Why be a medical editor? Pippa Smart, with whom I run a course for medical editors, asked me recently if she could reproduce something I had written. As a strong advocate of open access—free access and unrestricted reuse—I had no hesitation in saying yes. I wrote this paragraph in 2010 to be included in “Why […]
Category: Domhnall MacAuley
Domhnall MacAuley: Are there any aspects of healthcare about which you are passionate?
Health inequality. As an editor, we see lots of papers on health inequality; an anodyne, antiseptic term that trips off the tongue without baggage. Not much new. But, in practice it means poor people, who may smoke too much, eat the wrong food, don’t have jobs, live in the wrong place, have lots of illness, […]
Domhnall MacAuley: The US champions primary care
When the US starts to champion primary care, it is time to sit up. With its traditionally specialist focus, this may seem out of character, but as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, there is increasing focus on family medicine. In a perspectives article last year in the NEJM, Susan Okies […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Unintended misconduct identified in research
Two recent stories provoked a fascinating discussion on misconduct in research—that have nothing to do with the authors, and in the most unlikely of journals. The May 15th edition of the Journal of Applied Physiology explored these two cases in detail. There was no suggestion of research misconduct by the authors, but these controversies introduce […]
Domhnall MacAuley: General practice and social deprivation
A single naked bulb lights the room. Clothes hang over the radiator, there is a cot by the door, and a huge TV in the corner. Just a few worn chairs and a clapped out couch. Feet stick to the carpet. A world worn 19 year old and a distraught infant; hot, flushed, and dribbling. […]
Domhnall MacAuley: No magic answer for Achilles tendinopathy
“Although they are trendy money spinners, best evidence shows little effectiveness”—An attention grabbing subheading to an editorial by Nic Maffulli in the BMJ commenting on an intriguing randomised controlled trial (RCT) from New Zealand on the use of autologus blood injections in treating Achilles tendinopathy. It doesn’t work. […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Designing general practice for others
Flying off to Berne to talk about general practice in the future, I met a GP colleague in the airport. A conversation contrasting theory and reality. Asked to talk to Swiss GPs about the best models of European general practice, with particular focus on the UK, I looked back on the effect of the 2004 […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Pot plants and care homes
I cannot have pot plants in the house. The overwhelming smell of pot plants and stale urine is my lasting memory of visiting residential and nursing homes many years ago as a GP trainee in Devon. Rows of pot plants arranged in the hallway and rows of elderly people in front of the television. This […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Celebrating clinical teaching in Wales
We don’t celebrate success enough in medicine. We sometimes mutter, grumble, and gripe, but we seldom congratulate our friends and colleagues on their success. What a pleasure therefore to attend the Welsh Clinical Teacher of the Year Awards in the beautiful Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. A gala evening of recognition for those […]
Domhnall MacAuley: International Quality Forum, day 3
When it all goes wrong, that’s when you are really tested. Quantas pilot Captain David Evans described what happened when an engine disintegrated in mid air on Flight QF32 and three large metal shards pierced various parts of the huge A380 aircraft causing major systems failure. Only one of four engines could operate at normal […]