9.20am: I’m in London at WIRED Health 2015, “exploring the future of healthcare.” Already I’ve bumped into a would-be investor and I’ve just had a “power shot” of grapefruit juice spiked with chili. Now I’m browsing the exhibitor stands, which includes live demo of the elegant cream leather Tao chair which, according to its inventor and Tao Wellness […]
Category: Editors at large
General election 2015: The health and care debate live blog
The BMJ was live blogging from the Health and Care debate at the British Library. Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health, Andy Burnham, Shadow Heath Secretary, Norman Lamb, Minister of State for Care and Support, and Julia Reid, UKIP Deputy Health Spokesman, answered questions at the debate chaired by Sarah Montague from the BBC. […]
Tessa Richards: Is your conference “Patients Included?”
The conference circuit is buzzing. If you are not physically caught up in the whirl there are plenty of colourful twitter feeds to follow—last week’s #EvidenceLive for example. Next week #Quality2015 will be a hot hashtag as around 3000 or so delegates will gather at this year’s International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare […]
David Payne: What would you ask a future UK health secretary?
If you were in the same room as health secretary Jeremy Hunt, Labour shadow health secretary Andy Burnham, Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb, and UKIP’s Louise Bours, what would you ask them? Now is your chance. […]
Birte Twisselmann: From Harry Potter to Hippocrates—the medicinal garden at the RCP
Last year we published the obituary of Arthur Hollman, cardiologist, medical historian, and plantsman, who looked after the garden of the Royal College of Physicians in Regent’s Park in London. In 1978 he implemented a new garden scheme, linking its plants and trees with medicinal uses and British doctors. The college offers regular guided tours […]
Juliet Dobson: Understanding Ebola in Africa
What has the recent Ebola outbreak shown us about West Africa’s development? Did it reveal Africa’s weaknesses or its strengths? On 23 March, Hans Rosling, from the Karolinska Institute, and Margaret Lamunu, the World Health Organization’s Ebola expert, discussed how West African health systems tackled the Ebola outbreak, and what we can learn from the […]
The BMJ Today: History lessons
• In 1938 New Zealand created a national health system, coining the term “from cradle to grave,” and showing the British government what was possible. More recently, the country repealed its unsuccessful, competition based health legislation. As it is now hard to find anyone in England who believes that the 2012 Health and Social Care […]
Elizabeth Loder: Has the American Board of Internal Medicine lost its way?
Elizabeth Loder examines the emergence of organized US physician opposition to revalidation requirements. Something remarkable is happening right now in American medicine. A unified physician movement has emerged that cuts across the varied interests of different specialties to focus on a specific cause of dissatisfaction. It has already forced concessions from one powerful organization, and […]
Juliet Dobson: Breast may be best, but it’s also a huge challenge
News of a new study published yesterday in Lancet Global Health, which shows that breast feeding is linked with higher IQ, was music to my ears. I am the mother of an eight month old, whom I am still breast feeding, and it was encouraging for me to hear that the many months of hard […]
Richard Hurley: Multimedia, interaction, gamification: what does tomorrow’s medical journal article look like?
The internet has made it ridiculously easy to access information. Traditional media outlets like The BMJ are having to compete even harder with each other for attention. The internet has also made it ridiculously easy for everyone to share words, pictures, and sounds, and traditional outlets must also vie with citizen publishers for audience interest and […]