Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

Friday, January 7, 2011

What Does Money Have To Do With It?

While we're on the subject of research and the healthy skepticism with which a single study should usually be regarded, we wanted to make mention of a good book from last fall's reading list. White Coat, Black Hat: Adventures on the Dark Side of Medicine takes a hard look at the corrupting influence of corporate money on medical research. To us, the disparity in research funding between pharmaceuticals and hyperbaric medicine is striking. We can't help but observe that the pace of adoption of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in new areas of medicine may be related to the fact that hyperbaric chamber manufacturers and HBOT providers have nowhere near the financial resources of drug companies.

Maybe that's a good thing in the long term. If research into new uses for hyperbaric oxygen therapy isn't driven by manufacturer dollars study results may be more enduring. As a therapy with multiple applications, perhaps new HBOT research will serve as a guiding example for uncoupling research underwriting from its financial beneficiaries. In the meantime, we'll regard research with the potential to be hugely beneficial to a specific organization with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Problems with the system may make us advocates for improvement, but we're not motivated to question the essential value of peer reviewed scientific research. Science may be fallible, but it's a lot less fallible than non-science.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Books: Hyperbaric Facility Safety? Check.

HBOT operators, manufacturers, and technicians should be delighted to see Hyperbaric Facility Safety (Wilbur Workman, ed, Best Publishing, 2000, 754 pgs, US$129) back in print. Flip through the table of contents on Amazon and you'll see Workman's thorough, practical approach to the subject and his appreciation for international regulations and practices. We're apt to trust the reviewers who say this primer belongs in the library of every hyperbaric unit everywhere. Order direct at www.bestpub.com or telephone +1 928 527 1055 before 31 March if you want to grab it for $99.

And speaking of safety, we've been enjoying The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right (Macmillan, 2009, 224 pgs, US$24.50), the surprise bestseller by surgeon Atul Gawande. Why did it take a MacArthur genius to come up with such basic stuff? It's a disarmingly simple idea for a complex world, and one that rings true looking back on our own experiences in medicine, pharmacy, manufacturing, communications, aviation, sailing, and information systems. Visit the author's website for bonus reviews by Malcolm Gladwell and Steven Levitt (the Freakonomics guy) plus terrific samples of actual checklists.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

CyberWeek Special: Free Shipping From Best

The good people at Best Publishing have been producing professional and educational books on hyperbaric oxygen therapy, diving, and wound care since 1966. What a great service to this specialized field of medicine. Right now they're offering free shipping on their entire catalog. What a great time to visit Best's online store and make your holiday gift selections.