Re: e: PR's 'pit bull' takes on open access: excerpts from article in Nature Magazine

From: Peter Banks <pbanks_at_BANKSPUB.COM>
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 17:03:53 -0500

Mr. Banks has not interviewed homemakers in Houston. Instead, I spent 20
years in patient education. I've looked at the statistics that show 90
million Americans have limited health literacy. I've considered the 40
million Hispanic patients for whom English is often a second language. I
have considered the fact that 47 million Americans have no health insurance
and therefore no opportunity to discuss health information with a physician.
I have created low-literacy health publications, Spanish language
publications.

I have also been a cancer patient and used the Internet. In the search for
information, NIH's MedLine Plus, the American Cancer's Society page, and
many other patient-oriented pages were extremely useful. PubMed Central was
largely useless, since I do not happen to be a cultured cell or a rat.

At the same time, I made virtually all the content of the journal Diabetes
Care freely available (after a 3-month delay). I did this not because it
would help very many patients--from usage statistics, it very clearly
didn't--but not to inhibit those few who might use the information
productively.

What I didn't do is to adopt the reprehensible tactic of some OA advocates
or Sen. Cornyn and suggest that a treatment for breast cancer or diabetes
was locked behind subscriptions barriers. OA maybe a good idea on some
grounds, but patient education is not one of them.

Please don't presume to lecture me about patient education and empowerment,
a subject about which you appear to know nothing.

Peter Banks


On 1/29/07 11:31 AM, "C.Oppenheim" <C.Oppenheim_at_LBORO.AC.UK> wrote:

> Has Mr Banks done a survey of homemarkers in Hiouston to assess their
> desire to read medical journals? If yes, can we see the methods and results
> please? If not, his posting will be rightly ignored.


Peter Banks
Banks Publishing
Publications Consulting and Services
10332 Main Street #158
Fairfax, VA 22030
(703) 591-6544
CELL (703) 254-8862
FAX (703) 383-0765
pbanks_at_bankspub.com
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www.associationpublisher.com/blog/
Received on Mon Jan 29 2007 - 22:25:33 GMT