News in brief - Sept. 22/29, 2003

Man who killed physician executed - Family physicians name quality leader - AMA offers pain-management CME

Man who killed physician executed

Former minister Paul Hill, 49, was executed in Florida by lethal injection on Sept. 3. He was convicted of killing John Britton, MD, and his driver, retired U.S. Air Force Col. James Barrett, nine years ago.

The day before his execution Hill told reporters he expects "a great reward in heaven" for killing Dr. Britton, an abortion provider, and Barrett outside the Pensacola Ladies Clinic (now known as Community Healthcare of Pensacola) on July 29, 1994. Dr. Britton, Barrett, and Barrett's wife June were arriving at the clinic around 7:30 a.m., when Hill fired from his pickup truck with a 12-gauge shotgun.

Both Dr. Britton and Barrett died from head wounds. June Barrett, who was shot in the arm, survived.

Family physicians name quality leader

Bruce Bagley, MD, is the new medical director of quality improvement for the American Academy of Family Physicians.

He is responsible for integrating quality improvement into AAFP programs and projects.

He provides leadership for a program to assess physician practice performance and direction for performance measurement activities. He serves as the primary liaison to other organizations involved in health care quality improvement.

Before joining the AAFP, Dr. Bagley was in private practice and a managing partner of a 10-person family practice group located near Albany, N.Y.

He was also a clinical assistant professor at Albany Medical College and Upstate University Medical Center in Syracuse. Dr. Bagley was AAFP president from 1999 to 2000 and board chair from 2000 to 2001.

AMA offers pain-management CME

September is National Pain Awareness Month, according to the American Chronic Pain Assn., and the American Medical Association is in the midst of producing a four-part series of continuing medical education programs for primary care physicians on pain management.

The first two modules are available now, with the third and fourth due during the third and fourth quarter of the year.

The series includes an overview of pain management; barriers to effective pain management; comprehensive pain assessment and management; pain in special populations, such as older adults, children, substance abusers and ethnic minorities; the use of pharmacological and nonpharmacological strategies; assessment and management of chronic noncancer pain; cancer pain management; and end-of-life care.

The courses are free to all healthcare professionals and are supported through an unrestricted educational grant from Purdue Pharma.

For more information about "Pain Management -- The Series" contact (312) 464-2588.