It’s not just me who is annoyed about the presence of Bounty reps on NHS wards, who pay the NHS to be allowed access to give samples of products to new mothers—and who earn money from selling on parents names and addresses. I wrote in the BMJ that, “The lack of knowledge about what signing […]
Julian Sheather: On tweeting black medical humour
I was at a conference on doctors and social media recently, sharing a platform with the GMC. The organisers put up some darkly funny tweets by doctors at the ends of their tethers, usually fired off in the small hours. There were jokes at the expense of patients and juniors, managers and colleagues…The question for […]
Anita Jain on the Bangladesh factory collapse and corporate responsibility for worker safety
“A mother of two, her left arm amputated, she refuses to ever go near a sewing machine again.” In April this year, the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh collapsed killing over a 1000 people and injuring many more. Among poignant accounts of despair that emerged from the incident, I felt this woman’s situation reflected the […]
Fran Baum on economics and health at the WHO global health meeting
Fran Baum is blogging from the 8th World Health Organization Global Health meeting. Read her other blogs here. The day started with Cecilia Vaca Jones, the Minister of Social Development in Ecuador presenting some impressive indicators of Ecuador’s progress. They have tripled health and social spending between 2006 and 2012 with the aim of eradicating poverty. […]
William Cayley on the value of learning to practise in resource limited settings
“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” goes the saying. Recently I was bemoaning with a physician friend the ease with which learners often default to “expert” interpretation for imaging, rather than relying on or trusting their one x-ray interpretation in light of clinical judgment. As we shared back and forth our stories of radiologist […]
Jane Parry: Why real name HIV testing won’t fly in China
Two interesting documents that came across my desk this week got me thinking about how different HIV-related human rights look depending on where you’re standing. The first was a press release from UNAIDS, UNDP, and the International Commission of Jurists about the first ever judicial dialogue about HIV, human rights, and the law. The second […]
Fran Baum on the globalisation of unhealthy lifestyles
Fran Baum is blogging from the 8th World Health Organization Global Health meeting. Read her other blogs here. Sauli Ninistö, President of Finland, opened the conference stressing that health is important for achieving other goals, but also has value in its own right. He spoke of Finland’s huge improvements in health since the 1940s achieved […]
Sandra Lako on x-ray machines and emergency rooms in Sierra Leone
Today marks three years of working for Welbodi Partnership and it’s hard to believe that so much time has gone by. The last time I blogged, I wrote about getting more involved clinically. Well, that spell ended rather quickly, and before I knew it I was back to managing various projects. Managing projects might sound […]
Richard Vize: David Nicholson’s last speech to the NHS Confederation conference
Sir David Nicholson’s last speech to the annual NHS Confederation conference as the leader of the service reflected all the traits of his seven years in control. His passion, commitment, and drive were undeniable, but he failed to acknowledge mistakes which had undermined patient care, gave little time to the role of local clinical commissioners, […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—10 June 2013
JAMA 5 June 2013 Vol 309 2223 It’s nice to see some meaty stuff in JAMA this week: I was beginning to grow despondent. It’s true that we are expected to take an interest in the Association Between the MUC5B Promoter Polymorphism and Survival in Patients With Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis after this article, but first […]