Editor's Note, Volume 4 Issue 4
D’Arcy Little, MD, CCFP, FRCPC
Medical Director, JCCC and HealthPlexus.NET
Both obesity and low back pain are significant health risks and impose substantial financial burdens on society. The next two issues of Back Health are devoted to exploring the relationship between being overweight and having back pain. Dr. Darren Roffey and his co-authors have produced a comprehensive review of the subject in their article Obesity, Weight Loss, and Low Back Pain: An Overview for Primary Care Providers—Part 1.
In his article Warning: Internet Can be a Danger to Your Health, Dr. Michael Gordon, from the Baycrest Centre of Geriatric Care in Toronto, explains the major role that the digital world plays in providing information about medications and their side effects to family members who in turn question whether or not such medications should be prescribed to loved ones even when necessary.
Dr. Francesca Cheung from the Lynde Centre for Dermatology describes Mammary Paget disease in her article A Pruritic Rash. Mammary Paget disease is a relatively uncommon form of breast cancer which involves the nipple-areola complex and occurs almost exclusively in females.
In the second article of the series, Dr. Ian Pun offers Five Issues That Prevent From Using Your EMR Effectively. As of 2014, over 75% of primary care physicians in Ontario have adopted, or are in the process of adopting an EMR. Those physicians who are new to using EMR will find numerous pitfalls, many of which are common and preventable. Dr. Pun specifically deals with the OSCAR McMASTER EMR and the issues that he and his colleagues experienced in the Ontario context.
I hope you enjoy adding this edition of the Journal to your summer reading list, perhaps with your tablet poolside. As always, your comments are welcomed.