We commend Wendy Levinson for her provocative suggestions regarding revalidation of Canadian physicians. We also applaud CMAJ for publishing views that are more demanding and supportive of meaningful external verification of Canadian physicians’ ongoing competence than those of the Canadian Medical Association. We agree with much of what Levinson has advocated, specifically the call for a reval...

Increases in physician office visits involving the use or prescribing of a drug were observed between 1985 and 1999 using data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. The prescription rate increased from 109 to 146 prescriptions per 100 visits. Growth in drug mention rates for specific therapeutic classes varied by patients' age. The rate of multiple prescriptions per visit rose 39 pe...

A central goal of The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine is the development of clinical protocols for managing common medical problems that may impact breastfeeding success. These protocols serve only as guidelines for the care of breastfeeding mothers and infants and do not delineate an exclusive course of treatment or serve as standards of medical care. Variations in treatment may be appropria...

With the kind permission of Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), Energy Efficiency Office (EEO) of Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) completed a pilot lighting project in 2002 at Kowloon Bay Indoor Games Hall (KBIGH). The new lighting system made use of the latest T5 lighting technology for illuminating the high ceiling games hall. As compared with the existing hi...

Early sepsis attention is a standard of care in many institutions and the role of different specialists is well recognized. However, the impact of a telephone call from a specialist in Clinical Microbiology upon blood cultures request has not been assessed to the best of our knowledge. We performed telephone calls followed by an interview with physicians and nurses in charge of adult patients (...

We studied the bias and precision of serum cholesterol analysis by physician's office analyzers. Total imprecision (CV range, %) for analysis of serum pools was: Abbott Vision 1.5%-1.9%; Ames Seralyzer 3.9%-4.5%; BMD Reflotron 2.3%-3.8%; Chrometrics Cholesterol Test System 2.3%-2.8%; Kodak DT-60 1.6%-2.2%. The Ames Seralyzer exhibited an excessive between-run component of variation. We collecte...