Everyone has a blog these days. You can find blogs on just about any subject. Blogs are published for different reasons. Some blogs are solely in existence to make money. Others create blogs to keep family and friends updated on milestones and celebrations. Then again, some bloggers have truly something special they want to share with whoever will listen. So why did I create this blog? There are two main reasons.

First of all, I do wish to share with you something I hold near and dear to my heart. I am a strong believer that one’s doctor should not prescribe medication solely based on what free samples the drug rep just dropped off to his office. I also believe that one’s doctor should not prescribe a medication based on the fact that the drug rep for that drug just bought him a round of golf. Does this sort of thing really happen? I wish I could say it doesn’t but it still does. Why else would a doctor prescribe an expensive, new, brand name, cholesterol medication when there are equally-effective, less expensive, generic medications on the market?

When you’ve been in healthcare for a while you witness scenarios like these and it gets under your skin. What’s worse? As you watch it unfold you realize that the vast majority of the public have no idea what is going on behind the closed doors of the doctor’s office.  This is why you will hear me harp from time to time on this blog and on the website www.empoweredmedicine.com about how having a good relationship with your doctor and other healthcare providers is so important.  This relationship MUST be built on trust.

The second reason I wanted to start a blog is I think it is only fitting that you should know a little something about the person who brings you the information you enjoy from the website www.empoweredmedicine.com and from my new book Empowered Medicine; A Guide for Consumers (Smart Leaf Press, $14.95). As a pharmacist, I’m very passionate about educating people about medicine.  It is so important that one make sure they have the tools needed to get empowered with accurate information so one can work with their doctor in making healthcare decisions. The good thing is, there is a lot of free information available today at the mere click of a mouse. The problem is so much of it is written by professional writers who do not even work in healthcare. Even worse, much of it is written by healthcare professionals who do not follow evidence-based medicine (EBM).

So what is EBM? EBM is the practice of using information from published guidelines and studies from trustworthy sources as a guide for making healthcare decisions. You see there are reputable organizations like the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society who have put forth treatment guidelines for most health conditions. These guidelines are based on years of studies and tell us which medications have been shown to be the most cost-effective for a given health condition. When a doctor practices EBM, the patient can rest assured he/she is getting quality care based on sound, time-tested study. When a doctor does not use EBM, the patient’s health could be jeopardized.

The problem is these guidelines are published in medical journals and written in medical jargon. It is my goal in my writings to translate and bring the valuable information in these guidelines to you in a language we can all understand: plain old English. In coming posts, I will discuss EBM further, however, I hope not to exhaust the subject on this blog. More information on EBM can be found on the website. I look forward to future posts and discussing a variety of healthcare topics. Until next time….