Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making

The Foundation's mission is to ensure that people understand their choices and have the information they need to make sound decisions affecting their health and well being. A non-profit organization, its objectives are to:
•   Promote understanding and adoption of informed medical decision-making.
•   Organize and frame medical evidence in an unbiased manner to help people evaluate their options, particularly in cases where differences in individual preferences and perspectives are likely to affect personal choice.
•   Sponsor research to expand knowledge of how to improve decision quality in health care.

In a complex medical environment, where cost savings, commercial interests or professional beliefs and commitments are likely to drive medical decisions, the Foundation provides information that is as objective, complete and unbiased as possible.

Media Doctor Australia

Started in 2004, the Media Doctor project in Australia is devoted to improving the standards of medical journalism in the mainstream Australian media. Shortly after being launched in 2004, the Media Doctor Australia website was named "Website of the Week" by the British Medical Journal, and in 2005 the site (along with Professor David Henry and Amanda Wilson) was awarded the prestigious Eureka Prize for Critical Thinking.

Media Doctor Canada

Media Doctor Canada was started in 2005. Project leader Alan Cassels led the first ever evaluation of Canadian newspaper coverage of new drugs (published in April 2003 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal) and has lectured at Canadian journalism schools on issues surrounding pharmaceutical reporting in Canada. He is co-author with Ray Moynihan of Selling Sickness: How The World's Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies Are Turning Us All Into Patients (Greystone books, 2005).

Further Reading

Association of Health Care Journalists
 
Statement of Principles for Association of Health Care Journalists

Univ. of Minnesota Health Journalism M.A. program

Hitting the Headlines (UK site)

Disease Mongering

Tipsheet for reporting on drugs, devices and medical technologies

Cochrane Library

Therapeutics Initiative/Therapeutics Letter

Healthy Skepticism