Richard Lehman reviews the latest research in the top medical journals […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—2 January 2018
Richard Smith: Migrant health—political hysteria but insufficient attention to an issue that will increase substantially
Although there is political hysteria about migrants in Europe, the health of migrants receives insufficient attention. That was the main message to emerge from Imperial College’s Institute of Global Health Innovation’s forum on migrant health in December. Definitions are a besetting problem in studying migrant health. A migrant is anybody who moves across borders away […]
Ida Keogh: Sticking Plaster for the Tin Man’s Broken Heart
It was seven hours into Suki’s shift when her tech started getting the shakes. They were operating on the prosthetic arm of Mr Baines, Patrick, date of birth 7th April 2053. It should have been a simple ligament print and fix, in and out and sealant sprayed in less than ten minutes, but the tech, […]
Hannah Harper: Project Seahorse
Eva Albemarle [Eva@AAKagency.com] To: Harvey Rudd Monday, December 14, 2099, 13:23 Subject: Project Seahorse Phase 2 Harvey, Great to meet you earlier. As requested, please find below a bit more about me for Craig. We really think he’s the perfect fit for this documentary, and we hope you think so too. I look forward […]
Annabel Ferriman: Doctors as polymaths—12 months of BMJ Confidential
The sheer breadth of doctors’ talents and abilities shone out from the pages of BMJ Confidential this year. We had doctors who were poets, masterchefs, novelists, comedians, actors and singers. One of the themes this year has been doctors “coming out.” Comedian and former junior doctor Adam Kay said that his mother cried when he […]
Matthew Castle: Burnout
I don’t want to do this job any more. I’ve had enough. There. I’ve said it. Well, you wanted a statement, an explanation for those data anomalies, and that’s it, in a nutshell. I will reiterate: I don’t think you’ll find patient care has been compromised. Up to this point, my performance has met or […]
Richard Smith: Celebrating the Dutch global health doctors programme
The Dutch, an outward looking people, have long had a unique programme for training what were called “tropical doctors” and are now called “global health doctors.” The two years and three months of clinical and theoretical training aims to prepare doctors to work as generalists in challenging environments worldwide providing clinical care and strengthening health […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I Use a Word. . .Wise men pharmacology
The three magi, the three Kings of the East, or the three wise men (Latin magus, a wise man, Greek μάγος), are also known as the three Kings of Cologne, their bodies having supposedly been deposited in Cologne Cathedral in 1164 by Rainald of Dassel, who looted them from Milan after the Holy Roman Emperor […]
Tessa Richards: Patient leaders—healthcare’s untapped workforce
The health sector needs to learn how to work with patient leaders, says Tessa Richards. […]
Richard Lehman: The tale of the greedy metalworker
In his own lifetime, Leo Tolstoy’s best-selling book was not War and Peace or Anna Karenina, which sold by thousands to middle-class Russians. But his book Azbuka, sold by hundreds of thousands to schools and to the poor: it was a collection of tales and instructions which transformed children’s education among the largely illiterate population […]