The UN’s declaration on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) was signed by every member of the United Nations General Assembly. Unfortunately, not all member states have the necessary infrastructure to ensure action is taken on the same scale in every part of the world. The challenges faced by war-torn countries in addressing AMR is significantly important to the […]
Richard Smith: Holbein’s Dance of Death—the perfect Christmas present
Hans Holbein produced his Dance of Death in Basle in 1526, mainly because he needed the money. Pictures of the dance of death were fashionable, featuring on the walls of cemeteries, and people wanted their own pictures. The pictures have been reproduced many times in many forms since then, and the latest version is a […]
Neena Modi: The RCPCH and funding from infant formula companies
Breastfeeding is good for babies and mothers. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) has long been a champion, advocating vigorously for policies that support mothers and improve breastfeeding. There has also long been genuine and heartfelt unease among paediatricians around interactions with companies manufacturing breast milk substitutes (BMS) because of the strong […]
William Seligman: What’s going to happen to US health policy after the presidential election?
Whether it’s the razzmatazz, scandal, or fear generated by the forthcoming US presidential election, it’s fair to say that people are talking about it worldwide and watching closely as 8 November approaches. The outcome of this election will, I think, have implications worldwide particularly on account of the candidates’ views on immigration, trade, and foreign […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—31 October 2016
Oxygen for moderate COPD This week saw the official launch of the UK Academy of Medical Royal Colleges “Choosing Wisely” campaign, which was so successful that its website crashed. It is proving a bumper week for debunking long-accepted practices. The latest is long-term oxygen for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with moderate desaturation. This common strategy […]
C.R. Chandrasekar: Raising awareness of sarcomas
Many years ago I saw a young man who helped me to focus on the importance of raising public and professional awareness of sarcomas, a rare cancer. He had a painful thigh swelling. This was initially presumed to be a sports related injury and resulting haematoma and he was referred to a local hospital. He […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Empathy and compassion
In my last two blogs I discussed empathy and suggested that it may take different forms. Here I expand on those ideas and compare sympathy, empathy, and compassion. I take it as axiomatic that it is not possible to achieve what I have called true empathy. In other words, because one cannot fully understand another’s […]
Joanna Lyall: Feeding the 400
The comfort of food is not a concept readily accepted by institutions, be they hospitals, schools, or nursing homes. As well as financial constraints—many NHS trusts in England feed inpatients for under £10 a day—there are the logistics of serving large numbers of people three meals a day. This is vividly brought home by Feeding […]
No waiving goodbye to Medicaid expansion: What does the rejection of Ohio’s Medicaid waiver proposal mean for other states?
Since the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare), the number of uninsured individuals in the United States decreased from 49 million in 2010 to 29 million in 2015. While the American press and political debate remain focused on the shortcomings of the ACA’s Health Insurance Marketplace, relatively little attention is paid to the […]
Shilpa Prabhakar: Should you choose mental health as your specialty?
I have always wanted to be a doctor. Perhaps, like many, I was attracted to medicine because I wanted to help people. After qualifying in 2004, I briefly did a general medical rotation before moving into paediatrics and then surgical specialties. That’s when I came across psychiatry. Mental health is the only specialty where you can […]