1) The JAMA-inspired uproar du jour is industry-sponsored CME.
My take: Without industry sponsorship, very few physicians will attend any full-price CME meetings. You may not like or accept it, but that’s the reality.
In any case, I get most of my CME from UptoDate and don’t worry about whether a CME meeting is “tainted” by the industry or not. Reading an article a day gets me all the CME hours I need.
2) The American Cancer Society approves virtual colonoscopy as an acceptable method for colon cancer screening.
My take: As I mentioned yesterday, I think it’s premature.
One obvious winner here would be the radiologists. The majority of the public prefers CT over endoscopic colonoscopy. What a windfall it would be for radiologists if/when insurance companies start paying for these studies.
Some caveats. If anything was found on the imaging study, a real colonoscopy will have to be performed to biopsy any suspicious lesion. Also, I’m not convinced that the data supports virtual colonoscopy being as comprehensive as the endoscopic approach.
Part of me wonders if the radiologists have the ACS in their back pockets, or if the gastroenterologists did anything to piss them off.
3) I read another article today suggesting how easy it is to “Google” your diagnosis.
My take: When physicians Googled diagnoses, they were right only 58% of the time. Are these articles saying that the public is happy with that kind of accuracy?
I don’t think search engines will be replacing physicians anytime soon.
