“L’enfer, c’est les autres”—Hell is others As I progress from trainee to GP, I have taken time to reflect on the process I have been through and I think this saying sums it up. No, I’m not an antisocial existentialist (nor did Sartre intend that the line be interpreted that way), but I have found […]
Richard Smith: Making patient data available—the risks are easy to understand, the benefits opaque
“We seem to spend all our time talking about the downside of making patient data available and little about the upside,” said a frustrated researcher at last week’s Sowerby eHealth Symposium organised by Imperial College’s Institute of Global Health Innovation. The problem seems to be that the downside—somebody’s health records being made public—is horrible, concrete, […]
Lyndal Trevena: What’s happening on Day 1 of #ISDMISEHC Sydney 2015
The first day of ISDMISEHC is over and synthesising the issues from the Twitter feed and presentations today is quite a challenge. Given that 300 people are exchanging ideas and experiences from all over the world we really want to share this with a wider audience. In addition, our conference delegates are struggling with trying […]
Helen Bygrave: Simple but elusive—why are we still talking about HIV drug delivery?
As the International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference takes place in Vancouver, Canada (July 19-22), Helen Bygrave of MSF discusses her frustrations with the lack of implementation of simple, programmatic strategies for improving HIV care. My main memory of the last IAS conference that I attended, held in Vienna in 2010, was a resounding standing ovation for a […]
How can we improve the availability and use of health research in developing countries?
Global health is fundamentally dependent on the availability and use of health research. It is well known that much research is of poor quality, is not applicable to low-resource settings, and/or is not even published (sometimes for commercial reasons). Nevertheless there is of course a massive and growing body of research that *is* of high […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—20 July 2015
NEJM 16 July 2015 Vol 373 209 I’ll say it again: “Cancer boasts the worst trials in medicine. Also the worst drug regulation. Also the worst cost/benefit ratio for new treatments. And also the worst drug toxicities. Plus the highest levels of public and charitable funding. My forehead hits the desk when I read about […]
The BMJ Today: #ImInWorkJeremy
• NHS news—This weekend social media has been awash with NHS health workers proudly tweeting their secretary of state for health, Jeremy Hunt, with photos and declarations of their commitment to 24/7 service provision. The trending #ImInWorkJeremy, comes on the back of a week of announcements from Hunt around the direction the NHS will take. Hunt […]
Muriel Gillick: When life gives you lemons—the 2015 White House Conference on Aging
In the heady days of the early 1960s, when the oldest of the baby boomer generation were teenagers and only 9.2% of the population were age 65 or older, the US held its first White House Conference on Aging. This was by all accounts a grand event, a national citizens’ forum designed to “focus attention […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Breaking worst
There are other ways of breaking words besides the ones we have so far dealt with: metanalysis, aphaeresis, aphesis, and apocope. Take, for example, ellipsis (Greek ἔλλειψις), which means coming short. The explanation is coming shortly. It starts with some deceptively simple geometry, originally studied by Greek mathematicians, such as Menaichmos, Euclid, and Archimedes, but really […]
The BMJ Today: Homeopathy, sexual health, and saying sorry
• Homeopathy: patients like it Our rapid response boards have been ablaze this week since we published a Head to Head debate on homeopathy. Many of you have rallied to homeopathy’s defence, agreeing with Peter Fisher of the NHS’s Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine, despite a dearth of quality evidence of effectiveness as well […]