The Drug Facts Box: Improving the Communication of Prescription Drug Information

Communication about prescription drugs ought to be a paragon of public science communication. Unfortunately, it is not. Consumers see $4 billion of direct-to-consumer advertising annually, which typically fails to present data about how well drugs work. The professional label—the Food and Drug Administration\u27s (FDA) mechanism to get physicians information needed for appropriate prescribing—may also fail to present benefit data. FDA labeling guidance, in fact, suggests that industry omit ben

Quality of Pharmaceutical Industry Press Releases Based on Original Research

Background: Press releases are a popular vehicle to disseminate health information to the lay media. While the quality of press releases issued by scientific conferences and medical journals has been questioned, no efforts to assess pharmaceutical industry press releases have been made. Therefore, we sought to systematically examine pharmaceutical company press releases about original research for measures of quality. Methodolgy/Principal Findings: Press releases issued by the ten top selling, international pharmaceutical companies in the year 2005 were selected for evaluation. A total of 1028 electronic press releases were issued and 235 were based on original research. More than half (59%) reported results presented at a scientific meeting. Twenty-one percent of releases were not explicit about the source of original data. While harms or adverse events were commonly cited (76%), study limitations were rarely noted (6%). Almost one-third (29%) of releases did not quantify study results. Studies presented in abstract form were subsequently published within at least 20 months in 53 % of cases. Conclusions: Pharmaceutical company press releases frequently report basic study details. However, readers should be cautioned by the preliminary nature of the data and lack of identified limitations. Methods to improve the reporting and interpretation of drug company press releases are desirable to prevent misleading media coverage

Know Your Chances: Understanding Health Statistics Book Discussion Final Report

The Know Your Chances: Understanding Health Statistics Book Discussion Project evolved from a webinar held by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine New England Region’s (NN/LM NER) on March 4, 2014. Following the webinar, Margot Malachowski, NER’s Healthy Communities COI (Community of Interest) Leader, shared a vision for a book discussion group project. In June 2014, the NN/LM NER Healthy Communities, Community of Interest (COI) invited network members to apply to participate in a health statistics book discussion project. The nine libraries and organizations selected to participate were required to: host and lead a book discussion at least once; attend planning teleconferences, and provide a brief post-project report to share their experiences. Participants were asked to select an audience for a book discussion, ideally public libraries, high school students, health professions students, caregivers, teachers, support groups or patient educators. Project participants lead book discussions that helped consumers learn how to calculate risk, put risk in perspective, and develop a healthy skepticism. Know Your Chances is a quick read and is freely available online on the PubMed Health bookshelf at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0050876

Building Pediatric Law Careers: The University of Michigan Law School Experience

There are several obstacles to training and supporting pediatric lawyers. Children are a relatively new group of clients and law schools have not traditionally provided pediatric training. The required training is particularly challenging to deliver because it is inherently interdisciplinary, requiring faculty and students to look outside of the law school to obtain necessary knowledge. The greatest obstacle to developing the careers of pediatric lawyers is the low pay and low prestige typically afforded children\u27s lawyers. As a result, law students reasonably question the likelihood of developing a successful career in the field. The number of available jobs is limited and pediatric lawyers can rarely spend significant time or money on training or other educational resources. In this article, we describe the various components of the pediatric law career program at the University of Michigan Law School, which provide the requisite specialized knowledge and skills for representation of child clients. Central is the Child Advocacy Law Clinic, described in Part II, which has been training law students in child protection law and practice since 1976. Part III explains how the Interdisciplinary Seminar in Child Abuse and Neglect emphasizes the interdisciplinary nature of pediatric work in a setting that challenges law students to see the practice from the viewpoint of other disciplines. The Bergstrom Summer Child Welfare Law Fellowship, described in Part IV, introduces students to pediatric practice and builds a network of child advocates from throughout the United States. Part V describes the Child Welfare Law Resource Center which carries the knowledge and skills developed in the law school setting to practicing pediatric lawyers and judges in Michigan, providing pediatric lawyers with inexpensive and ready access to specialized continuing legal education. Throughout, we also offer a few stories of careers developing in this field to illustrate why these components are needed. We conclude with hope for the future development of a pediatric law career track in the United States

Giving Legs to Restless Legs: A Case Study of How the Media Helps Make People Sick

To get a sense of how the media works in the context of a major disease promotion effort, the authors examined news coverage of restless leg syndrome

Influence of medical journal press releases on the quality of associated newspaper coverage: retrospective cohort study

Objective To determine whether the quality of press releases issued by medical journals can influence the quality of associated newspaper stories

Definition, reporting, and interpretation of composite outcomes in clinical trials: systematic review

Objective To study how composite outcomes, which have combined several components into a single measure, are defined, reported, and interpreted

How Do US Journalists Cover Treatments, Tests, Products, and Procedures? An Evaluation of 500 Stories

HealthNewsReview.org evaluates US health news coverage of claims made about medical interventions. Gary Schwitzer reports on the project's findings after evaluation of 500 health news stories

The Fight against Disease Mongering: Generating Knowledge for Action

The Guest Editors of the Disease Mongering theme issue argue that we need better research to identify, understand, and combat the threat to human health from the corporate-sponsored selling of sickness