A palindrome reads the same backwards as forwards, from the Greek παλίνδρομος, recurring or running back again, a compound of παλίν, back, and δρόμος, a course or racetrack. Other words that start with palin- include palingenesis (regeneration, rebirth, revival, resuscitation), palinode (originally an ode or song in which the poet retracted a view or sentiment […]
Richard Smith: Rethinking the publication of surgical innovations
A scandal in cardiothoracic research has led Martin Elliott, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Great Ormond Street, to conclude that current methods of publishing surgical innovations are not only inadequate but also shameful. In a Gresham lecture in London recently he presented proposals for improving the sharing of surgical innovations. The scandal The scandal, which is […]
Ramya Madhireddi: The underestimated burden of NTDs in India
Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a diverse group of conditions that affect more than a billion people worldwide. With India bearing one of the heaviest burdens of NTDs in the world (58% of leprosy cases, 40% of lymphatic filariasis cases, and 34% of cases of dengue fever), it needs to give them their due share […]
Helen Wood: End of life care and intracranial haemorrhage
As a care of the elderly registrar currently working in a district general hospital, I am very familiar with the following story, and it is likely to be recognised by others who take part in the on-call medical take, as well as those who work in accident and emergency, neurosurgery, and palliative medicine. It is […]
Nick Hopkinson: Air quality—what’s the point of warnings?
The Thames is wreathed in smog—the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, issues an air quality alert and announces a new system of air quality warnings. There will be road-side dot matrix message signs on the busiest main roads into London, with instructions to switch engines off when stationary to reduce emissions. Air quality messages will […]
Sarah Radcliffe: A future NHS that meets the needs of people living with HIV
What does it mean to describe HIV as a long-term condition (LTC)? It has become common terminology in policy and media discussions, but the use of this phrase within NHS commissioning can still make some people living with HIV and some specialist clinicians uneasy. The unease stems mainly from the concern that calling HIV a […]
Amy Webster: Engaging trainees in quality improvement
NHS improvement has recently published a document entitled “Developing people—improving care.” [1] This outlines a framework to guide action on developing leadership in the NHS, with a focus on delivering improvement. The framework outlines five conditions common to high quality systems that “interact to produce a culture of continuous learning and improvement.” I read with […]
William Cayley: Comprehensiveness, diversity, and primary care
As medicine continues to grow in complexity and diversity, it is fair to ponder what roles may be best suited for the medical workforce of the future. A recent opinion piece argued that since we have no models permitting “any single physician to simultaneously and effectively serve the many patient subpopulations that exist,” we need […]
Niro Kumar: Doctors and dating apps
Shift patterns and long hours have detrimental effects on doctors’ social and romantic lives. While dating other medics solves this conundrum for some, many junior (and senior) doctors still prefer dating outside the profession. Around the world 91 million people use dating apps and websites. This provides a network of non-medics for social interaction and […]
Matthew Harris: Is this Brazil’s healthcare “Brexit” moment?
I spoke at the Pan-American Health Organization symposium in Brasilia on the 11 November to senior officials from the Ministry of Health. The symposium was to guide and shape the Ministry of Health’s next National Primary Care Strategy, but there was talk of a real threat to the primary care system being dismantled, slowly and insidiously. […]