management of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I ask that
    this Committee recommend to the U.S. Secretary of Health that a national
    diagnosis and treatment manual for CFS be created, that a panel be formed to
    write this manual, that the Department of Health and Human Services underwrite
    the expense of producing and distributing this manual.

    With regard to the recent, CDC �Spark Awareness� Campaign and the
    accompanying �Physicians� Toolkit,� not one patient in the State of
    Vermont ever saw the patient�s pamphlet. An incredible waste of money!

    Conclusions

    The only on-going educational programs for medical students and physicians that
    involve human contact come from patient advocate groups.

    Patient advocate groups are the current source of educational materials for CFS.
    They rely on the assistance of academicians. If academicians are threatened
    with termination of employment for participating in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
    education, there will be no educational programs.

    I beg you to consider the magnitude of this problem.

    I beg you to undertake a course of remedial action.

    Thank-you!

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  3. Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!

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