ADF Health April 2005 - Volume 6 Number 1Editorial“Strengthening Health in Defence”Since early this year, the Defence Health Service has been taking a major role in the worst natural human disaster in the past 50 years - the tsunami that occurred in the Indian Ocean on 26 December 2004. At least 110 DHS staff have been deployed, and many more are providing logistic support. All are demonstrating the sacrifice and dedication we have come to expect and admire. We hope to feature that effort in our next issue. In this Journal, we wish to reflect the interests and aspirations of all our readers. Our new vision statement is “Strengthening Health in Defence”. To guide us in this task, we have included a Readership Survey (centrefold), which we invite you to complete and return to us. In addition, the survey will be administered to a representative group of readers by individual telephone inquiry following the April issue. There will be a draw among respondents for a valuable prize. We are keen to receive more papers on nursing, primary care and dentistry in particular. Personal View and For Debate sections have already been introduced. We may need to find ways of catering more for the interests of our enlisted colleagues. Please note additional instructions for authors wishing to contribute to the Journal: in addition to existing documentation acknowledging copyright and testifying that the article is original work of the authors, we now require that all clinical material (including images, radiographs and sonograms) is de-identified. Furthermore, we will ask authors to certify that all references and therapeutic doses are correct. Any author who has a conflict of interest will need to declare the same. In this issue, we have several articles on ethical issues in military medicine: treatment of prisoners and the involvement of medical personnel in their care (page 15); and breaches of confidential medical information to commanders and when, if ever, that might be necessary (page 9 and page 12). We also explore how ADF members’ rights can be guaranteed during clinical research (page 26). There are updates on new technology such as network centric warfare (page 38) and telerobotic surgery (page 34), with comment on their potential application in defence health. We also have a brief report on the Military Medicine Symposium in October last year (page 25). The Centre for Military and Veterans’ Health is featured on the back cover, and we have a historical article on the surgical experience of Captain Les Poidevin MID, AAMC, AIF as a Japanese prisoner of war in Java from 1943 to 1945 (page 4). That article demonstrates the characteristic Australian ability to adapt to adversity. It is a timely reminder as we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. In closing, may I pay tribute to my editorial colleagues, referees and the production team whose energy and support have facilitated my new editorial role.
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Mike O’Connor, MBBS(Hons), MD, DCH, DDU, FRCOG, FRANZCOG, JP, RANR