For the past twenty years the public healthcare system in Poland has been struggling with extremely low financing. In 2005, countries such as France and Germany were spending 11.1% and 10.7% GDP on healthcare respectively. According to the OECD, currently in Poland we only spend 6.4% GDP on our healthcare system. [1] This is one […]
“Alright, Alfie, spit in the cup then, lad.” Poppy was good at this, I could tell. The boy hocked up a rope of saliva, which she caught deftly in her tin. Then she took Alfie by the chin and turned his head about, shining her light in his eyes and ears and down his throat. […]
With work and the NHS the way that it is these days, it is really easy to take your eye off things like continuing professional development (CPD). As our roles evolve and become more complex, spinning the plates of CPD becomes an increasingly demanding task. I got myself into a corner a few years ago […]
Real momentum is building around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as national governments integrate the 2030 Agenda with their own policy processes. Recognition of the multi-sectoral nature of the SDGs is encouraging different stakeholders to get involved in many national contexts and in a wide range of actions. Health in particular, is acting as a […]
You are working in an emergency department. You see an 85-year-old man who has fallen at home. He is confused but not in any pain. He has a mild fever, crackles at his left lung base, and slight suprapubic tenderness. He has a history of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and congestive cardiac failure. He says […]
If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then to me. – William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act I, Scene iii For the first twenty minutes of your life, you exist only in my arms. You are a blank slate, a bundle of infinite […]
Medical students from around the world utter the Hippocratic Oath when graduating medical school as an age-old commitment to professionalism. Yet, much of what we are taught during medical school conflicts with the oath’s focus on communication and shared-decision making. There is a hidden curriculum in medicine that encourages trainees to do extensive workups to […]
Back in 2007 a diagnostic biopsy from a patient with lung cancer would frequently yield a one line diagnosis from the reporting pathologist; “This biopsy shows non-small cell carcinoma.” A decade on and a similar biopsy frequently generates a report several pages long including immunohistochemistry to subtype the tumour and molecular analysis to identify driver […]
I decided OPSNIZE was for me when Dad lost his trousers on the bus. He threw them out the window. Then he rolled around on the floor, screaming his own name, over and over, until some kid pushed a panic button. David David David That was his name. He wanted to hold on to it, […]
My hope is for a culture change where sexism is no longer dismissed as “having a laugh” […]