 Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology The official journal of the Canadian Ophthalmological Society |
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Volume 36, no.4, June 2001 |
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| Editorial What are you reading? I.M. MacDonald In the washroom not long ago I saw an issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal by the sink with a routing slip: “Please return to me after you are finished.” “Finished what?” you may ask. How do you keep up with your reading, and account for that activity? Perhaps you are reading Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology articles and will log the time as well spent. Thankfully, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada has extended the deadline to submit hours for 2000 until Jan. 31, 2002, as part of the Maintenance of Certification Program. Like taxes, we simply have to do them! |
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There are two articles in this issue reflecting the direction taken by the Journal to encourage the publication of articles that deal with public health issues related to eye care and evidence-based medicine. Tahir Hameed and colleagues1 have written a comprehensive paper on the current inventories that Canada has to assess the burden of eye care (see page 175). The National Coalition on Eye Care, convened in 1999 and 2000 under the auspices of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), was intended to raise national awareness of the importance of eye care and research on prevention of blindness to the Canadian population. The CNIB is one of the few organizations that has for many years kept accurate records of its clients as an indicator of the burden of blindness. The article by Hussein Hollands and associates2 introduces the concept of utility values to assess the importance of health care intervention (see page 202). These are new concepts for the practising ophthalmologist. To the health economist and planner they are fundamental to the weighting of funding decisions. Whereas you, as an eye care professional, believe strongly in the provision of well-funded eye care, funding agencies are less susceptible to individual lobby and depend increasingly on objective data and measures — e.g., wait lists. As new technology is continually introduced to eye care, we need methods of evaluation to help administrators understand the effect of a funding decision. The Canadian Ophthalmological Society has a new national committee, the Committee on Continuing Professional Development, chaired by Duncan Anderson. This committee will include all the subspecialty heads in Canada and representation from comprehensive ophthalmology. As part of its function, it will advise on how to use our Journal as an educational tool. While you account for your time spent satisfying the Royal College requirements for Maintenance of Certification, are you satisfied that you have chosen activities that are both educational and fulfilling? “Insufficient attention is given to the development of the person as a whole, in the sense of becoming a good person or developing a warm heart,” as quoted from a recent book by the Dalai Lama.3 If you are looking for some perspective on life, this book will give you one. While the Royal College encourages us to continue to develop as ophthalmologists, we also need to look after ourselves. If you know of any self-help books for ophthalmologists, let me know. Ian M. MacDonald, MD, CM Editor-in-Chief |
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