This week, I spoke to two groups and several individuals about First Opinion, and one question kept coming up: What percentage of First Opinion pieces come to you directly, and what percentage do you ask people to write?
It's a tricky question because it changes every week, but I would say it's probably an 80-20 divide. I'd love for it to be more like 60-40, but I spend a lot of time playing defense in my inbox, just trying to come up for air. That makes it tricky to find a good 30 minutes to just read the news and think about what First Opinion can add to the discourse — and who should write it. I find potential authors all over the place: I ask colleagues for recommendations, scour social media, look up books and relevant centers at universities, listen to podcasts, see who has been quoted in news stories.
This week, one of my favorite things happened. I was trying to find something related to health care and Hurricanes Milton and Helene, and I came across someone tweeting (no, I cannot call it Xing) an idea I hadn't thought of: As long as IV fluids are limited because of the destruction to a Baxter plant in North Carolina, IV "hydration" bars should close. It was clear that the tweeter (Xer? bah) felt strongly about this — he had posted versions of it a few times. So I reached out. The final result was a First Opinion I was very pleased with: "Close IV hydration bars until the intravenous fluid shortage ends," by Andrew Pasternak, a family medicine physician in Nevada. "The first step in conserving our supply for patients with critical medical conditions would be to redirect the IV fluids used at these spas toward patients who genuinely need them," he writes.
So, be careful what you tweet — I just may be lurking and then try to peer-pressure you into writing something.
You can find the rest of the week in First Opinion below.
Recommendation of the week: The STAT Summit will be held in Boston on Wednesday and Thursday. I wish I could be there myself, but I can't. If you're in town and care about the future of medicine and health, it's a must-attend.
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