• Elder abuse, say Yuliya Mysyuk and colleagues, is a “far reaching public health problem that affects the quality of life of people worldwide,” and point to failures in health systems, rather than to individuals, as the reason for its prevalence. Healthcare professionals, they say, are one of the most important groups to identify abuse. […]
Adam Smith: The life and legacy of oncology PROMs
Since the 1980s, patient reported outcomes measures (PROMs) have been incorporated in cancer clinical trials providing invaluable information about symptoms, functioning, and quality of life from the patients’ perspective. In 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), issued industry guidance on the use of PROMs in product label claims [1]. The guidance stressed the […]
Arnar Astradsson and Tipu Z Aziz: Fetal cell or stem cell derived treatment for Parkinson’s disease
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. Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the selective loss of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons which results in the cardinal symptoms […]
James Raftery: Cancer drug prices and olaparib
NICE’s provisional rejection of Astra Zeneca’s olaparib (Lynparza) for a genetic subset (BRCA1/2 gene mutation) of ovarian cancers has several themes which have not been commented on. One is that Astra Zeneca may have handled matters poorly. In particular it withdrew olaparib from consideration by the cancer drugs fund in December 2014. The reported reason […]
Vijayaprasad Gopichandran: How can we measure patients’s trust in doctors?
Jum Nunnally, the much acclaimed author of “Psychometric Theory” the standard textbook of psychometrics, which has run into several volumes, says “an accurate method was available for measuring the circumference of the earth 2000 years before the first systematic measures of human ability were developed.” He expresses surprise that psychometrics took so long to develop as […]
The BMJ Today: The earlier the better for mental health
The BMJ has this week published not one but two summaries of new NICE guidance: • The first is on bronchiolitis in children. Our summary will take you through diagnosis, referral, admission and management of the condition. • The second summary of NICE guidance deals with challenging behaviour and learning disabilities. Again, this will take […]
Aditya J Nanavati: Dealing with patients seeking “instant gratification”
I must admit I feel immense joy when I see an instant message pop-up on my phone screen. I do not think it makes a difference whether it is a meaningful conversation or pure gossip. There is something very gratifying in receiving a response almost instantly. When I think a little more about this feeling […]
Jo Habben: Reducing pressure damage is everybody’s business
Pressure damage isn’t new, Florence Nightingale herself identified that in some circumstances pressure ulcers could be attributed to deficits in nursing care. We have known about pressure damage for a long time, and although we have learned an awful lot about how to prevent and treat it, we still have a long way to go […]
The BMJ Today: Are conflicts of interest in medicine so bad?
• The NEJM has been wondering if conflicts of interest in medicine are really so bad? In a blistering essay, Robert Steinbrook, Jerome Kassirer, and Marcia Angell, former senior editors for the NEJM call the series of articles “A seriously flawed and inflammatory attack.” • The BMJ has a blanket moratorium on conflicts of interest […]
Marika Davies: Virtual ethics—could 3D avatars help prepare doctors to deal with ethical dilemmas?
The news that virtual reality is making a comeback is likely to meet with a mixed reception in the world of medical education. Concerns were recently raised that simulation should be used less in medical education, and that medical schools “have vastly overused and abused the technologies of the unreal.” But the use of immersive […]