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April
2002
Volume 66 |
Number
4
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Future Without Research Is No Future at All |
Michael
K. Cahalan, M.D., Chair
Committee on Research
Jeffrey
H. Silverstein, M.D.
Research is
the life-blood of anesthesiology. While the average practitioner
might not focus on each new scientific article, the record of
our specialty shows tremendous improvements in patient care as
a direct result of new monitors and new anesthetic techniques,
all of which were originally research projects. The environment
in which we practice clinical anesthesia has undergone great change
in recent years. We have seen changes in regulations, the job
market, the relative popularity of anesthesiology as a specialty
for graduating medical students, reimbursement mechanisms and
clinical paradigms, all of which have been dutifully documented
by the NEWSLETTER. Academic departments, far from being immune
to all this change, have to weather the changes in both the clinical
and academic environment. In this issue, we provide some insight
into the life and times of our academic colleagues while seeking
to encourage our investigators to persevere. Probably the most
public upheaval in the world of research has been the recent controversy
associated with the inclusion of human subjects in research projects.
The deaths of a young woman from a lidocaine overdose, a young
man in a gene therapy study and, most recently, a healthy volunteer
in an asthma study have been front-page news and focused new attention
on protection of human subjects. In this issue, Jeffrey H. Silverstein,
M.D., shares some hints on how to protect patients enrolled in
clinical studies. As "surplus" funds to support research
disappear, researchers scramble to locate grants opportunities
for anesthesia research. A number of new, as well as established,
sources are available and are highlighted in articles by Sorin
J. Brull, M.D., Alison E. Cole, Ph.D., Donald S. Prough, M.D.,
and Myer H. Rosenthal, M.D. Finally, it is ultimately the science
that is exciting. Debra A. Schwinn, M.D., takes us on a tour of
anesthetic research, providing a fascinating view of what might
be in the not-too-distant future.
"The environment in which we practice clinical
anesthesia has undergone great change in recent years…
Academic departments, far from being immune to all
this change, have to weather the changes in both the
clinical and academic environment."
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Michael
K. Cahalan, M.D., is Professor and Chair, University of Utah
School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah. |
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Jeffrey
H. Silverstein, M.D., is Associate Dean for Research, Vice-Chair
for the Institutional Review Board, Vice-Chair for Research
and Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology, Surgery, Geriatrics
and Adult Development at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New
York, New York. |
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