the superior physician

[Guest guest]

Did someone once say that the superior physician treats society. I

took this to mean that one can often do the greatest good by making

sweeping changes in public perception, rather than solely fighting the

battle one person at a time. You need to work on the personal level of

course. In fact, without decades of the personal practice of OM

dominating the spotlight, we would never even have been able to

hypothesize about how to change public perception on a grander scale.

But now we have reached a point where we can do that. And that grander

scale could be a quantum leap for OM as well as medicine and society.

It is my firm opinion that widespread controlled clinical research is

the path to take to effect this end.

 

I propose creating a membership based research foundation. The purpose

would be solely to write grants, fund and coordinate research in OM.

This would be a non-profit organization with a board of directors. The

board would be comprised of individuals who should command enough

respect to garner the required support. It would be ideal to get 1000

members to pay dues of $500 each towards this end. Why so high? Why

would anyone pay this? Well, even if your motivations are more

mundane, the question to ask then is how a spate of properly targeted

research would affect your bottom line? If we could prove chinese

herbs could safely and effectively treat perimenopausal symptoms, for

example. Not to mention the good for society.

 

Research grants are only awarded to organizations that have facilities

and personnel to carry out the research. The schools are the best

example of this. However the schools do not have the money, time,

wherewithal to write the grants and coordinate the research. Plus,

with rare exceptions, I find much of the research misguided, people's

pet projects, rather than just straightforward well-designed studies

designed to serve the profession and public. The OCOM endometriosis

study is a prime example of what we should be doing lots of. Lets do

100 studies of that sort. And lets compare acupuncture head to head

with conventional therapies for neuromuscular problems. Let's

determine whether integrative therapy is sometimes better, worse or the

same as either/or. A research foundation could affiliate with schools

and provide the expert personnel necessary to carry out these projects.

 

But the main obstacle is money or lack thereof. Money to do the pilot

studies. Money to write the grants. Money to pay the statisticians,

etc. I personally think this would be the best way to solve many of

our dilemmas. Political rankling without evidence on either side just

makes me ill. Decisions made on this basis are just sleazemanship of

the highest order (yeah, I made that word up). Research would provide

the actual ammunition to:

 

1. prove the clinical efficacy of OM on mainstream terms

 

2. generate more referrals by doctors and rational reimbursement by

insurers

 

3. prove the safety of OM in trained hands

 

4. address the red herring of drug/herb interaction

 

5. develop standards in diagnosis and treatment (such as dosage and

form)

 

6. demonstrate the importance of standardized terminology for database

searches

 

7. demonstrate how access to chinese source material is vital in

designing effective research protocols

 

Many of what are now philosophical and ideological debates would be

settled in the minds of many by actual evidence. Now I know some of

you dispute whether science provides evidence of anything or just

exhibits its own biases. But I would ask all of you to step out of

your philosophical boxes and try and think strategically on a purely

pragmatic, mundane level. Like we are going to war and our survival

depends on it. What weapons will we use to defend ourselves. Will we

use swords against bombs? The fact is whether you like it or not, the

vast majority of members on this list, not to mention pretty much ALL

the decisonmakers who affect our day to day practices, believe firmly

in the validity of science. I would add my strong feeling that modern

medicine has failed because it is NOT scientific or evidence based, NOT

because it is TOO scientific.

 

If we can " prove " the items enumerated above, not only will it

dramatically affect public perception, insurers and MD referrals and

thus our practices, but it would also end several of the ongoing

political and academic debates in the field (such as language and

safety issues). Without such firm foundations upon which to rest our

various cases, we will be forever at the whim of politics on one hand

and the market on the other (having to sell oneself to the public by

smoothness and charm is also disgraceful for a medical practitioner,

IMO). Medicine should be beholden to neither politics nor the market

(nor philosophy or ideology, for that matter). In any event, this

foundation will not debate the validity of research. You can do that

here, if you like. It will begin with the premise that research is

good and everyone is free to give support or not. While the naysayers

will still ultimately benefit from the work such a foundation will do,

we should not let that stop us from shouldering the burden anyway. It

is the right thing to do.

 

 

 

Chinese Herbs

 

 

FAX:

 

 

[Guest guest]

 

 

You can put me down for $500.00 per annum if you establish the Foundation.

 

Bob

[Guest guest]

However the schools do not have the money, time,

wherewithal to write the grants and coordinate the research. Plus,

with rare exceptions

>>>That is were the pressure must be placed as well as on the big companies

making the big profits

alon