Canadian Medical Association Journal 1996; 154: 7
From our point of view CMAJ continues to maintain its solid foundation, but it would be foolish to ignore the increasing pressure to provide immediate access to information and the growing ability of electronic communications to meet that demand. Our recent ventures into the Internet with CMA Online, through which we make available the tables of contents, the abstracts of all articles and some full-text articles from all issues of CMAJ, reflect our recognition that times are changing. Nevertheless, even as we enlarge our electronic presence CMAJ will continue to reach our readers in print form for some time to come.
For medicine, however, the tidal wave of pressures of the last few years is even more formidable. As the demand to provide medical care outstrips the willingness and ability of governments to continue to fund it, physicians and their patients run headlong into the inevitable conflict of who gets what service and who pays. The problem, however daunting, will not be resolved satisfactorily unless all of us, the medical profession and the public, recognize that our personal needs must be balanced against the needs of the entire population. Failure to recognize how critical this balance is can lead only to conflict and divisiveness in the profession and in the country. Now more than ever before physicians and other Canadians must meet the formidable challenges facing our health care system with unity and determination. To do otherwise invites disaster.