Like all patients, what I want most from clinical research is treatments that work, not ones that merely look good on paper. As The BMJ has pointed out, patients are often faced with over-hyped treatments and an incomplete research base biased towards positive results. These biases arise partly because of “publish or perish” pressure on […]
Category: Guest writers
Ian R Barker: Compassion fatigue—the neglected problem
Compassion fatigue—also known as vicarious traumatisation results in a gradual reduction in compassion over time. It is more common in those dealing with trauma or caring for close relatives (1). If often presents as hopelessness, decrease in experience of pleasure, constant stress and anxiety, and a pervasive negative attitude (2). Interestingly, it has been claimed […]
Clara Hellner Gumpert: The Karolinska Institute after the Macchiarini scandal
In 2010, Paolo Macchiarini, an Italian doctor and researcher, was recruited as a guest professor to the Karolinska Institute, and as a surgeon to the Karolinska University Hospital. In 2008, Macchiarini performed the first transplant of a trachea from a dead donor. Prior to the transplant, the trachea was prepared with stem cells. Between 2011 […]
Marta Balinska: Psychological distress versus mental illness
“You will know very few happy moments in life, so make the most of them.” Those are words I often heard from my late mother, leading me to believe that life was going to be a painful affair. In retrospect, I wonder whether she was dealing with chronic depression or whether she was “merely” dogged […]
Steve Ruffenach on accepting technology in medicine
Like every other profession, medicine has been radically changed by our friend Tech. You of course know Tech; he is that associate that is always around, always snooping where he doesn’t belong. He’s the one who won’t leave you alone no matter where you are or what you are doing. His virtues and failings have […]
Suzanne Gordon: Why introductions matter
The other day, I was invited to give a seminar on interprofessional teamwork to a group of residents and attendees at a prestigious university medical center in Europe. The first thing people did when they trooped into the room was introduce themselves to me. Since there were about 25 people in the room, no one […]
Zaher Sahloul: What can doctors do to help in Syria?
I received many emails after my last mission. One doctor emailed me to say that she was “horrified by what is happening in Syria” and she wanted to help by any means necessary. She felt that as a doctor she can do more than donate to relief organizations. One doctor wrote that she would love to […]
Richard Lehman: Where next with statins?
The Lancet‘s lengthy review on statins is masterly in its discussion of many fundamental issues about trial methodology and interpretation, and makes an excellent case for the overall benefits of statins for cardiovascular protection. But this is not new news. The discussion of adverse effects is theoretically sound but offers no new data and does […]
Julian Tudor Hart: Government, healthcare professionals, and the people’s NHS: time for a new hypothesis?
Until the BMA rejected the government’s contract imposed on junior doctors in NHS England, negotiations were conducted in conventional diplomatic terms, based on a shared hypothesis that all contestants played an open hand, meant what they said, without covert motives. 58% of junior doctors have now indicated that they are no longer willing even to […]
Lynda Ware: Can vitamin D help reduce asthma attacks?
Cochrane UK’s Senior Fellow in General Practice Lynda Ware looks at the new Cochrane review on Vitamin D for the management of asthma. A new Cochrane review looked at precisely this question and found high quality evidence suggesting that it does. What’s the story? It seems to me that vitamin D—also known as the “sunshine […]