Aindreas McEntee Prize For Irish Medical Writers

Entries are invited for The Aindreas McEntee Prize, a writing competition which is open to members of the Society of Irish Medical Writers. The prize will be awarded at the Society’s annual Spring meeting in Belfast in March 2009.

Aindreas, who died after a short illness in January 2005, was a gifted writer and journalist with the Anglo Celt newspaper in Cavan and the Irish Press group where he worked from 1978 to 1995. He was editor of Irish Medical Times from 2000 to 2005 where he was a friend and mentor not only to the staff of the paper but to the doctors who read the paper every week.

He came from a distinguished journalistic family and his brothers John and Myles also worked with the Irish Press group.

There will be only one prize awarded for an original piece of fiction or non-fiction with a medical theme. Entries, which should be original work not published in any other forum either online or offline,should be between 1,000 and 1,500 words in length and must be submitted by e-mail to the address below.

The winning entry will be published in Irish Medical Times and this weblog. The judging panel will include Colin Kerr, former editor of IMT and John McEntee on behalf of the McEntee family.The prize is sponsored by Helix Health and Irish Medical Times are media sponsors of this prestigious prize

Further details of the prize will be announced in IMT in the coming months and on the Society of Irish Medical Writers weblog.

For further information on entering the competition or joining the Society of Irish Medical Writers contact Colin Kerr at kerrcolin@ireland.com or phone 086-0473478.

Call for Entries for Irish Healthcare Awards 2008

Irish Medical Times has issued a call for entries for the annual
Irish Healthcare Awards, which will be presided over by a panel of
distinguished judges. The prestigious awards will take place on 16th
October and the closing date for entries is Friday, August 8th 2008.





Entries are welcomed from all doctors in the following categories.

Best Education Project - General Practice/Pharmacy
Best Hospital Project
Best Educational Meeting
Best Patient Education Project - Pharmaceutical
Best Patient Education Project - Non-Pharmaceutical
Best Use of Information Technology
Medical Practitioner of the Year
Best Public Health Initiative
Best Consumer Healthcare Project
Best Pharmaceutical Marketing Campaign
Student Project of the Year
Clinical Research Associate (CRA) of the Year
Excellence in Healthcare Management


For further information on the awards, or to obtain an entry form,
contact:
Dylan Conway, Medical Publications Ireland, 24-26 Upper Ormond Quay,
Dublin 7.

Tel: (01) 817 6330 and email: Dylan.conway@imt.ie

Calling All Retired (or retiring) GPs

Dr Anthony Cummins, Lecturer in the Department of General Practice, RCSI is looking for retired GPs to talk to him about their experiences, especially with the changes in general practice there have been and will be.

Members of the Society who are either retired or who have retired colleagues who are interested in speaking to Dr Cummins can contact him at the address below.

Dr. Anthony Cummins
Lecturer
Dept of General Practice
The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
120 St. Stephen's Green
Dublin 2
Ireland
Tel +3531 4028604
Mobile 086 2002038
Email anthonycummins@rcsi.ie
Web www.rcsi.ie

Society of Irish Medical Writers Look Forward to 2009

Thanks to everybody who gave feedback on our very enjoyable meeting in Cavan.

We're already planning next year's event, so I'll be sending out feedback forms over the next few days.

In the meantime, anyone who enjoyed Lia Mills workshop should check out a new short story from her on www.amnesty.ie

Those of you who met my former Irish Medical Times colleague Sarah Lyons should check out her weblog The Further Adventures of Sarah at http://thenewadventuresofsarah.blogspot.com/ which gives a week by week account of her around the world tour.

Helpful books for Irish Medical Writers

These are some of the books recommended by Lia Mills at her recent workshop in Cavan

Enjoy

....
Margaret Atwood: Negotiating with the Dead
Al Alvarez: The Writer’s Voice
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter: What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers
Bruno Bettleheim: The Uses of Enchantment
Lawrence Block: Telling Lies for Fun and Profit
Dorothea Brande: Becoming a Writer
Lajos Egri: The Art of Dramatic Writing
E.M. Forster: Aspects of the Novel
Natalie Goldberg: Writing Down the Bones
Richard Hugo: The Triggering Town: Lectures & Essays on Poetry and Writing
Anne Lamott: Bird by Bird: Some Notes on Writing and Life
David Lodge: The Art of Fiction
Robert McKee: Story
Francine Prose: Reading Like a Writer
Sol Stein: Stein on Writing
Lynn Truss: Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation

Dr Seamus Sweeeney is the winner of the Society of Irish Medical Writers Quiz held in Cavan

Thanks to everybody who took part in the quiz organised by Berna Cox in Cavan.

The winner, by some distance was Seamus Sweeney, who will receive a small prize in the coming weeks.


I'm posting more information here over the next few days so watch this space.




Quiz Answers:
Rebus.
Growing economy; The good, the bad and the ugly; Three blind mice; In between jobs; Corporate downsizing; Split level; Space invaders; Point blank range.
The “he” puzzle: headache and heartache. (Some people gave other suggestions here but none were correct – either the suggested words don’t exist or they were spelled incorrectly!).
AEIOU words – facetious and abstemious (again, some fanciful suggestions – none correct).
An unusual paragraph: The letter E never appears in the paragraph.
Spelling:
1. A red sky at night is a welcome harbinger as it augers (augurs) well for fine weather.
2. In medical parlance, an idiosyncracy (idiosyncrasy) is an abnormal physical reaction by an individual to a food or drug,
3. The toxicology report indicated that a miniscule (minuscule) amount of strychnine had been ingested.
4. Medical professionals need a license (licence [n.]) to practice (practise [v.]).
5. The albumen is the white of an egg; the yoke (yolk) is yellow.
6. The grizzly (grisly) discovery was made in the basement of the two-story (storey) building.
7. Vaccination and innoculation (inoculation) both refer to the process of producing immunity against a disease.
8. Permanent services will liase (liaise) with the auxilary (auxiliary) services to provide 24-hour cover.
9. The colonel lead (led) the army into battle to test their metal (mettle).
10. Did you spot all the errors? Maybe you were a swat (swot) at school!
Initials and numbers
1. 26 L. of the A. 26 letters of the alphabet
2. 18 H. on a G. C. 18 holes on a golf course
3. 11 P. on a F. T. 11 players on a football team
4. 54 C. in a D. (with Js) 54 cards in a deck (with Jokers)
5. 90 D. in a R. A. 90 degrees in a right angle
6. 1001 A. N. 1001 Arabian Nights
7. 12 S. of the Z. 12 signs of the Zodiac
8. 7 W. of W. 7 Wonders of the World
9. 32 D. F. at which W/ F. 32 degrees Fahrenheit at which water freezes
10. 10 G. B. H. on the W. 10 green bottles hanging on the wall.

Society of Irish Medical Writers Arrive in Cavan

Welcome to Cavan everybody.

We have a hectic schedule over the next few days but for those of you with some time to spare, we recommend the following excursions.

You can browse around the Crannog book shop a small bookshop in Cavan town ( not open on sunday )

Lough Key Forrest Park is a pleasant place to walk

Florence Court is not far away in Fermanagh.

Also the Eniskillen Museum is worth a visit and the County Cavan Museum in Ballyjamesduff.

South of Cavan, explore the Loughcrew Neolithitic Passage Graves near Oldcastle Co Meath.

For further informmation contact Dr Garret Igoe of the Co Cavan faculty of the Society of Irish Medical Writers who will be staying at the Radisson Hotel this weekend.

Society of Irish Medical Writers Meet In Cavan

Please note final agenda for Society of Irish Medical Writers Conference. Looking forward to seeing you all on Friday and Saturday.
....
Society of Medical Writers Annual General Meeting 2008
....
Venue: Radisson SAS Farnham Estate Hotel, County Cavan
...
Theme: The Magic of Medical Writing
....
Friday February 29
...
19.00 – 20.30
Dinner (optional. Please book in advance and inform restaurant if you
wish to eat in the restaurant on the Friday night)
..........
20.30 -22.00
Storytelling with Mick Quinn, father figure of the Northern Ireland song tradition
........
22.00 – late
The Noble Call – poetry, prose and song from members who wish to
recite a short party with meet and greet in the hotel bar
....
Saturday March 1
....
8.30 - 9.15
Registration
........
9.15 - 9.30
Introduction and welcome
.........
9.30 – 10.30
Keynote Speaker and questions and answers
Dr John Crown
...
10.30 -11.00
Coffee
...
11.00 – 12.30
The Magic of Medical Writing
Lia Mills author of the acclaimed novel In Your Face – One Woman’s
Encounter with Cancer will read from her work and offer advice to
writers on the writing process in a workshop to follow her
presentation
......
12.30 -14.00
Buffet Lunch (included in registration fee)
14.00 – 15.30
.....
How To Get Published – Aine McCarthy (aka Orna Ross) Font
International, novelist and writing coach
......
15.30 – 16.00
....
Coffee
....
16.00 - 17.30
Old versus New media
Colin Kerr, Executive Editor of EuroTimes and former editor Irish
Medical Times will discuss existing opportunities in the medical and
national press for medical writers and also the new online media that
doctors should be accessing and in some cases creating.
....
17.30 - 18.00
Society of Irish Medical Writers Annual General Meeting
......
19.30 - 22.00
Dinner (optional, but please book in advance and advise restaurant if
you wish to dine on Saturday evening)
....
* For any further information please e-mail me at kerrcolin@ireland.com or
phone Colin Kerr at 087-7843422.

The truth in Irish Medical Writing

In advance of our meeting I would recommend that you read an article by Nick Davies on the changing face of the media.

The link is http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2251802,00.html


His general view is that the media relies too much on second hand information through press releases, official spokespeople etc.

This may be the case in some instances but I think the Irish media, and particularly the Irish medical press, do their best to tell the whole story, despite the many obstacles that are placed before them.

This is something we can discuss at our meeting, but in the meantime I would welcome comments in this space.

Golf in Cavan

While we hope to get through some serious business on Friday night and Saturday, the Cavan meeting will also offer people the chance to relax and unwind.

With that in mind if anyone wants an afternoon golf game on the adjacent Cavan Golf course on Friday February 29th before the meeting (Euro30 for hotel guests),
please phone Dr Gerry Burke on 061 377121 or 087 7980850.


There are also excellent facilities including the spa in the Radisson which is highly recommended.


If anyone has any suggestions on things to do and see in Cavan on the Sunday for those people who are staying on, I would be delighted to hear from them.

Society of Irish Medical Writers Meeting

The Society of Irish Medical Writers is holding its annual meeting next month in the Radisson Hotel in Cavan. Among the speakers are Dr John Crown, writer Leah Mills and Colin Kerr, Executive Editor, EuroTimes.

To register make out a cheque for E150 to The Society of Irish Medical Writers and send it to 27 Belgrove Road, Clontarf, Dublin 3. Closing date for registrations is January 31st. For further enquiries phone 2091100.