A Slight Departure

As we get older we tend to look back through the years at things that make us feel comfortable and safe. These things can be as simple as a picture, a song playing on the radio and for a good number of us, food. As a magazine publisher, comfort and safety can be taken to a number of extremes which usually include the look and feel of our publication.

You probably noticed something different about this current issue of ICT when it landed on your desk. And if you hadn’t noticed, it is “all about” the cover, so brilliantly illustrated by our own Tim Horn. Many of the ideas for our issues' covers come about during discussions Kelly Pyrek and I have in passing. This month was no different as we were discussing sharps safety, how far we’ve progressed and if we’ve really come that far from a few years ago — or as I will call the Dark Ages.

Cover concepts and ideas can be limited because of the quality of art and photographs you have available. It can be frustrating from a publisher’s point of view to find just the right image, because as they say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” It is even harder for a healthcare publisher to find the right image, as we have so many potential restrictions placed upon us due to PPE regulations, sharps safety guidelines and even acrylic nails and hand hygiene regulations. Believe me, we try our best to work within those guidelines, but it isn’t always possible.

Can you imagine the trouble we were going to have executing the concept for this issue examining sharps safety? Placing a safety device on the cover would have been easy, but would that really have delivered the message we were looking for, and would it have been memorable? It is time for us to “throw down the gauntlet.”

Last September, ICT illustrated its first cover (again by Tim Horn), and we received a lot of positive feedback. We thought that maybe it was time for another. With Kelly’s exceptional direction, and Tim’s faithful execution, I think we delivered.

Sharps safety isn’t a fable, but more of an ongoing serial. As you explore the world on this issue’s cover, think about the challenges sharps safety has present over the years and how you can help tame the beast and keep us from moving back into the Dark Ages.

Bill Eikost

Publisher

weikost@vpico.com