Words typically develop from a root of some sort, and derivatives are formed from a primary word by changing or adding something. You can do this in many ways. You can form adjectives, for example, from other words by adding prefixes or suffixes, such as un– and dis–, or –ed, –ful, –ive, –less,–y, –ic, –al, […]
William Cayley: Ethics and professional wisdom
The recently publicized news that the American Psychological Association (APA) “colluded” with US governmental agencies to create ethical guidelines permitting psychologists to participate in “harsh interrogations” of military detainees is appalling. According to the APA’s own press release, the guidelines were “based at least as much on the desires of the US Department of Defense as […]
Lyndal Trevena: Final reflections as the #ISDMISEHC Conference in Sydney concludes
The final day of the ISDMISEHC conference took a closer look at some of the key issues of the future. Professor Sharon Straus started the day with a keynote address about the challenges of implementation (or why she has the best job in the world). I’m going to take some time to summarise her key […]
Timothy Caulfield: Genetics and personalized medicine—where’s the revolution?
This blog is part of a series of blogs linked with BMJ Clinical Evidence, a database of systematic overviews of the best available evidence on the effectiveness of commonly used interventions. I started my academic career in the early 90s working on the policy issues associated with something called the “genetic revolution,” which we were […]
The BMJ Today: Conferences, antibiotics, and general practice
• In her third blog so far, Lyndal Trevena reflects on the second day of the ISDMISEHC 2015 conference in Sydney. Highlights included Professor Alex Barratt’s keynote address on overdiagnosis, in which he suggested that we should increasingly focus on trying to prevent too many new tests being adopted before there’s clear evidence that they improve people’s […]
Ruth Robertson: Frontline teams are the key to delivering better value care for patients
We need to talk about patients not pounds if we are to engage clinicians in meeting the NHS productivity challenge. That means focusing on providing the best possible health outcomes at the lowest possible cost, rather than a single-minded push to save money. This is one of the main messages from our new report, Better […]
Lyndal Trevena: Reflections on Day 2 of #ISDMISEHC Sydney 2015
The second day of ISDMISEHC saw a lot of engagement on social media and a lot of interest from clinicians, patients, and policymakers around the world. Professor Alex Barratt from The University of Sydney started the day with a keynote address on over diagnosis which highlighted some of the methodological challenges of getting accurate evidence, […]
The BMJ Today: Patient data, sweetened drinks, and fruit juice
• Patient data from the clinical trials of statins In July 2014, an expert panel convened by The BMJ called for anonymised individual patient data from the clinical trials of statins to be made available for independent scrutiny. One year later, Emma Parish and colleagues look at how things have moved on. • Making patient data available […]
Billy Boland: Time for a new definition of quality?
I’ve been troubled by our modern concepts of quality in healthcare recently. In these austere times, we are all taking a harder look at the care we deliver and are asking ourselves, is it worth it? Driving down cost to improve services is widely recommended and pursued. Donald Berwick’s “Triple Aim” of improving services involves […]
The BMJ Today: Naming, shaming, and homeopathy wars
• Homeopathy wars The Head to Head article “Should doctors recommend homeopathy?” has generated a heated online debate with 48 responses so far. More than 5000 people have responded to the linked poll with 62% voting yes, 38% no. If you have the luxury of a few minutes to spare then join in the debate […]