“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: How to turn around a failing hospital
England is said to have 30 hospitals that are failing so badly that they may be taken over by the private sector. So there might be a lot of interest in a case study posted this week on the Health Foundation website that describes how a major academic hospital in Boston was saved from failure. […]
Martin McShane: Climate change
The King’s Fund paper “How cold will it be?” published in July 2009, discussed three financial scenarios for the NHS. The toughest was a 2% reduction in funding for 3 consecutive years. Of course that hasn’t happened, has it? The comprehensive spending review protected the NHS with a 0.1% increase, an option described in the […]
Julian Sheather: Is happiness a mental disorder?
Although undoubtedly a fine publication, I think it is probably fair to say that it is not every day that the Journal of Medical Ethics puts in an appearance in a major work of contemporary fiction. Imagine my delight then, mid-way through Philip Roth’s torrential late novel Sabbath’s Theater, when the following appeared, attributed to […]
Emily Arthurs: Five year survival
Having gone through a tough five years, following on from a previous four year science degree, I was all set to finally finish being a student. With nine years of study under my belt I was ready to step outside the university and into the real world. My FY1 placement was organised; I had my […]
Daniel Palazuelos: Grassroots fertiliser
Community participation has had many forms. One of the easiest to recognise is how communities have been involved in the provision of health care. Examples run the spectrum from representation on hospital advisory boards to community activity at all levels, including the direct provision of care.[1] […]
Jason Warriner: A true partnership – learning as much as teaching
I have volunteered for CHIVA Africa since 2005 and have seen many changes take place with the rollout of antiretrovirals (ARVs) in KwaZulu Natal (KZN). When I compare my early visits in 2005 with my current trips, the growth and impact of the programme are highly visible and new challenges arise all the time. […]
Chris Ham on general practice in Australia
If familiarity breeds contempt, then distance lends perspective. This much I learned – or remembered – on a recent visit to Australia. Invited to give the keynote address at the Australian General Practice Network National Forum 2010 in Perth, I was reminded of the strengths of general practice in the NHS. Registration with a practice, […]
Richard Smith: Now happiness is declared a disease
The number of diseases seems to be increasing dramatically with the arrival of conditions like social phobia, attention deficit disorder, chronic procrastination syndrome, and female sexual arousal disorder. Now this progression has reached its logical conclusion—with the proposal that happiness be classified as a disease. […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review – 8 November 2010
JAMA 3 Nov 2010 Vol 304 There is no suggestion in any of the numerous works of PG Wodehouse that Jeeves might have suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, and we may attribute this to the fact, attested by Bertie Wooster, that he wore a size 14 hat and ate tons of fish. But whereas there is […]