Or perhaps it should be ‘What would Mohammed want?’, or Alyx, or Devine, or Vladimir … when we’re asking clinical questions, do we really think what outcome our patient and family want, or do we just think what we think they would want? To put it another way – how close are the outcomes that […]
Category: archimedes
FAST appraisals
I’m fairly sure you’ll remember the RAMbo method of reviewing the validity of single randomised controlled trials. And so I think that many readers will have been having sleepless afternoons, struggling through the lengths of a ‘User’s Guide’ checklist for systematic reviews thinking “Which action hero can rescue me from this mire?”. Or perhaps not. […]
Q: Carbamazapine calms you down?
Despite being a paediatric oncologist in my spare time, I am aware that brain tumours and neurosurgeons aren’t the only cause of acquired brain injury in childhood. And I know that the problems of ABI can be tremendous, from the horror of the initial injury and ICU, facing mortality and physical changes, through the unpredictable […]
Q: Should very prem babies be given CPR?
So it’s all ethical stuff at the moment. Does the following question reach a point where evidence no longer has a role? “A premature baby born at 24 weeks gestational age is admitted to the neonatal unit having been born apnoeic, floppy, blue and without a heart rate. After cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) with adrenaline in […]
Average is a human rights abuse
This article in the Journal of Medical Ethics was directed at Archi from the Editor of E&P, and has got me all thoughtful about how a simple understanding of statistics is essential to everyone, even those working with the judiciary. The team writing this study reviewed the decisions of forensic physicians who were determining if […]
Q: Echogenic bowels and new babies
It was a vogue around the start of regular antenatal ultrasound scanning to note everything, associate wildly and some up with ‘antenatal markers of disease’, as I recollect. Some of these things turned out to be quite useful (nose bones, for instance, or their absence) and others still confuse me … like the ‘echogenic focus […]
Q: Spandex on prescription?
Fast drying, figure hugging and a joy to not iron, lycra (R) has revolutionised my laundry life. There are potentially even greater benefits though, with the use of lycra suits being promoted for children with cerebral palsies. […]
Tweets. EBM<=140
Twitter is a service that spreads news quickly. @archiadc has a challenge: to define key EBM terms in 140 characters or less. Can you help? […]
Q: Glycerine to prevent neonatal feed intolerance?
Now, I am sadly passionate about constipation and the need to treat it effectively. Some would say this obsession is a bit too much to be healthy. But even I would only go so far as to say that effective evacuation only makes you feel better, rather than make a huge difference to whether you […]
Q: Caffeine and prematurity
Now, it’s been a while since I scared myself by visiting a NICU, but I do recall the liberal use of caffeine by the resident medical and nursing staff, both for themselves and their tiny patients. There have been may things said about the delightful methylxanthine (including this, this and this) but did you ever […]