“Research highlights” is a weekly round-up of research papers appearing in the print BMJ. We start off with this week’s research questions, before providing more detail on some individual research papers and accompanying articles. […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Nurses’ and doctors’ caring skills
Too many new nurses are “simply not up to the mark” said Peter Carter, chief executive of the Royal College of Nurses, quoted on the front page of the Times 22.9.11. They “arrive in hospital incapable of caring for patients because they have spent too much time in the classroom and not enough on the […]
Julian Sheather: Making health decisions in advance – how best to avoid your worst nightmare?
On coming into force, the Mental Capacity Act (MCA), by deftly drawing together common law and permitting, via new powers of attorney, the nomination of substitute health decision makers, looked set to move practice in anticipatory decision making into a new era. The MCA is certainly a good act. It is supported by principles, focuses […]
Jeremy Sare: Liberal Democrats-fighting the fear of talking about drugs
A British party of government has just agreed, almost with unanimity, to policies that would shred many of our drug laws. Perhaps you didn’t notice. You may have already guessed it was not the Conservatives. Most of the media did not even report it, or mentioned it only in a somewhat “eyes-rolling upwards” manner, as […]
Stephen Ginn: The future of academic publishing
The first salvo in the Guardian’s recently published series of articles on academic publishing was delivered by veteran agitator George Monbiot. Journals publish government funded research, written and often edited for free by academics says Monbiot. “But to see it, we must pay again, and through the nose,” he says. The monopolist practices of academic publishers […]
Richard Smith: UN meeting on NCDs – day two
Tuesday 20 September. Day two 7.10 Traffic is gridlocked near the UN building because so many streets are shut. Obama hits the UN today—not unfortunately the NCD meeting. […]
Richard Smith: A diary of the UN meeting
Monday 19 September. Day one 7.10 I arrive at the junction of 47 Street East and 2nd Avenue to meet the Pepsico people who are holding a breakfast meeting in the UN dining room. I meet several cronies that I haven’t seen for a long while and reflect traitorously that global health is maybe like […]
Babatunde Osotimehin: Maternal healthcare in a Kenyan refugee camp
Seated on her bed at a maternity clinic in Dadaab refugee camp, Kenya, Daruno Abdi, a mother of six, watches other mothers breastfeed their newborns. She has been here for the past three days and can’t wait for her turn to deliver her baby. Daruno fled conflict and famine in her country Somalia. She never expected to […]
Vivienne Nathanson and Eleanor Chrispin: Bahrain on trial
One sad part of the so-called Arab Spring has been the detention and trial of a number of health workers in Bahrain. While 48 were arrested in March and April, 20 are accused of felonies, with their trial set to conclude on 29 September. What happens in the latter stages of the trial and the […]
Richard Smith: A diary of the UN meeting on NCDs
Saturday 17 September. Day minus two 17.20 Arrive in New York. A bigger queue than ever at immigration. Do they really want visitors? After an hour I reach the booth. “When were you in Pakistan?” “Just over a year ago.” “What do you do?” “I run a programme in developing countries working on heart disease […]