Editorial: Privacy vs Need to Know: How far do we put our trust?

Personally, we have been banking electronically for some time now. It is very convenient, but, when anything goes wrong, it is very frustrating because it is difficult to get assistance to correct any errors, etc. Let's think about what we are doing today:

• We provide a lot of personal information to credit card companies for the convenience of using credit cards.
• We provide a lot of personal information to our physicians, dentists, hospitals, etc. as they need the information to properly process our data, etc.
• We provide some information to the IRS for tax purposes, but it is a little different type of information; primarily our personal demographic and financial information.

This brings up an interesting point. We hear and see in the news about identity theft, misuse of information, data mining, and other activities related to our personal and business information. The question to ponder is, "How far do we go?"

Currently, our information seems divided among different entities. Or, at least that is what we think anyway. What happens, however, if ALL that information is somehow compiled into a huge database and everything about each of us is now in one single location? Even the grades you made in English in the 4th grade! Some may say that centralized data banks will expedite and make more efficient a lot of activities in the future; but at what cost? It also will open the door for far more criminal activities using our data.

We all need to be worried about the SECURITY of that information. It is no secret that it is "not secure" and that it can be obtained and misused by others, as evidenced several times this past year. Even the cyber-experts cannot guarantee security of anything computer-related. Interestingly enough, the misuse of the information may be by individuals living in another country, and we have difficulty going after them! But, they seem to have no difficulty extracting money from our bank accounts!

The question still remains; how far do we go? And, do the benefits outweigh the risks?


Loyd V. Allen, Jr., PhD, RPh
Editor-in-Chief

NIH Faces Pressure to Crack Down on Ghostwriters
A senator who helps oversee public funding for medical research signaled that he was running out of patience with the practice of ghostwriting and is starting to put pressure on the National Institutes of Health to crack down on the practice.

NIH appears reluctant to tackle the issue. "How long does it have to go on before it actually is stopped? One way to stop it would be if the actual authors were punished in some way," said Dr. Carl Elliott, a professor at the Center for Bioethics of the University of Minnesota. "But the academics who are complicit in it all never seem to be punished at all."

The extent of ghostwriting is still unclear, but recent revelations suggest that the practice is widespread. Dozens of medical education companies across the country are hired by drug companies to prepare scientific papers and pay clinicians and scientists to put their names on them, as if they actually did the work or writing. These papers are then published in medical journals; this has become a fundamental marketing practice for most of the large pharmaceutical companies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/health/research/19ethics.html?_r=1&hp

BNF for Children 2009
Paediatric Formulary Committee, ed.
London, UK: Pharmaceutical Press
July 2009; Price $59.95; 944 pages

The British National Formulary (BNF) for Children provides essential and practical information to healthcare professionals involved in prescribing, dispensing, monitoring, and administering medications to children. It is developed using best practice guidelines and advice from clinical experts.

The book provides information on the use of medicines ranging from neonates (including preterm neonates) to adolescents. It is organized starting with general guidance, prescribing for various conditions, emergency treatment of poisoning, and then gets into the largest section consisting of notes on drugs and preparations; this is the majority of the book. Following the Notes are a series of appendices and indices on interactions, borderline substances, cautionary and advisory labels for dispensed medicines, and intravenous infusions for neonatal intensive care (new to this edition).

Although the primary audience is European healthcare practitioners, there is a lot in this that is usable in pediatric care in the U.S.

PEG 32 Distearate

Uses: Emulsifier, solubilizer, thickener, emollient, spreading agent, wetting agent, dispersant, and components of suppositories

Synonyms: Polyethylene glycol distearate, Polyoxyl 32 distearate, Hodag 154-S; Kessco PEG 1540 Distearate; Polyoxyethylene (32) distearate)

Description: Occurs as a solid that is soluble in water and in alcohol; has a melting range between 35�C and 37�C

Stability: Generally stable in the presence of electrolytes and weak acids or bases

Packaging and Storage: Well-closed containers in a dry place at room temperature

�the Federal Red Flags Rule went into effect on August 1, 2009. Hospitals and healthcare providers that extend any sort of credit to their clients need to have a documented, board-approved Red Flag compliance strategy in place to help combat medical identity theft. The Red Flags Rule is a part of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act (actually signed into law in December 2003,) and requires financial institutions and creditors in different industries to implement a plan to identify, detect, and respond to attempts to use stolen identity information.

Check Your Bits
If you use electronic banking, check your entries daily for small withdrawals. They may appear to be regular bank charges, but thieves may only withdraw $1 or $2 at a time from tens or hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting individuals' accounts.