This afternoon an expatriate internal medicine doctor started an ultrasound workshop with the doctors. I thought it would be useful for me to go, so I did. The ultrasound room is adjacent to the emergency room so while we were waiting for doctors to arrive the internist and I were reviewing a few patients. […]
Category: Guest writers
Behrooz Astaneh: Towards professionalism at small medical journals
In the Eastern Mediterranean/Middle East, where I live, most medical journals are small ones. To help train the editors of some of these journals Shiraz University of Medical Sciences founded in September 2009 an academic Master of Science course in medical journalism. The course was first announced at the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) annual […]
Jeremy Sare on decriminalising drugs
When the most senior copper responsible for drugs openly questions the sense of criminalising young people for drugs possession then perhaps the game is finally up for the strict advocates of prohibition. Chief Constable Tim Hollis has been the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) lead on drugs since 2006, so he is no naïve […]
Sandra Lako: Intraosseous access saves lives
One afternoon I passed through the emergency room and noticed two doctors hovering over a patient attempting to get intravenous access. As in many of the emergency cases, the patient’s circulation was poor. While one doctor was attempting jugular access, I suggested inserting an intraosseous needle. […]
Michael Powell: I had not expected to enjoy Ann Widdecombe
I had not expected to enjoy Ann Widdecombe’s BBC documentary on Cardinal John Henry Newman, (Saint or Sinner), broadcast on 18 September, especially as my interview was edited down to about one minute; however, I found it interesting, balanced and surprisingly moving. Whatever the pros and cons of beatification, if ever a man deserved this, […]
Richard Smith: Computers take histories better than doctors – why don’t they do it more?
Here’s a simulated doctor patient consultation that took place today at the Royal Society of Medicine. A 65 year old woman (cunningly disguised as a bald, male professor from the Mayo Clinic) who is known to be hypertensive and on treatment says that her blood pressure has gone up over the last 10 days. An […]
Tracey Koehlmoos: E-cigarettes still on sale at the shopping mall
During July 2009 during a brief visit to the US my three sons and I noticed that electronic cigarettes were being sold at kiosks in the mall. It seemed so un-American somehow to have cigarettes being advertised so openly and in such a public venue. Some quick research showed that these devices are actually very […]
Siddhartha Yadav: TedxChange’s millennium development goals webcast
Sitting in the comfort of my room and sipping a cup of tea, I listened to Melinda Gates and others this morning – live. The TedxChange was an event organized by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and TEDx to mark the tenth anniversary of inception of the millennium development goals. Focused on the theme […]
Mit Philips on doublespeak in Vienna
The high point of the summer, for those involved in HIV-AIDS, was the Vienna AIDS conference – a perfect mix of evidence, policies, and politics. While some of the scientific papers presented were fascinating, what interested me most was the platform the conference provided for different stakeholders to come together and put the tensions that […]
Rahim Rezaie: A neglected resource for neglected diseases
What does a recently developed meningitis vaccine, the the anti-malarial drug ASMQ, and balaglitazone have in common? The meningitis vaccine is a partnership involving the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), the WHO and the Serum Institute of India (Pune). ASMQ was developed by Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), a public-private-partnership (PPP) including […]