“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. Are men at higher risk than women of developing recurrence of venous thromboembolism? Do active and passive smoking increase the risk […]
Harriet Vickers: Is self-help making anyone any happier?
How to be happier? It’s a constantly pertinent question. Aristotle was occupied with it nearly 2400 years ago, and the UK prime minister David Cameron is today, as he plans to replace GDP with happiness as the UK’s primary progress indicator. […]
David Kerr: Oscar season
Last Sunday it seemed like the whole of Silicon Valley stopped work to watch the Oscars (on-line of course) otherwise known as the 83rd Academy Awards. Overall, the impression was that it was a pretty limp affair with only one F-word, robotic presenters, and bland acceptance speeches. The botoxed fashionistas were particularly scathing about the […]
Ian and Tom Roberts: Do not go gently – two plays on climate change
(IR) Although I cannot be certain, I suspect that humans are unique amongst animals in the ability to contemplate their own death. We all know that death is waiting. We might rage against the dying of the light but we know that the darkness will win. We scrutinize death solemnly and earnestly as we would […]
Tony Delamothe: TED Day One: The Return of the Human
The night before the TED conference began, “The King’s Speech” beat “The Social Network,” four Oscars to three. A friend with a stake in the outcome had argued that a story revolving around 21st century technology (Facebook) should have had an advantage over a story revolving around a 20th century one (radio). […]
Retelling the asylums. Harriet Vickers on “The Knitting Circle”
Years of experiences and memories have gone into Julie McNamara’s play The Knitting Circle. Examining the long stay hospitals of the 80s and 90s, through the lives of patients and healthcare workers who inhabited them, the piece takes us through the transition from institution to community care. McNamara is still working on the play, it’s […]
Muir Gray: Bye Bye Quality
The nasal tones of the Everly Brothers, “Bye Bye Love, Hello Loneliness” are very familiar to people who were young in the fifties and healthcare now faces a similar paradigm shift from quality to value — Bye Bye Quality, Hello Value. The debate is sharpest in the United States because healthcare is the battleground of that republic. There are […]
Tiago Villanueva: GPs are specialists too
In Portugal, general practitioners (GPs) are considered “specialists,” as general practice/family medicine is considered a specialty like any other hospital specialty. This is also the case in many other European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) countries. If there’s a more satisfying moment than qualifying from medical school, it must be finishing specialist training. Becoming a “specialist” […]
Andrew Burd: Naughty editor, bad editor
I have been the human guardian of both cats and dogs over the years. I cannot call myself either a cat person or a dog person. They have such different personalities. Cats are free spirits but are also wonderfully self-indulgent and will be happily stroked for hours. Dogs are more keen on activity and many […]
Mervyn Dean on power cuts in a hospital
The power went off about 40 minutes ago. It wasn’t an unexpected happening. I was told when I arrived here that power outages are scheduled for during the day on Thursdays, and during the evenings on Fridays. I wasn’t told that there would be random power outages of varying durations at other times. Usually the […]