Bright New Beginnings For me, one of the most emotionally taxing thing about the SARS-CoV2 pandemic infection control precautions in the challenges at the start and end of life. To be the parent of a child who dies at this time must bear additional agonies, and the joy of a new birth may be tempered […]
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In pandemics, clear thinking (and explanations) matter even more
There’s been a flurry of interest about non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAIDs) drugs like ibuprofen and the new coronavirus recently. The UK medicine’s safety authority have been clear that there is no good evidence of a link between severe COVID19 disease and NSAIDs, but that this isn’t a lot of evidence. When there’s not much data of […]
Quarantine, ‘stir-crazy’ and what can we do?
In case you’d missed it, there’s a global pandemic of a novel coronavirus in early 2020 and various governments and organisations are suggesting a variety of things. Much of it revolves around staying away from other people; colloquially ‘quarantine’. There’s actually something much subtler going on, as well, but much of it has the same […]
Worries can be worrying
The novel #coronavirus and the #HCID response are leaving many of us, healthcare professionals, anxious and uncertain. The families we look after are almost certainly feeling this MUCH worse than we are, particularly those with children who have chronic, immune altering states. I’m an oncologist, and have been working to explain, support and assure the […]
#HCIDresponse
High Consequence Infectious Diseases do sound terribly administrative, don’t they? Not as headline grabbing as PANDEMIC or OUTBREAK but calmly checkboxy and quizzical. We blogged previously on the novel coronavirus SARS-Cov-2 / COVID19 and promised some thoughts on how we, child health specialists, should respond to this situation. One thing which keeps being unnerving and […]
Emerging infectious diseases and children
We are in the grip of a pandemic and, to some extent, a global panic. A novel coronavirus first identified in Wuhan City, China in December 2019 has been identified around the world, and a global public health response has been activated. Other blogs, sites and journals are tracking and reporting on the explosion of […]
Words matter
We’re pretty much fans of being clear when we discuss evidence based practice, clinical things and research topics. Being understood, sharing meanings and having a consistent view is hugely important, and we keep being told (and although silently questioning the methodologies, believe it to be true) that the majority of complaints are about failures of […]
As good as you’ve got
Non-inferiority is an annoying phrase. Mostly because it’s got the feel of a double-negative about it, but also because it’s frequently quite a confusing thing to prove. There are an increasing number of clinical trials which are designed not to show SuperDrugOmab is better than Olde Elixir, but just that it’s not worse. […]
What’s not being said?
Now and then you’ll be looking at research and thinking “that’s interesting” .. or “we should do that” .. but perhaps there’s a nagging doubt in the back of your brain. I would encourage you to listen to that voice. And reflect. What isn’t this research telling me? What’s not being said? Go and look […]
Uncertainty, imprecision, and unknowing
Now it might not be quite the right way of describing the challenges in communicating what we don’t know, but I find we can often tie ourselves up in knots when it comes to explaining our lack of knowledge about an effect or prognosis. Take a child with a new diagnosis of metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma. We […]