Helen Carnaghan’s transition from medical student to junior doctor

Over the past seven months my life has drastically changed having gone from a perpetual medical student to junior doctor in the blink of an eye. Looking back on the transition from a more settled position I can see the old adage of “don’t get sick in August” is a true reflection of the fears […]

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David Payne: BMJ in the news

Spectator blogger Melanie Phillips attracts lots of comments after flagging up a “big row” between the BMJ and Israel lobbying organisation Honest Reporting. The journal published five Israeli-themed articles last week, one of which concluded that Honest Reporting had targeted a hostile email campaign towards the BMJ five years ago. […]

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Julian Sheather on opening the data floodgates

The Coroners and Justice Bill is currently in Committee stage in the UK House of Commons. Section 152 of the Bill amends the Data Protection Act. It gives ministers of state the power to enable the sharing of any data that falls within their sphere of responsibility. It defines data sharing as both “the disclosure […]

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David Payne on charity knitting

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is a Canadian knitter who challenges people to think long and hard before they buy something over the course of a week. At the end of the week, during which you’ve hopefully resisted the temptation of capuccinos, theatre trips, jeans, shoes, meals out etc, you work out what you’ve saved and donate the […]

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William Lee: A question of proportionality?

On Wednesday 25th February Baroness Warnock spoke at the Maudsley Philosophy Group. Her topic was, ‘Assisted Dying: Should the law be changed?’. The Maudsley is a psychiatric hospital in south London which adjoins and collaborates with the Institute of Psychiatry. Baroness Warnock, now in her eighties, is an extraordinarily accomplished person. […]

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James Raftery on a greater role for industry in NICE’s cost per QALY?

In December 2008 the Department of Health in England published the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme.  It describes how  the scheme will operate for at least five years from 2009. The previous scheme was to run to 2010 but the UK government withdrew it in February 2008 following a critical report from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). […]

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Dr Harry’s netlines

The well known web site YouTube has amassed a reputation for containing a huge repository of video footage covering virtually every subject imaginable (and more). So it may come as no surprise that there are serious and educational videos to be found here. One video comes from the UK and covers cardiovascular examination. […]

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