Lack of evidence should not be an excuse for inaction […]
Sian Griffiths: We need to take decisive action to address the harms of problem gambling
Category: Columnists
Martin McKee: The Brexit agreement—a work in progress, but much is still uncertain
Although it was touch and go up to the very end, the negotiators from the European Union and the United Kingdom government have agreed that “sufficient progress” has been made in their talks on Brexit. The report is a mere 15 pages long and should be read by anyone with an interest in this issue, […]
Hadiza Bawa-Garba could have been any member of frontline staff working in today’s overstretched NHS
The only way to improve patient safety is to talk openly about everything that contributes to patient harm, says Rachel Clarke […]
Richard Smith: Strong evidence of bias against research from low income countries
I have taught classes on how to get published in scientific journals in many low and middle income countries, and just about every participant in every class has thought that science journals are biased against research from low and middle income countries. I think that they are as well, but strong evidence of the effect […]
Peter Brindley and Matt Morgan: All I want for Christmas…is to slow down
Digital addiction is a real barrier to patient centred care […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Paramedics
To begin with, flex your mental muscles. To flex (Latin flectere) means to bend; a flex is easily bent. Reflection is bending back, of objects, light (as in the retinal reflex), and, metaphorically, thoughts. Retroflected means bent backwards, as a uterus may be, and a retroflex sound is one that’s articulated with the tongue curled […]
Richard Smith: Angry at the delay, waste, and inefficiency caused by medical journals
A friend from a middle income country writes to me in despair about the way he and his colleagues have been treated by medical journals. His story made me angry at medical journals and the delay, waste, and inefficiency they cause for no obvious benefit. My friend and his colleagues conducted a huge pragmatic cluster […]
Kieran Walsh: How to avoid an F in your medical exams
The first time I read Richard Benson’s book on how to get an F in your exams, I was seriously worried about the future of civilization. When asked for an explanation of the term “hard water,” one student answered “ice.” When asked what natural selection meant, one student wrote that it meant that “the two […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Intro and outro: exnovation and outroduction
Last week I discussed the use of the word “de-adoption” in the title of a paper recently published in The BMJ: “De-adoption and exnovation in the use of carotid revascularisation”. I analysed “de-adoption” and suggested that “disinvestment” was a preferable term—well established, more commonly used, and more relevant. Here I analyse the neologism “exnovation”. Searching […]
Billy Boland: Clinical audit is not dead
While Quality Improvement (QI) is enjoying a surge in popularity in health services, it can also suffer from an image problem. I’ve been told that it’s a fad, a management trend, and not evidenced based. I generally don’t quite get what these objections are about. Often in medicine when we come up against problems, these […]