The first time I read Richard Benson’s book on how to get an F in your exams, I was seriously worried about the future of civilization. When asked for an explanation of the term “hard water,” one student answered “ice.” When asked what natural selection meant, one student wrote that it meant that “the two […]
Richard Lehman reviews the latest research in the top medical journals […]
Last week I discussed the use of the word “de-adoption” in the title of a paper recently published in The BMJ: “De-adoption and exnovation in the use of carotid revascularisation”. I analysed “de-adoption” and suggested that “disinvestment” was a preferable term—well established, more commonly used, and more relevant. Here I analyse the neologism “exnovation”. Searching […]
It’s a topsy, turvy world—Phil Hammond delivered his autumn budget, the first after the general election, and announced some of the starkest economic news for years. Ten years after the financial crisis the annual average rate of productivity growth for the last decade was the lowest since the Napoleonic war. The government’s official economic forecaster—the […]
Patient inclusion is rightly becoming more accepted, but a doctor’s opinion is often valued […]
While Quality Improvement (QI) is enjoying a surge in popularity in health services, it can also suffer from an image problem. I’ve been told that it’s a fad, a management trend, and not evidenced based. I generally don’t quite get what these objections are about. Often in medicine when we come up against problems, these […]
There is a notice board close to the entrance of our ward. Patients and their families, as well as medical staff, use it to express caring messages to each other, and wishes and hopes for their health by posting notes on the board. The notes are warm and touching: “I hope you get better soon, […]
Treating violence as a health issue seems to work, so why aren’t we embracing this tactic? […]
The launch of GP at Hand has triggered a mass of Twitter activity, much of which has focused on how much to pay for this tech-driven new service, given that GP at Hand suggest, at the NHS’s request, that a variety of patient groups with complex needs may be less appropriate for this service. There […]
On 24 June 2017, the 24-floor Grenfell Tower, a social housing block in west London, was destroyed by a fire. Months later, its former residents are still having to deal with the consequences. Some are still living in hotels as they are waiting for new accommodation. Others are going through emotional turmoil as they attend […]