The ruling by three of the most senior judges in England and Wales that Theresa May must seek the approval of Parliament before triggering Article 50, signifying the United Kingdom’s (UK) intention to leave the European Union (EU), should not have come as any great surprise. Throughout the case, the Lord Chief Justice repeatedly expressed […]
Richard Smith: The optimal peer review system?
Peer review is faith not evidence based, but most scientists believe in it as some people believe in the Loch Ness monster. Research into peer review has mostly failed to show benefit but has shown a substantial downside (slow, expensive, largely a lottery, wasteful of scientific time, fails to detect most errors, rejects the truly […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—7 November 2016
NEJM 3 Nov 2016 Vol 375 Tolerating uncertainty “At once it struck me what quality went to form a Man of Achievement . . . when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.” John Keats, December 1817 This quotation heads a wonderful short essay […]
Paul Buchanan: Overwhelmed
Feeling overwhelmed. Sometimes that’s what being a patient is all about. Consultations, appointments, tests, results, advice, and therapy “choices”—what on earth am I meant to do? I’m not sure I even know what I’m being asked half of the time. At home, at work, at school—not depressed, not unhappy, not fed up, just overwhelmed. Overwhelmed […]
Why the RCPCH should stop taking funds from the Baby Food Industry
By Tony Waterston and Elizabeth Mason. A collective sigh of relief could be heard from many paediatric associations around the world, after the RCPCH made known its decision to accept funding from the Baby Food Industry. There need be no self examination of the sponsorship of conference travel, educational courses, ITU equipment, gifts of all […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Choleric
The third of Galen’s four fluid humours of the body, χολή, [yellow] bile, was associated, when in supposed excess, with a choleric temperament, “disposed to anger or easily angered; hot-tempered, fiery; bad-tempered, irascible; irritable, cantankerous” (OED). This couldn’t be more different from the phlegmatic temperament, “not easily excited to feeling or action; stolidly calm, self-possessed, […]
Mary-Ellen Lynall: Translating new advances in neuroscience into psychiatric care
The popular press and scientific journals are littered with exciting advances in basic and clinical neuroscience. But what does this mean for psychiatry, and for psychiatric training? Current trainees will one day prescribe new and better treatments that have grown out of a deeper understanding of brain function (or if not, I’ll be deeply concerned). But […]
Visa headaches and inequalities in attending global health conferences
Faraz Khalid, Sara Ardila-Gómez, and Kerry Scott Enthusiastic preparations are underway for the Fourth Global Symposium on Health Systems Research, which is to be held in Vancouver on 14-18 November 2016. This year’s symposium will bring together over 2000 delegates from around the world. As part of the Emerging Voices for Global Health (EV4GH) program, we […]
Derek Mitchell: MyStoma—putting patients at the heart of service improvements
Some years ago I underwent major surgery for the removal of my inflamed colon. I had suffered from ulcerative colitis for too long and the time had come to make a change. I have now had my ileostomy for seven and a half years and my life is much better than it was before. As […]
Ahmed Rashid: Humanity as the bigger picture in medical education
Looking back at the kind of medical school environment that previous generations were exposed to, I often wonder what the clinical teaching must have looked like. Having graduated from medical school in 2009, I’ve spent my entire career being taught according to evidence-based medicine and clinical guidelines and it’s not easy to imagine what life […]