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"The Patient" Launched as First Journal Dedicated to Scientific Methods for Patient-Centric Research

Published

the patientThe Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Wolters Kluwer Health, a division of Wolters Kluwer, today published the premiere issue of The Patient:  Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, an international forum devoted to publishing research on patient-centered medicine.

The first academic journal in medicine to present solely the patient’s perspective, The Patient addresses the growing concern that modern medicine has failed to adequately satisfy the needs of its most important stakeholder, the patient. In an era of managed care and cost-containment, current trends in medicine are being driven primarily by the needs and wants of healthcare payors. Even in academic medicine, new therapies are often studied in terms of their risks and benefits, measures that are chosen by physicians and researchers, often without the involvement of patients. The new journal will publish research to help advance a medical environment where patients are not just subjects but part of the scientific process.

“Patients are important stakeholders in the science of medicine, yet their views often go unheard,” said John F.P. Bridges, Ph.D., founding editor of The Patient and assistant professor in the Bloomberg School's Department of Health Policy and Management.  “With The Patient, we set out to create a forum to present those views, not through anecdote or political means, but through hard science that presents patients’ views in a systematic and unbiased way.” 

Bridges oversees editorial direction for the new journal together with co-editor Christopher Carswell of Wolters Kluwer Health.  Bryce McMurray, product director, Adis Journals, Wolters Kluwer Health, is in charge of marketing and circulation.

“We’re pleased to add The Patient to our longstanding family of Adis journals,” said McMurray. “We expect it will quickly become the torchbearer for patient-centric medicine and open a new window to all of the current, original research on the subject.  In turn, we expect that it will spur further study.”

The inaugural issue includes contributions from world-renowned researchers investigating patient attitudes and preferences for healthcare, including topics such as health insurance; screening for disease; residential care; and the impact of ethnicity and gender on medication adherence.  Also included is a profile of breast cancer survivor and patient advocate Lillie Shockney, Administrative Director of the Johns Hopkins Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Center and a leading researcher in the patient-centered outcomes area.

Published four times per year, The Patient is available globally by subscription in both print and electronic form by visiting http://thepatient.adisonline.com. For those interested in sneaking a peak, the premier issue is available as a free download through July 31, 2008.

About Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health  
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Baltimore) is dedicated to the education of a diverse group of research scientists and public health professionals, a process inseparably linked to the discovery and application of new knowledge, and through these activities, to the improvement of health and prevention of disease and disability around the world. For more, visit www.jhsph.edu.

The Department of Health Policy and Management trains public health professionals and researchers in diverse disciplines and promotes the translation of public health science into practice and policy. Its mission is to train public health leaders to protect and improve the public’s health through effective, efficient and equitable policies, programs and services. The Department seeks to identify policies and interventions that promote and protect the health status of populations--strategies that improve access to health and preventive services, particularly among the most vulnerable methods that enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of health care for medical and mental illness, and models for improving the financing, organization and delivery of preventive and curative health services.

About Wolters Kluwer Health 
Wolters Kluwer Health (Conshohocken, PA), a division of Wolters Kluwer, is a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry. Major brands include traditional publishers of medical and drug reference tools and textbooks, such as Lippincott Williams & Wilkins and Facts & Comparisons®; electronic information providers, such as Ovid, Medi-Span® and ProVation®; and pharmaceutical information providers such as Adis International and Source®. Wolters Kluwer Health has annual revenues (2007) of $1,044 million (€761 million) and employs approximately 2,700 employees globally. For more information, visit www.WKHealth.com.

Public Affairs media contact: Tim Parsons at 410-955-6878 or paffairs@jhsph.edu.