NEJM 5 Nov 2015 Vol 373 Now for the good news 1824 In the middle of the joy and uncertainty of pregnancy, you are told you have cancer. It happens to a few women every week across Europe. Thanks to a collaboration between national referral centres in Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, and the Czech Republic […]
I’ve only recently begun tweeting, but have already been struck by the challenge of sometimes trying to convey complex ideas in 144 characters or less. The combinations of abbreviations, “hashtags,” and “@’s” can add complexity, but also confusion—the challenge is how to get the right balance of complexity, yet clarity. Writing the “perfect tweet” is […]
In the next few days, Junior Hospital Doctors (JHDs) will be asked to vote either for or against industrial action. It is a situation that they will not have encountered previously, indeed one that some will wish they didn’t have to face. They have many factors to consider when casting their vote and will no […]
Although we don’t nowadays call bile gall, we still call the sac in which it is stored the gallbladder. “Bladder” is one of the early medical words listed in the Epinal glossary, in which “uessica” (classical Latin uesica, a bladder, blister, cyst, or vesicle) was glossed as “bledrae”. The relevant Indo-European root was BEU, BHEL, […]
In our last blog we introduced our roles on the new King’s Fund Collaborative Pairs Programme. With the support of the King’s Fund we are working on a shared challenge facing our local health system. North East Hampshire and Farnham CCG have recently been awarded Vanguard status and co-production is a crucial element for the […]
According to the Diabetes Atlas 2006, the number of people with diabetes in India is currently around 40.9 million and is expected to rise to 69.9 million by 2025. Similarly, 118 million people were estimated to have high blood pressure in the year 2000, which is expected to go up to 213 million in 2025. […]
Today the BMA is sending out ballot papers for industrial action in light of the proposed junior doctors’ contract. It is the first time in recent years that junior doctors have found themselves in this situation. A recent poll on thebmj.com asked “Is it ethical for doctors to strike?” 67% voted yes, out of a total of 1573 […]
Diabetes is a global health concern. However, the term “diabetes” connotes archaic concepts and needs to be reviewed. The ancient Greek physician Aretaeus of Cappadocia is often recorded as the first person to use the term “diabetes” (meaning “excessive discharge of urine”) in the first century CE. Later, the word “mellitus” (sweet) was added by Thomas Willis […]
I conducted a survey* earlier this year that looked at the workloads of doctors in family practice from 25 EU states (this survey was presented at the 2015 summer meeting of UEMO (the European Union of General Practitioners) and is to be published fully in the British Journal of General Practice). It looked at doctors’ hours of […]
In a departure from my usual interview format, today I am sharing a conversation with Ollie Smith, Director of Strategy and Innovation at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity. The charity describes itself as an innovation catalyst and recently put out an invitation to tender looking for organisations to help them test the hypothesis that a […]