JAMA 10 July 2013 Vol 310 149 Fifteen years ago, JAMA was my favourite journal. Its covers were always beautiful, thanks to M Therese Southgate’s choice of paintings and works of art, and her short essays on each were unpretentious and delightful. The contents then were more clinically relevant than those of the Lancet or […]
The recent flash floods in the mountain state of Uttarakhand struck some of the most holy temples in the Himalayas. Pilgrims from all parts of the country were trapped in remote villages of the Himalayan districts. Early in the monsoon season, from the 14 June, there were incidents of flash floods and landslides in the […]
This week I attended a Health 2.0 London event on mobile sensors. The title of the event asked if they were key to remote patient monitoring. I think the answer is an obvious yes; without them it’s not going to be possible. But I’m not sure the event was asking the right question. For me, […]
Have you ever considered the accuracy and reliability of hospital death certification? Prior to my recent research project, I certainly hadn’t. Accurate certification is not only important for legalities sake, or for families in understanding the cause of death of their relative, but it is pivotal in determining public health initiatives and health service provision […]
There is a huge theoretical body of knowledge about the history of the novel, but almost nothing on the history of the medical case report. Gianna Pomata from Johns Hopkins University would like to change that and is writing a book on the history of the medical case report. Last week she gave a talk […]
Welcome to a series of blogs on sustainable healthcare that will look at health, sustainability, and the interplay between the two. The blog will share ideas from experts across the healthcare field, some of whom are speaking at a major European conference looking at Pathways to Sustainable Healthcare in September 2013. More about the conference […]
I’ve been doing some work recently with a GP trainer. I’m not a good judge of these things, but I would put him in his mid-fifties. He strikes me as the sort of committed, diligent, unassuming doctor who has helped form the backbone of post War British primary care. Committed to the NHS, possessed of […]
To be a home secretary is to become the embodiment of political contradiction. Last Tuesday, Theresa May announced to parliament a scaling back of “stop and search powers” given their highly disproportionate deployment against black and minority ethnic (BME) communities. “The official statistics show that if you’re from a black or minority ethnic background, you’re […]
JAMA 3 July 2013 Vol 310 46 If you identify people with poorly controlled blood pressure in primary care and introduce a system of intensive telemonitoring run by pharmacists according to a strict protocol, you are bound to get better BP control than if you leave it to “usual care.” But for each individual, the […]
It was 4 am in the emergency department (ER). An 83 year old woman had come into the ER after experiencing an episode of disorientation and shortness of breath earlier in the evening. The resident physician and I entered her room and he introduced himself to the patient. “Hello Ms Stanley, I’m Dr James.* I […]