I want well-written healthcare articles!

September 28, 2005 3:25 PM

MedFilter: Can anyone point out well-written and free articles on health care, health policy, medical devices or medicine? I'm trying to put together a binder of suggested reading material for my company's break room.

I'm trying to focus on topics that relate to our business of medical devices. I've tried mining Google and the other usual suspects( NYT, Scientific American, etc.). It's proved difficult to find things that:

• Are readable by a lay audience
• Will have lasting value (as opposed to some story about a new druge/discovery that will be worthless in 2 months)
• Are engaging to the reader and truly well-written
The best example I have so far is Malcom Gladwell's article on Moral Hazard and health insurance. I also managed to find some articles on the ethics of medical device marketing, the history of modern medicine, and a spectacular failure or two. All told, I have about 20 pages worth of material in a large and empty-looking binder.

posted by hammurderer to Writing & Language (8 answers total)

I'm not sure how "lay" your people are, but the New England Journal of Medicine has a guest subscription that gives you access to some of their Perspectives articles. The topics are pretty broad in scope and range, so some of them would probably fit your criteria. Some require more science background than others, but generally they're very well written and interesting.
posted by orangskye at 4:13 PM on September 28, 2005

I've found Atul Gawande's two articles in The New Yorker to be excellent reads. He's a practicing NY surgeon who wrote about the bell curve among doctors and money in physician compensation and healthcare costs. He also contributed a number of short articles to Slate.
posted by junesix at 4:40 PM on September 28, 2005

The Health Policy Center at the Urban Institute is an excellent source. Nonpartisan, and everything except the books are free. At least if downloaded online (PDF files).

Full disclosure: I was until recently working for the Urban Institute. But they are honestly a well-respected organization that puts out good "products" for a variety of policy issues, and prides itself on not doing advocacy or lobbying. Balanced by-the-numbers reports.
posted by terrapin at 5:12 PM on September 28, 2005

The California Healthcare Foundation has a wealth of interesting articles and info on their site. In particular, you might find their iHealth and Technology section useful.
posted by Staggering Jack at 5:43 PM on September 28, 2005

Atul Gawade (Slate, etc.) is always worth reading, as junesix said.

I also love Grand Rounds, which is a collection of the best medical blog posts in a given week from quite a few medical bloggers. There are frequently links to newsworthy articles, although IMHO the blog entries themselves are where it's at.
posted by NucleophilicAttack at 6:30 PM on September 28, 2005

I might suggest the information available through MedlinePlus, a Web site by the National Library of Medicine. They have a news section and articles and links to all sorts of medical information, all geared toward the layman. The information available through this site is vetted by medical librarians, so you know it's quality.
posted by AlexanderBanning at 9:13 PM on September 28, 2005

www.mindfully.org
posted by fourstar at 9:47 PM on September 28, 2005

Mayo Clinic reputable enough for ya? Good range of articles and tests, etc. that can easily be downloaded and printed. Also consider subscribing to their free, weekly e-newsletter (lower-left on main screen).
posted by rob511 at 1:59 AM on September 29, 2005