Earlier this week I attended a lunch in an expensive London restaurant where a motley collection of people discussed what to do about binge drinking. Alcohol was served, but I felt duty bound to decline (and I was cycling). The lunch was sponsored by an alcohol company, and they must have been well pleased with […]
“See one, do one, teach one?” Gone are the days when medical students did what they were told, learnt what was on the syllabus, and spoke when spoken to. “See one, do one, teach one?” Not a chance. Instead, they conscientiously object. […]
JAMA 27 July 2011 Vol 306 The management of early invasive breast cancer has evolved gradually though improved understanding of its natural history together with improved deployment of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. We also now have better ways of detecting micrometastases in lymph nodes and bone marrow and this American study reports on their prognostic significance […]
The second meeting of the COMET (Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness Trials) Initiative (COMET-2) was held on 11-12 July 2011 in Bristol and was attended by more than 150 researchers and trialists, systematic reviewers, health service users, healthcare practitioners, journal editors, research funders, policy makers and regulators. […]
For the past two months I have been trying to find somebody to speak in in favour of mammography in a debate, but I have failed. Some six people have turned me down. Why, I wonder? […]
Sex and pensions do not comfortable bedfellows make, but I feel I must write something about this. While most of the current talk on UK pensions is about increased contributions and longer working lives, there is an actual scandal passing by barely reported.While I’m not a central pillar in the UK’s feminist movement I am […]
“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. […]
Back in May 2010 the professional executive committee and NHS Lincolnshire board agreed to delegate the management of the minor surgery local enhanced service to the practice based commissioning (PBC) Groups. A lot of discussion and analysis had taken place prior to this decision. Practices had said that the historical budget was insufficient to meet […]
The TV programme My big fat gypsy wedding made me cringe. We cared for a large community of travelling people for many years and I felt embarrassed on their behalf. Some traveller women I spoke to felt let down by these programmes. The cold documentary eye made the lavish weddings and extraordinary dresses look absurd. They […]
Last week the bmj.com poll asked “Should it be compulsory for adult cyclists to wear helmets?” 68% of respondents voted no, out of a total 1,439 votes cast. The question triggered an interesting debate. Below are a selection of the comments posted in response to the poll. Sven Felsby: The idea of forcing cyclists to […]