In 2011 research physician Tristan Barber responded to an editor’s choice on conflicts of interest, saying: “Reading the current BMJ and noting several letters regarding conflicts of interest, it was particularly distracting to have the front cover being a fold-out advertisement for a pharmaceutical product. “As a consequence I was very aware of all of […]
Category: Editors at large
Tessa Richards: Stop pushing propaganda to patients
There is something to be said for wearing your heart on your sleeve, and few do it to greater effect than Margaret McCartney, a GP in Glasgow. She exuded frustration as she galvanised a session on public and patient involvement at the Evidence Live conference, in which she explained why she had reached the point […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Evidence Live day two
Gathering evidence is clear straightforward science. Right? Not if you believe the speakers at “Evidence Live.” Today’s presentations were a challenge to believers. Fraud, misconduct, non disclosure of data, and conflict of interest were just part of the problem. Peter Wilmshurst (University Hospital of North Staffordshire) whose dedication to the truth in the face of […]
Helen Jaques: Exposing junior doctors’ working hours
Back when Christian Jessen of Embarrassing Bodies fame was training as a junior doctor, he regularly worked dangerously long hours. But then in August 2009 the European Working Time Directive (EWTD) was introduced to limit the working hours of doctors to 48 hours a week. Problem solved. But of course nothing is ever that simple, […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Evidence Live
Essentialist or consequentialist? Patrick Bossuyt (University of Amsterdam) introduced this concept at the “Evidence Live” conference. Thinking about diagnostic testing he suggested that, rather than focus on the nuts and bolts of a diagnostic test (sensitivity, specificity etc), we might also consider the downstream effects. We know there are benefits to accurate diagnostic testing, but […]
Readers’ editor blog: Our Indian readers, and why there’s more of them
At the beginning of 2013 bmj.com’s most accessed article in India typically received between 100 and 200 views. In three months the figure has more than doubled. In the first full week of January there were 9,784 visits to bmj.com from India. The figure has been rising since. Last week there were 12,121. In November 2012 […]
Domhnall MacAuley: The future of general practice….is private
What will happen in general practice…now that we have so many part time portfolio doctors, practices where the focus is on performance related income, increasing delegation to practice nurses and nurse practitioners, and patients often seen by someone who has little knowledge of their past medical history? Out of hours care, for at least 8 […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Speaking of mid Staffs…..
Who should resign this week? The blame game continues with more Mid Staffs finger pointing. As newspapers identify further unpleasant aspects of the wider tragedy, there is a risk that we stop reading about it and just move on to the next news story. Sad, isn’t it, that the main messages from one of the […]
Readers’ editor blog: Patient consent
Last year a colleague phoned a patient named in a BMJ practice article. The patient had consented to her story being published (it was about to go live), but had wrongly thought her account was destined for publication in an obscure medical journal that would gather dust on library shelves. My colleague was concerned that […]
Elizabeth Loder: Inventing disease and pushing pills
The recent 2013 Selling Sickness conference in Washington, DC was chock full of fascinating speakers. In an earlier blog I discussed my participation in a panel discussion at the conference, and Rachel Hendrick has also blogged about the meeting. It was difficult to choose from the topics on offer during the two day gathering, and […]