Last night I got word of an unexpected treat: an hour-long conversation between some real experts about participatory medicine. It’s on Andrew Schorr’s Patient Power site – he and his team are powerhouses as well, and they produced a special hour-long audio program. I encourage you to start playing it like a radio program, as four authorities discuss the nature of evidence and how we know what we (think we) know. Click the headline to go there:

Participatory Evidence: Opportunities & Threats

From the site’s description:
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In medicine, evidence separates modern scientific treatment from Folk Art. Medical evidence is acquired through observation, experimentation, and information sharing in scientific peer-reviewed journals. When new treatments are used, millions of patients around the world provide additional evidence for what works and what doesn’t.

In our new world of instant information exchange and empowered patients, how are clinicians and empowered patients challenging traditional ways to collect, evaluate, and publish evidence? What evidence should we trust? This program, moderated by Peter Frishauf, frames the issues and proposes at least one solution to sorting through the evidence puzzle.

Guests:

Peter Frishauf, Founder of Medscape
Richard Smith, M.D., Director of the Ovations Initiative [and editor for 13 years of the British Medical Journal]
Jessie Gruman, Ph.D., President, Center for the Advancement of Health [and Co-Editor In Chief of the Journal of Participatory Medicine (JoPM)]
Larry Green, DrPH, ScD(Hon.), Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatstics, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center [and author of a piece in JoPM]
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Click to go listen and learn.