What are we doing in Boston?

So here the plan for our two days in Boston..

Monday
We are going to head out to our first learning block, a community exploration between 10:30 and 11:00am.

We need to be at the Pharmacoepidemiology Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention at 12:45 to meet with Dr. Michael Klompas.

After this we'll do something else (TBD).

After our TDB we'll head to dinner at the Scanlan-Saxe house where we'll blog to our hearts content and talk to Beth Scanlan, a family R.N. and L.P.N. who can answer many of your health questions.

On Tuesday we're going to the MOS and in the afternoon visiting Patti Scanlon (no relation) and R.N. who is an infection control specialist.

First Learning Block is all set

We will be meeting with Dr. Michal Klompas who specializes in PharmacoEpidemiology. What is pharmacoEpidemiology (other than a really big word)?

Pharmacoepidemiology may be defined as the study of the utilization and effects of drugs in large numbers of people. To accomplish this study, pharmacoepidemiology borrows from both pharmacology and epidemiology. Thus, pharmacoepidemiology can be called a bridge science spanning both pharmacology and epidemiology.

Pharmacology is the study of the effect of drugs and clinical pharmacology is the study of effect of drugs in humans. Part of the task of clinical pharmacology is to provide a risk benefit assessment for the effect of drugs in patients.

Epidemiology can be defined as the study of the distribution and determinants of diseases in populations. Epidemiological studies can be divided into two main types: 1.Descriptive epidemiology describes disease and/or exposure and may consist of calculating rates, e.g., incidence and prevalence. 2. Analytic epidemiology includes two types of studies: observational studies, such as case-control and cohort studies, and experimental studies which would include clinical trials such as randomised clinical trials.

Oh the places you'll go!

Oh the places you'll go! The Museum of Science has some great exhibits for us to check out (thanks Annie).

The first one we should go see is CATCHING THE WIND. This exhibit is on wind as an alternative energy source. An example of how science could "save us."

Another exhibit is called THE FRONTIERS OF BIOTECHNOLOGY "Throughout history, we have been breeding crops and animals to our advantage and harnessing microorganisms to make bread, cheese, and wine. Now, armed with an ever-growing knowledge of the processes of life, we're curing diseases, creating new drugs, and genetically modifying foods."

SUN POWER "Sunlight is the world' s largest energy resource, and more energy in the form of sunlight reaches Earth every hour than humans consume in a year. In this exhibit, visitors can learn how we can make use of all of this energy."

It would also be great to speak with someone who works at the museum for more background information.