What’s the mood among delegates on the eve of the UN summit on non-communicable diseases as they gather in hotel bars and the confusion of side events in New York City? Well, earlier in the day I went on a hike through Central Park with about 50 others in an event organised by the NCD […]
Richard Smith: Should there be easier access to new drugs?
There is increasing pressure for drug regulators to provide quicker access to new drugs. The pressure comes from doctors, patients, politicians, and the drug industry. What is likely to happen? Will patients get quicker access to new drugs? A month ago an oncologist proposed in the New England Journal of Medicine that oncologists should be able […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review – 19 September 2011
JAMA 14 Sep 2011 Vol 306 1089 In medicine, always expect the counterintuitive. For some time it has been known that removing more lymph nodes at the time of bowel cancer surgery is associated with better outcomes. This is nicely confirmed in this large cohort study – 86 394 patients, showing a one third reduction […]
David Kerr: The subject that dare not speak its name
Working in the NHS must sometimes feel like working for the United Nations. Whilst first impressions are that our own current team of overseas trainees are actually above average in terms of skill, knowledge, and communication, the General Medical Council are worried that some doctors from outside of the UK arrive here with “little or no […]
Domhnall MacAuley: 17th Wonca Europe Conference, Warsaw
A celebrated Polish pianist, Waldemar Malicki, opened the Wonca Europe conference. A masterful performance by a maestro. His improvisations were funny, fascinating, and faithful to the theme of the conference; science and art. He drew different emotions from the same melody- from humorous to heartbreaking, uplifting to depressing, and showed how music tells a story […]
Research highlights – 15 September 2011
“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. […]
Richard Smith: Improving dementia care
The recent meeting of the Cambridge Health Network on dementia swung between pessimism and optimism, reflecting perhaps the national feeling. Dementia, said several speakers, is where cancer was 30 years ago and HIV 20 years ago: feared, not talked about, neglected, and thought untreatable. But there’s every reason why the same progress can be made […]
Gaurav Gulsin, Sachin Gupta, Mostafa El Dafrawi: Read it and weep
In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on keeping up to date with the current scientific literature. To practise evidence based medicine, we have to constantly read and appraise medical journals, and implement (or disregard) their teachings into our everyday work. This means that students and clinicians alike are required to read more […]
Martin Carroll: Time is running out to achieve the Millennium Development Goals
To many observers in 2000, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) seemed to herald a new era in efforts to improve the lives of those living with poverty, disease, and hunger. A historic agreement between all 193 United Nations member states, the MDGs pledged to overcome the obstacles to human development in the 21st century, which […]
Stephen Ginn: Living in emergency
The RSM’s Global health and human rights film club launched on 8 September 2011 with a screening of director Mark Hopkins’ Living in Emergency. Filmed in the war zones of Liberia and Congo it follows four volunteer doctors providing emergency care under the aegis of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The film’s urgent title is borne out […]