Every three years or so I am lucky enough to attend our webhost HighWire’s spring publisher’s meeting at Stanford University in sunny California. This year was no exception—the meeting was an absolute delight. Some 200 participants shared the products showcase, presentations by publishers, insights from industry, and Highwire’s plans and projects over the two days […]
Category: US healthcare
Domhnall MacAuley: The US champions primary care
When the US starts to champion primary care, it is time to sit up. With its traditionally specialist focus, this may seem out of character, but as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, there is increasing focus on family medicine. In a perspectives article last year in the NEJM, Susan Okies […]
William Cayley on the value of learning to practise in resource limited settings
“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” goes the saying. Recently I was bemoaning with a physician friend the ease with which learners often default to “expert” interpretation for imaging, rather than relying on or trusting their one x-ray interpretation in light of clinical judgment. As we shared back and forth our stories of radiologist […]
Fran Baum: From Ottawa to Helsinki—the 8th global conference on health promotion
In 1986 the World Health Organisation held the first global conference on health promotion at which the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion was drafted and adopted. It has become the bible for health promoters with its five strategies of building healthy public policy, creating a supportive environment, strengthening community action, promoting individual skills and re-orienting […]
Edward Davies: Pharma is changing. Can doctors say the same?
About 13 years ago I attended my first US mega meeting of doctors. I was there for a research agency, working on behalf of a large well known pharmaceutical company, analysing their marketing campaign for a new drug. From the moment I got off the plane, I was slapped into brutal submission by the advertising […]
Edward Davies: The big bang meeting vs peer review
In the world of oncology, and indeed the world in general, meetings don’t come bigger than that of the American Society for Clinical Oncology. I hesitate to quote a cab driver as a source of fact, but the one I met at Chicago airport told me more than 30,000 delegates were coming through the city […]
William Cayley: Are we getting too systematic for our own good?
“We need to standardize our systems of practice to improve our quality metrics and do a better job of caring for our patients.” Such was the thrust of a recent management meeting, yet it left me wondering whether or not we are headed in the right direction. Increased public reporting of quality “metrics,” focus on […]
Scott Fraser: Do doctors have a responsibility to lead on climate change?
When learning biology for my school exams (longer ago than I imagine but not so many years ago) I clearly remember that atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) was rounded down to 0.03%. If I gave that answer today it would be marked as incorrect. According to the US government’s Mauna Loa laboratory, atmospheric CO2 has now […]
Anita Jain on the need for women’s rights movements to carve out their own space
Last month, women’s rights activists in Mumbai took up a protest along the lines of the “Occupy Men’s Toilets” campaign in China, and demanded more public toilets for women. Last year it was headline news that India has more temples than toilets, so the need is clearly not a new one. In addition to diseases […]
Tracey Koehlmoos on a national initiative for arts and health in the military
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend a national summit on arts, health, and wellbeing across the military on 10 April 2013. It was held at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) just outside of Washington, DC. I did not know a great deal about creative arts therapies prior to the event […]