Many years ago I worked with a doctor who would disappear for a few moments at important decision points in clinical care. Sometimes this was during ward rounds and sometimes on call. He was an excellent doctor—the momentary absences never made a difference to the care of patients. Still I used to wonder where he […]
Gerd Gigerenzer discusses how search engines use big data analytics to “diagnose” your state of health […]
We hear a constant chorus that general practice is underfunded, understaffed, and on the point of collapse, so I couldn’t resist the temptation to visit a practice that is flourishing and has a bold vision for the future. Granta Medical Practices in Cambridgeshire currently serve 34 000 patients in four buildings. Soon they expect to […]
Whatever the precise non-publication rate is, it is a serious waste of the roughly $180 billion annually invested in health and medical research globally […]
Last week I suggested that passive diffusion and active dissemination of the outcomes of research could together be called “promulgation”. To promulgate is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as “to make known by public declaration; to publish; esp. to disseminate (some creed or belief), or to proclaim (some law, decree, or tidings).” I rhetorically […]
Democracy, we are all told and mostly believe, is “the least bad form of government.” Sadly and ironically that belief is hardest to sustain during elections when we are deluged in slogans (“strong and stable”) and wild promises, long term issues are largely ignored, and complex issues are simplified to the point where meaning is […]
As I have previously discussed, although the idea of translational research did not start to emerge as such until the 1980s, it had roots in the idea of “diffusion of innovations”, “the process in which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system” as Everett Rogers defined […]
Here’s a CLUE … Journals have a responsibility not to mislead their readers. That seems pretty straightforward and uncontroversial, but achieving this lofty aim can be tricky. In order to do that, journals need to know if a research report is trustworthy. Peer review is the first step but we know it’s not perfect and, […]
Lavinia Woodward, 24, is a medical student at Oxford University. She is an aspiring heart surgeon with an excellent academic record. On 30 September 2016, under the influence of drink and drugs, she stabbed her boyfriend in the leg with a breadknife and inflicted cuts on his fingers. He sustained a 1cm leg wound and lacerations […]
Diffusion and dissemination are important aspects of translational research. They are the processes whereby the products of such research—knowledge, skills, understanding, innovations—spread, encouraging implementation. Diffusion is a passive process, like the transmembrane movements of sodium and potassium down their concentration gradients, while dissemination is active, like active transport of sodium and potassium against the concentration […]