I had a hernia repair recently, but the day turned out to be one of the pleasantest I’ve had in a long time. Can that really be true? Oddly, I looked forward to the day. It was partly the thought of being “made whole,” partly it being a different day from the normal, and partly […]
As the seasons shift here in the UK to embrace autumn, more people will seek advice for coughs, sore throats, and hoarseness, but are you up to date on laryngitis? In their clinical review, an Australian ENT team present the diagnostic challenge of this condition, outlining the red flag symptoms to prompt investigation for malignancy—very […]
An oncologist from Tulcea, a city 280 kilometres east of Romanian capital Bucharest, returned to work one week into his retirement because there was no other specialist to care for his 4000 patients. In Maramureș, a Romanian county on the northern border with Ukraine, an anaesthesiologist has to commute between two towns so that emergency […]
The new cases of Ebola virus disease reported in Spain and the United States in recent days have reminded healthcare workers around the world to be vigilant for the infection. Several weeks ago, we spoke to Nick Beeching, senior lecturer and consultant in infectious disease at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, about the UK’s […]
NEJM 9 October 2014 Vol 371 1381 With blood transfusion, it seems that less is usually better. This has been shown in renal patients and palliative care, and is now reconfirmed in septic shock. Fifteen years ago, the Canadian Critical Care Trial Group study showed that transfusing critically ill patients at threshold of 10 G/dl […]
The role of UK medical professionals overseas often captivates the public, especially when there are dramatic scenes and mass suffering. There is something about war zones and huge natural disasters which especially capture the imagination and interest. But why? Is it the indiscriminate destruction of innocent life, the number of casualties, or the danger to […]
When people think about medical humanitarian aid, the usual association is with war zones and natural disasters, and the assumption is that the most critical medical needs are concentrated in the world’s poorest countries. That’s mostly right, but not entirely. While the needs of low income countries remain huge, there are large—and growing—populations excluded from […]
Climate change, an ageing and growing global population, and depleting planetary resources are well established issues. There is a call for urgent action, especially in healthcare. The NHS has been scrutinised for being a major contributor to the national carbon footprint. Health services globally need to act more sustainably to maintain the world we live […]
For those who like “journalology,” today’s The BMJ has many of the ingredients for a rich case study. The latest published letters to the editor are dominated by those taking issue with a previously published research paper. The paper at issue—published this June and authored by Lu and colleagues—probed whether the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) 2003-04 […]
On 9 October, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) announced the details of its new inspection regime for care homes, after a lengthy consultation and evidence gathering process. The proposals amount to a step change in the depth, breadth, and consistency of inspections. They attempt to move away from superficial visits, focussing on minimum compliance standards and […]