Description

I am delighted to be at the helm of this brand new journal, which will be published three times a year and is intended for all UK-based trainee and consultant geriatricians.

We have aimed this journal exclusively at hospital-based specialists who we hope will soon consider it to be an important part of their personal programmes for continuing medical education (CME). We believe that self-directed education is going to become an essential tool of CME. It is flexible, cheap, causes minimal disruption to schedules and can be validated.

We have introduced self-assessment via multiple choice questions (MCQ) to allow readers to monitor their study of the journal. The enclosed self-assessment card has MCQs based on this issue’s review articles. Your returned response will be marked and validated and you will be forwarded a participation slip. The answers will be published in the subsequent issue of CME Bulletin. This completes the educational loop to fulfil the requirements of distance learning and we expect in due course to be able to award external CME credits. Ultimately it will be possible to complete the MCQ on-line via the publisher’s Web-site with instant feedback and CME validation. Avid Web-surfers who have spent time searching for CME sites will be aware that this approach is quite well established across the Atlantic.

I have an excellent editorial team at my disposal including some household names and rising stars in the speciality. Together they will help the journal in its formidable task of covering the breadth of the speciality whilst retaining sufficient depth and general interest. We hope to combine in-depth reviews with shorter, more didactic articles plus quizzes and a variety of new educational formats. I intend gradually to introduce into the journal the discipline of Evidence Based Medicine. For those readers who are sceptical or perhaps just unfamiliar there will be a series of short articles on “How to Do” EBM. Contributions that adopt the recognised EBM approach to critical appraisal will be given priority for publication. A regular section in the journal has been devoted to trainees and we are delighted to welcome the British Geriatrics Society Trainees Group, which has representation on the editorial board and has nominated co-ordinators to encourage educational contributions by trainees. The format of this journal is not written in stone and will change if you write to the editor with any good ideas.

We hope you read and enjoy this inaugural issue and that you feel inclined to reserve valuable space on your bookshelves for future issues. We look forward to hearing all and any comments because this journal is dedicated to serving the CME needs of its readership.

D Lubel