From the Editor's Notebook

From ThyroWorld Volume 4, No 1

In our last issue of ThyroWorld, the focus was on thyroid research. In this issue, it's on thyroid education. Whose education? And what kind of education, you may well ask. It's a very broad topic that covers the education of both patients and physicians alike.

Thyroid education is after all one of the main goals of thyroid patient organizations: to raise awareness of thyroid disease and to provide reliable information to patients. It's the reason we hold public education meetings, distribute pamphlets and answer Help Line calls. Whether, as in Denmark, it's a book for young children presented colourfully and simply in language they can understand or more complex presentations to adult patients who are going back to thyroid school in Russia, somebody, somewhere is learning something about thyroid disease that will help them better cope with their problem.

That's the patient side of the education coin. What about physicians? They too must learn - a lifelong commitment. Dr. Ian Hart in his article on medical education, describes the difficulty doctors have in keeping up with the vast amount of information now available. He also stresses the importance for medical trainees of active hands-on learning and of communication skills.

Whereas twenty years ago, there was no readily accessible information on thyroid disease for patients, there is now almost a glut of information on the market. Patients and physicians alike are turning to internet resources. But all that glitters on the internet is not gold. Physicians are perhaps in a better position to judge what is a reliable source of information and what is not. Simply being on the internet is no guarantee of accuracy or reliability.

So there you have it. We hope that you will read, enjoy and learn from this issue of ThyroWorld. And happy spring and summer wherever you are.

June Rose-Beaty, Editor