- © 2007 Canadian Medical Association
Brief reprieve: The Vancouver-based InSite safe injection site has been given another 6-month reprieve from the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Health Minister Tony Clement said in a terse news release that the extension “will allow research on how supervised injection sites affect prevention, treatment and crime to be continued for another 6 months.” Although scientific experts and health officials argue that safe injection sites are demonstrably beneficial, Clement said earlier this year that the government believes the scientific evidence of their efficacy is entirely equivocal. The government has commissioned a study measuring such factors as “public order and safety issues,” and “local contextual issues” (CMAJ 2007;176[13]:1813).
Haloperidol warning: The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned that injectable haloperidol should not be administered intravenously. Although the antipsychotic is to be used intramuscularly, it is sometimes used off-label as an intravenous injection to control agitation in critically ill patients. The FDA issued the warning after reviewing more than 2 dozen case reports of patients experiencing either sudden death or cardiac arrhythmias (including QT prolongation and torsades de pointes) after receiving intravenous injections of the drug.
AMWA Honour: The American Medical Writers Association will this year confer its prestigious President's Award on Peggy Robinson, CMAJ's former manager of submissions and peer review, and former managing editor. Robinson was “honoured” to receive the award, which was established in 1940 to improve the quality of medical communication. “AMWA provides a top-notch educational program for bio-medical communications through its high quality, hands-on workshops.” In addition to serving as treasurer of the association's Canada Chapter for 14 years, Robinson has been actively involved in organizing and presenting non-credit workshops and conferences. She continues to serve on the association's budget and finance committee, while working as a freelance manuscript editor at CMAJ. — Shawna Lessard, Ottawa
Heading west: Alberta has supplanted BC as the El Dorado of the health care profession as it attracted more health care providers than any other province between 1996 and 2001, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Alberta's health workforce rose 4% over that 5-year period as the province assumed the mantle as the nation's preferred work destination, held for 10 years by British Columbia. — Compiled by Wayne Kondro, CMAJ