Imagine you are a US marine – and your colleague in enemy territory has captured an insurgent and was holding a gun to his head, threatening to shoot the unarmed prisoner. As retweeted by our E&P Editor @ian_wac, there’s already an excellent blog on this but the answer is – probably – to shout “Marines […]
Latest articles
Basics: Where’s the art of medicine in EB medicine?
It’s suggested, often by those who are faced with EBM as a rather coarse stick waved to stop them acting in one way, or to force them to act in another, that practicing EBM destroys any ‘art’ in medicine. I’d argue that it integrates and emphasises the need for art. The three-ringed combination of good […]
Populations matter
So, as I occasionally bang on about, I spend a fair bit of time with children and young people with cancer. We do a lot of transfusions of blood components in this population, frequently because we heartlessly pour toxins into them in order to try to kill of their malignancy. We’ve been debating hard recently […]
Basics. Size vs. bias
There’s a beautifully clear explanation behind the BMJ-EBM-journal paywall of a concept I’ve been struggling to express for some time, which is partly there in GRADE and partly grounded in common sense. Take the parachute argument — do you really need an RCT for parachutes (as there are survivors of non-‘chuted falls) — and reductio ad […]
Another #ADC_JC in the bag
As some of you will be aware from being involved or lurking (nothing Yewtree about that …) the ADC_JC has been a worldwide Twitter phenomenon. Last month, we looked at Concussion presenting to the ED. The summary and story of the hour is captured brilliantly here : http://storify.com/dralangrayson/concussion-not-just-for-epl-footballers (splellng mistakes and all). Next month will see […]
Basics. What is evidence based medicine?
Evidence based medicine – EBM – is a framework for thinking. It’s a process. It’s a method. It’s taking the most unbiased, patient-oriented, clinically relevant research, combining that with the wishes and opinions of the child/young person and family before you and integrating your own skills, expertise and resources to co-produce the most appropriate decision […]
Trial registration. Free, easy and important.
As part of our commitment to the International Committee on Medical Journal Editors, we at the Archives of Diseases in Childhood have supported the idea that all trials with a health-related outcome should be registered before they are undertaken, and made it obligatory for trials in our journal. The reason for this is clear – […]
Domestic abuse. When did you last ask?
The Hideout has been promoting the voice of young people who have been subject to abuse in ways that young people can engage and understand; it’s a branch of the Women’s Aid charity in the UK who have been active in domestic violence support and prevention for over 30 years. […]
#TakeoverDay 2013.
Do you know a young person who would want to blog to a worldwide group of children/young people’s clinicians? Run the twitter account of an international journal for a day? Next Friday, 22 November 2013, is the Children’s Takeover Day 2013 in the UK and we at the Archives of Diseases in Childhood, despite the fusty […]
Reading between the lines part 4: Cherry-picking the best results
Outcome reporting bias: cherry-picking the best results When planning an RCT, the choice of primary outcome is crucial. This is an integral part of the research question, and forms the basis of the sample size calculation. Secondary outcomes are also chosen, to give a wider indication of the effects of interventions, generate new hypotheses, and […]