After 30 years of trying to teach clinicians, policymakers, journalists, and patients the basic concepts of deciding if claims about health interventions are valid, Andy Oxman, one of the originators of evidence based medicine, decided that it’s tough to teach adults new ways of thinking because of all the baggage in our heads. So he […]
Cato the Elder is said to have concluded every speech he made in the Roman Senate, regardless of the topic, with “Delenda est Carthago”—Carthage must be destroyed. In answering the Editor of The BMJ’s call for ideas on how the medical profession can protest against the destruction of the NHS, a similar clarity and consistency […]
In a recent BMJ blog Steve Ruffenach made some excellent points on the importance of balancing “accept” and “except” in approaching “Tech” in medicine. However, as we continue to feel the pressure of realizing “meaningful use” of electronic medical records (often with attendant requirements for documentation, reporting, and ad-nauseam clicks of different buttons in each patient’s chart), I’ve […]
A lecture of the type that I am used to giving is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as “a discourse given before an audience upon a given subject, usually for the purpose of instruction”, although I always keep in mind the BBC’s mission statement, originally formulated by John Reith, their first Director–General, “to inform, […]
When I spoke to this group four years ago about mental health services all was doom and gloom, but now I feel optimistic. This is how Paul Farmer, chief executive officer of MIND, began his talk this week to the Cambridge Health Network. Despite about three quarters of patients with mental health problems still not […]
According to Galen, whose views influenced the practice of medicine for hundreds of years, each of the four fluid humours of the body, αἷμα, blood, φλέγμα, phlegm, χολή, [yellow] bile, and μέλαινα χολή, black bile, was associated with a mood, called a temperament: sanguine (optimistic), phlegmatic (stoical), choleric (irascible), and melancholic (depressive). Others described other […]
Doctors commonly complain that they consider evidence before they treat a patient, but politicians and policy makers don’t use the same rigour when making changes to health services. Indeed, Margaret McCartney—GP, BMJ columnist, and now stand up comedian—calls for this in her show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival: “What do we want: evidence based policy […]
It is now over two months since the British electorate voted narrowly to leave the European Union. The UK has a new prime minister and cabinet, including two new government departments created to implement this decision. So what have we learnt about our future relations with the EU? And what does this mean for health […]
Many people think Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari the single most important book they have read, and a nonagenarian friend said it made him see the world in a new way. The book has been translated into 40 languages, but the commonest question Harari was asked in his interviews about […]
Two different people told me I inspired them last week. How cool is that? I wasn’t even fishing for compliments (it has been known). They were actual, spontaneous, genuine acts of generous feedback. I’ve noticed people say this to me more these days. Each time it’s a gift. Something to delight in and reflect on. […]