News in brief - Jan. 5, 2004

Expediting trip from bench to bedside - Support for NIH peer review system - AMA works to improve handling of mass casualties - People with developmental disabilities should have equal access to care, says AMA

Expediting trip from bench to bedside

The AMA will work to eliminate the barriers of applying biomedical research to clinical practice.

A new policy position adopted during the House of Delegates December 2003 Interim Meeting in Honolulu was in response to complaints from physicians who often feel stymied in their attempts to gain access for patients to the latest medical treatments.

"Translational research -- taking bench science to the bedside -- is probably one of the most important and underserved issues in care today," said Duane Whitaker, MD, an American Society for Dermatologic Surgery delegate.

The AMA will work with specialty societies, the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science, the Institute of Medicine's Clinical Research Roundtable, federal agencies and other organizations to develop means to increase the speed at which new scientific advances work their way into clinical practice.

The progress report will be given to the House of Delegates when it reconvenes in June in Chicago.

Support for NIH peer review system

The AMA will send a message to Congress expressing concern about recent breaches of the National Institutes of Health peer review system, according to a policy approved last month by the House of Delegates.

The move comes in response to increasing government scrutiny of NIH-funded research into HIV/AIDS, risk-taking and sexual behavior. Many in the scientific community are concerned that such scrutiny could threaten the funding of these controversial projects.

"This is a real problem," said Ruth Covell, MD, a delegate from the section on medical schools and a professor at the University of California, San Diego. "Faculty members are being intimidated. All sorts of nasty things are going on."

Numerous organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, have issued similar statements in recent months expressing concern about what is viewed as politics interfering with science.

"There is a threat to our scientists," said MaryEllen Bradshaw, MD, a delegate from the American Assn. Of Public Health Physicians. "[We need] to support our colleagues who are doing the research that we are depending on for the practice of clinical medicine and for the practice of public health."

AMA works to improve handling of mass casualties

State, local and specialty medical societies should take a leadership role in assuring the health system's surge capacity in situations that create large numbers of wounded. The Dept. of Homeland Security and the Dept. of Health and Human Services should create multistate coordination capacity in order to improve the response in such situations. Also, the Medical Reserve Corps should be expanded, and rapid credentialing systems with liability protection should be created in order to facilitate a better response, according to several resolutions and reports adopted at the AMA House of Delegates at the Interim Meeting in Honolulu last month.

The House adopted these positions in response to complaints from physicians that they have sometimes been cut out of the disaster response planning process as well as the observation that disasters do not respect state lines.

"On Sept. 11, [2001], we watched the World Trade Center fall," said AMA Trustee Peter Carmel, MD, a Newark, N.J., pediatric neurosurgeon. "Had local, state, the AMA and specialty societies been involved in preparedness planning, many patients would have been treated on average an hour and a half sooner than they were."

People with developmental disabilities should have equal access to care, says AMA

Those with developmental disabilities should have access to appropriate and affordable medical and dental care throughout their lives, and an individual's medical condition and welfare should be the basis of any medical decision, according to policy adopted at the AMA's Interim Meeting in Honolulu in December.

The AMA House of Delegates took this stance because of the unique challenges that this group of patients faces in accessing primary care and other health services because of their disabilities. Doctors may hesitate to provide care because of a lack of knowledge of best practices for this group and those who are developmentally disabled may be denied care because of perceptions from physicians and other health care professionals, as well as family members, that they have a poor quality of life. As adults, they may not be eligible for many services that they used to get as minors. Dental care is a particular challenge because it may require sedation and a hospital stay for even the most minor procedure.

"I chair a medical committee that supports a large center for the developmentally disabled, and we have a constant problem getting care for these people," said Mack Worthington, MD, a Tennessee delegate.