In response to the details of catastrophic failures in Mid Staffordshire NHS trust, David Cameron recently suggested that nurses’ pay should be dependent on their compassion. The idea that we should reinforce compassion in healthcare is seldom questioned, even if the means by which we attempt this is sometimes disputed. However, I suggest that the […]
Paul Glasziou: Of parachutes, nasal peas, and RCTs
Deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease is a remarkable therapy. Over lunch a colleague recently described how it transformed her life: from slow shaky dysfunctional movement to almost normal. It is one of those small cadres of treatments that does not need randomized trial evidence to know it works: turn off the stimulator and the […]
Saleyha Ahsan: No child is safe in Syria today
Away from my comfort zone working as an emergency medicine doctor in London, I have been working in a hospital in northern Syria with the charity Hand in Hand for Syria, and being followed by a BBC Panorama team. Recently on a rare quiet afternoon I was sitting on the hospital balcony overlooking the olive […]
Kavin Andi: Pioneering the use of 3-D computer imagery to rebuild patients’ faces
Some of us are driven by personal conviction about our career choice while others succumb to the subtle and not to subtle influence of peer pressure or well meaning parents. I have a childhood encounter with a lamp post to thank for setting me on the road to becoming a surgeon, when I lost a […]
Richard Smith: “I’m the minister of health in a poor country”
I’m the minister of health in a poor country. Until last year I was a urologist. I was the president’s urologist and took out his prostate. To be honest, I don’t think it needed to come out, but he insisted. You don’t resist the president. He was delighted with the result and rewarded me by […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—30 September 2013
NEJM 26 Sep 2013 Vol 369 1195 Gosh, I feel vulnerable. The opening paper in this week’s New England Journal is about sources of C difficile infection in “healthcare settings or in the community in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.” Will I be named and shamed? A few weeks ago I received a message of gentle reproof […]
Sheila Hollins: BMA Medical Book Awards
This year’s BMA Medical Book Awards were a great success, portraying the high standard and wide-range of medical literature available and recognising the talent of the individual winners. 641 excellent entries fought for the title Medical Book of the Year, leaving the judges with an incredibly difficult decision, but after careful consideration it was clear that […]
Simon Chapman: Publishing horror stories: Time to euthanase paper based journals?
Every researcher has exasperating stories of the glacial pace of research publication. But as a former research journal editor of 17 years, I know that researchers’ ideas on what constitutes “glacial” varies enormously. I’ve received “hurry up” letters from authors a week or so after submission, and have often played a game with other editors […]
Nell Crowden: More bravery needed among academics
The Clean Med Europe 2013 conference, , organised by the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare and Healthcare Without Harm, was much what I expected: buzzy conversation with brilliant contacts, inspiring speakers on both familiar themes and then some pretty snazzy innovation too—plus beautiful Oxford settings to top it all. One conversation (names will not be revealed) […]
Jane Parry: Heads: Hong Kong babies lose. Tails: the formula companies win
It’s been a busy couple of years in Hong Kong for the international baby formula companies. As soon as the Department of Health announced it had set up a Taskforce on Hong Kong Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes in June 2010, the industry quickly mobilized to get ahead of any potential for their self-interests […]