Relationships are at the heart of medical practice. These relationships are built on trust and shared clinical, academic, personal, or economic goals. Two articles just published on thebmj.com explore ways to strengthen these relationships at the two ends of the spectrum of clinical practice: the clinical relationship between a doctor and his (the author is a man) […]
Kate Iorpenda: Adolescents are slipping through the cracks in HIV services
This year there has been considerable attention on adolescents and HIV, not least because of the World Health Organization’s “Health for the world’s adolescents” report, which highlighted how HIV is claiming the lives of so many young people globally. This is particularly true in Africa, where AIDS related illnesses are the biggest killer of adolescents. […]
Lawrence Haddad: Do we really need a nutrition data revolution?
The just released Global Nutrition Report makes the case for a “nutrition data revolution.” Data collection, storage, and analysis costs money—so why do we need to invest in it? Consider a few facts from the report: 1. Forty nine per cent of 193 countries lack the data to be able to track if they are […]
Gill Morgan: NHS Providers’ programme for the next parliament
It’s rare for the NHS to be out of the headlines. From immediate winter pressures to the longer term challenges of promoting wellness and preventing illness, there is a continuous national conversation about the NHS. Like the weather, everyone has a strong opinion on our prized national institution. The NHS is, as Professor Don Berwick […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—1 December 2014
NEJM 27 November 2014 Vol 371 2061 Antoine Bernard-Jean Marfan (1858-1942) was a French paediatrician who lived in the happy era of medicine when you could affix your name to new signs, symptoms, laws, and syndromes, and Marfan bagged at least one of each for himself. But, ironically, his name is immortalised by a syndrome […]
The BMJ Today: Unravelling the notion of informed patient choice
“Doctor, what would you do in my shoes?” This simple plea for advice from a patient may stump many a doctor. Involving patients in decisions about their care is increasingly regarded as the sine qua non of medical practice. Anna Mead Robson cautions, however, “that by continuing to champion patient choice at the expense of […]
Corinna Hawkes: ICN2—a starting point for preventing malnutrition in all its forms?
It was pouring with rain when I arrived on a delayed flight to Rome for the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2), which was organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). But I was glad to have arrived at last. ICN2 had been a long time coming. Postponed […]
Global Health Film initiative: Cold Chain Mission—providing immunisation in the world’s toughest places
“Immunisation is the intervention that reaches more children than any other intervention on earth.” Those were the powerful words of Seth Berkley—chief executive of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, which is instrumental in increasing vaccine access to children in some of the world’s poorest and hardest to reach areas—said last month at an event at the London School […]
The BMJ Today: Are GPs really “overpaid?”
With the mainstream media claiming that GPs are overpaid, whinging, and earning up to £200 000, and the specialist press claiming that practices around the country are closing owing to cuts, it is difficult to get a clear picture of what state UK general practice is really in. Writing in this week’s The BMJ, the King’s […]
William Cayley: Thanks for what?
This has been quite a year . . . but then again, what year is not? Each passing year seems to bring a fresh crop of challenges, crises, obstacles, and frustrations. Being a doctor or, perhaps especially, being a GP is not what it used to be. It’s sometimes hard to tell whether medicine is […]