Patient advocacy was new to me when I joined Patients for Patient Safety Ireland (PFPSI) in 2015. It was established in 2013 by Margaret Murphy, External Lead Advisor at WHO for Patients For Patient Safety, and facilitated by the Health Services Executive (HSE) Advocacy Unit. My introduction to the group followed an external HSE review, […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Algorithms
Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī (ca 780-850; picture) was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and geographer who lived during the Caliphate of the Abbasids, a dynasty that ruled in Baghdad from 750 to 1258, one of whom, Caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd (ca 763-809), features prominently in the Tales of 1001 Nights. Al-Khwārizmī’s work has given us two mathematical […]
David Gilbert: Asking “What matters to you?”
Asking “What matters to you?” rather than “what’s the matter?” has become a clever bit of reframing within the health service, intended as a phrase to re-imagine the relationship between healthcare provider and those who use services. And to get us to focus on the real needs and wishes of those with health conditions. But […]
Philippa Whitford: How Scotland’s NHS took a cooperative approach to quality improvement
While the four UK health services face the same challenges—increased demand due to an ageing population, workforce shortages, and tight finances—they have diverged considerably since devolution and the Nuffield Trust has begun a series of reports considering the merits of each system. The first report, Learning from Scotland’s NHS, particularly highlighted NHS Scotland’s integrated structure […]
Salah Ibrahim Dongu’du: Too few organisations are responding to huge needs in war-torn Yemen
I recently completed my third humanitarian mission in Yemen with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). I arrived in April 2015, just after the war escalated and the bombing started. During most of my 20 months in the country I have been in Taiz managing MSF’s operations in the city during incessant fighting. The humanitarian needs are […]
Claire McDaniel and Daniel Marchalik: The future of genetics—how far is too far?
The Doctor’s Book Club Siddhartha Mukherjee—The Gene All is now secure and fast; Not the gods can shake the Past; Flies-to the adamantine door Bolted down forevermore. Ralph Waldo Emerson The Past The US Food and Drug Administration recently recommended the approval of a gene altering treatment for leukemia, which could be the first gene […]
Clare Gerada: Mental illness among doctors—it’s time to address systemic problems
Staff should receive the same compassion they give to their patients […]
Richard Smith: Humanity is dying—it’s time to switch to palliative care
We should accept that humanity is dying and switch from cure to palliation—just as wise patients do at the end of their lives. This is the core of an argument from Alex Jadad, a palliative care physician and magician, and Murray Enkin, a retired obstetrician in his 90s who has just survived a major heart attack […]
Gillian Leng: Do we trust the experts?
Avoiding conflicts of interest in a guideline committee is now recognised internationally as being one of the most important aspects of creating robust guidance. At NICE, we’ve reflected this in our evolving policy for managing potential conflicts, and have become more and more rigorous in our process for appointing people to committees. This is ever […]
Altaf Hussain and David Jenkins: Pellet gun injuries in Kashmir
The nature of civil conflicts and wars is changing, with civilian deaths far exceeding the number of military fatalities. [1] The effect of weapons on civilians is widespread in ways that pervade civilised society. In Kashmir, we are witnessing an epidemic of pellet gun injuries for the first time and at a scale previously unknown […]