Do maternity services put women at the centre of care? Are medical professionals providing women with the necessary resources, choices, and information to have a positive birthing experience? A conference held at City University London last month looked at how the NHS can make maternity services more women centred. Cathy Warwick, general secretary of the […]
Category: Guest writers
Social media and health: a source of “patient voices” or “business insight?”
For many, smartphones and other web-enabled technologies have become ubiquitous, mediating activities from shopping to travel, from banking to romancing. From health apps to patient forums, the experience of being unwell has been similarly transformed. Social networking sites (SNSs) such as Facebook and Twitter now host burgeoning networks for individuals with chronic conditions. The size […]
Iain Frame: Why does it take so long to make innovative treatments and technologies available to patients in the UK?
As a scientist now working as a director of research responsible for overseeing a large programme of research funding, I can understand the frustration experienced by researchers who have invested years in a clinical trial, which then shows a new treatment to have significant clinical benefit but which patients can’t access because it doesn’t get […]
#ILookLikeASurgeon: Uniting a diverse global surgical community on social media
One early August evening, Heather Logghe, a US surgical resident, logged onto Twitter and posed the question, “Is #ILookLikeASurgeon next?” Inspired by Isis Wenger, who sparked the recent #ILookLikeAnEngineer viral campaign, Heather reflected on a recent blog featuring Nikki Stamp, a cardiothoracic surgeon in Australia, noting that surgery also remained a male dominated profession bound […]
Simon Nicholas Williams: Big Food could take the fizz out of Jamie Oliver’s soft drink tax
In his new documentary, Sugar Rush [airing tonight], Jamie Oliver pledges to “be a pain in the arse to the government” on the issue of soft drink taxes. Unfortunately for Oliver, and for the health of those he seeks to help, compared to the enormous political influence the food and beverage industry can and will […]
George Gillett: The NHS and immigration
Last February, the UK Home Office announced changes to immigration rules that would mean non-EU nurses would not have their visa applications prioritised. The decision not to add nursing to the list of “shortage occupations” reflects the government’s belief that nursing posts can be filled without international recruitment, but has received criticism from the Royal College […]
Liz Wager: GPP3—thoughts on becoming a guideline grandmother
The third version of the Good Publication Practice guidelines (GPP3) were published last week which makes me a guideline grandmother. Like any grandparent I am excited and proud of my “offspring,” slightly nervous about how the world will treat it, but hopeful that it will grow up to do something useful. And, like a grandmother, I […]
Daniel S Goldberg: COI bingo
I am fortunate to possess content expertise on ethics and conflicts-of-interest (“COI”) in medicine and science, and I teach it in a variety of health professional settings. After reading the latest news story on a commercial industry’s partnership with academic scientists, I grew tired enough of seeing the same (to my mind) poor rationalizations for […]
Neel Sharma and Chaoyan Dong: Coalition in medical education
Trudie Roberts and Ronald Harden authored a commentary earlier this year which focused on enhancing existing collaborations to solve the challenges in medical education. We wanted to share our insights. There is certainly need for improvement as alluded to in Roberts’s and Harden’s article and whilst significant steps have already taken place in this regard, […]
Amy Price: BMJ and the Twitter Footprint
Recently on Twitter I saw a beautiful network graph with my name in it showcasing the reach of a doctor on Twitter. It was amazing to see the reach of just a few small words. I asked the scientist, Wasim Ahmed if he would consider creating a network graph for the key word “BMJ.” These maps […]