In 1973 about 280 000 scientific articles were published, but there were no retractions. When I became an editor in 1979, retractions were rare and of little interest to anybody. Now we have moved to a point when somebody passionately objects to an article in a scientific journal they call for it to be retracted. […]
The Ebola virus is finally receiving attention after years of being ignored as just another deadly disease in Africa. Yet it was only when the current outbreak got out of control and threatened commercial and western interests that the story became news. I am hopeful that the epidemic will eventually come under control. While Ebola […]
NEJM 30 October 2014 Vol 371 1685 The treatment of childhood and adolescent cancer is territory that most of us don’t trespass on, but we’ll need to go there this week just to have something to read about. JAMA is taking a Halloween break and the others seem to be going into an end of year […]
Many thanks to consultant psychiatrist Geoff Searle for providing the headline for today’s BMJ Today, shamelessly stolen from his weekend rapid response to the essay about “flipping healthcare,” published last week by US authors Maureen Bisognano and Dan Schummers. Flipping, the authors argue, is the key to providing better care and lowering costs, shifting the power […]
We have just seen another report from a London based “think tank,” suggesting profound changes to the way the NHS works. These reports seem to turn up with annoying regularity and are often not written with any evidence base to support them, but they do seem to promote the views of organisations that donate vast […]
Social context and relationships may shape what drives our patients, but sometimes the best way to ponder these is on a drive! En route to a home visit today, I was met at the edge of town by a road crew doing last-minute sealing work before the onset of winter (despite what you may have […]
I had the opportunity to listen to a number of MPs explain how they think during the excellent Westminster experience organized by Cumberlege Eden & Partners as part of my NHS Executive Fast Track Programme. I took notes from the MPs—current and recent—whom we met. The session was targeted at senior people in the NHS, […]
When my patients with acute stroke develop a urinary tract infection, I often prescribe a course of co-trimoxazole (trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole). Many of these patients have hypertension and are also taking an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) or an angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB). Prior studies show that trimethoprim and renin-angiotensin system blockers can lead to hyperkalemia, particularly […]
Before being diagnosed with primary breast cancer myself, aged 49 in 2004, I would offer emotional support to women with this diagnosis, and arrogantly assume I understood pretty well what they were going through, at all stages—and my then clients were too polite to tell me to the contrary. Little did I know! Life on […]
Is “transformation” one of the most overused words in relation to the NHS and the issues it faces? Just last week, I heard a NHS deputy CEO joke that the word should be banned, and thought I’d happily join him! On the other-hand, “strategic development” is rarely mentioned. This is strange, as isn’t the NHS […]