New book on Lupus “Essential”

By Shamar Blunt

You need to be able to see things in colour, said Deputy Dean Internationalisation and Recruitment, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Cave Hill Campus, Dr. Kenneth Connell, as he spoke on Sunday during the launch of Lupus Essentials at the Grande Salle, Tom Adams Financial Centre.The textbook, which is dedicated to the memory of the late Professor George Nicholson, a staunch ally  of Rheumatology support and research on the island, is a new medical textbook written by Rheumatologist Dr. Cindy Flower and President of Hope Foundation, Shelley Weir MBE.

It covers several aspects of systemic lupus erythematosus and its treatments for patients who are black and living in often underserved communities. During his brief remarks, Dr Connell expressed his thanks about the text being published during this time, and stressed the need to bring greater clarity to lupus and other medical aliments for medical students studying their practice in the region.

“Everyone who wants to learn more about Lupus can see this cascade of photographs in the text – it brings patients to life, it legitimises their presentations, and to those who say well you can always take a photograph and publish it in a journal, that is true, but textbooks have a special meaning to students, and the impact that the textbooks I had in medical school still have on my practice today, is really profound.

“I think that this text is an important contribution to those students who will look to textbooks in 22 years later and cite them and say, Lupus Essentials has changed and has constructed my practice,” he said.

Dr. Connell stated that this new text would help bring into focus, the need for all future medical practitioners to improve their diagnostic skills when interacting with patients, not just in the usual way it can be framed in many of the international texts, but instead should examine the disease in a different light, given the rate in which this disease impacts people in the Caribbean, who historically have seen higher instances of Lupus.

“Young learners need to be exposed to people and disease states as they appear in the environments that they practise. This is important in every disease state, but especially in the diagnostic in rheumatology, such as skin diseases like Lupus.
“Medical students must be able to recognise these photographs of conditions, more importantly universities need to use them in our assessments and training.

“When we cite photographs in examinations settings, they should not be pulled from random websites that only show people that don’t look like us, they should be pulled and cited from texts from our own such as Dr Flower and Miss Weir.”

Dr. Tony Harris, Director of the National Cardiology Project, also spoke fondly of the late Dr Nicholson, and while reading a dedication to the late doctor from Professor Emeritus Sir Errol Walrond, said though Dr Nicholson was often seen as an imposing force while on the job, his dedication towards his patients and the support they needed was unquestionable.

“George attended to the wider needs of patients, not only in Barbados but also in Trinidad and his native Guyana.

“He was a driving force in the establishment of Kidney Foundations in Barbados and other territories in the Caribbean, as well as the HOPE Foundation in Barbados.

“These foundations were and are intended to involve the public in promoting both the prevention and treatment of renal disease, and as in this case the associated condition of systemic lupus.

Co-author of Lupus Essentials, Shelley Weir, stated how the new text was one of love, and that all proceeds of the book will go towards the HOPE Foundation in the aid of its many projects, including its Lupus Essential Kits which help patients monitor their health from the comfort of their home.

“It reduces dialysis which costs something like $24, 000 per year, per patient. That was the initiative from the HOPE Foundation.

“It has already been proven that dialysis has been reduced due to the monitoring done with these kits, and in using the kits the patients are allowed to do these tests at home, record them on an electronic monitoring record, and Dr Flower is able to follow them,” Weir said.