The publication of a summary of the benefits and harms of breast cancer screening in the Lancet, with the full report to follow, raises the question of whether referring this […]
Month: November 2012
Desmond O’Neill: The location of Ireland’s new national children’s hospital
One of the hottest topics in Irish medical politics finally came to a head this week with the announcement of the location of the new national childrens’ hospital, amalgamating the […]
Marge Berer and Lisa Hallgarten: Sacrificing the good for the perfect
Post partum haemorrhage (PPH) is one of the leading causes of maternal deaths. According to WHO estimates, in 2010 there were 287,000 maternal deaths, 25% of which were associated with […]
David Payne: Listening to our readers and authors
A year ago today the BMJ’s new website went live. We launched with an explanatory video and a dedicated email address for you, our readers, to provide feedback. This blog is […]
Edward Davies: The American Heart Association and why the world needs journals
You would sometimes be forgiven for thinking that we are now living in the last days of the traditional medical journal. Everything from payment models, to access, and even peer […]
Jennifer McAughey, Sarah Walpole, and Merav Kliner: When generics are more expensive than trade name drugs
Over the last few decades we have become used to the questionable practices of drug companies when profits are at stake. Recent reports on the actions […]
Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch: An opportunity for EU member states to save money and lives
In the coming months, officials will sign the next EU drugs strategy providing a drug policy framework for EU institutions and member states. Past drug strategies have called for a […]
Muir Gray: Choosing criteria for systems of care
Read the rest of this series of blogs about designing and planning population based systems of care here. Step 4: Choosing criteria Choosing criteria is a more time consuming process […]
Gabriel Scally: Sweet black angel
Back in my early days as a radical medical student (a small, select group in the Belfast of the early 1970s) one of the international figures I admired greatly was […]
Paul Glasziou: Should we abandon the term “hypertension?”
Disease labels have an aura of authority and permanence. But definitions can drift considerably over time changing who is and is not classified as “diseased.” For hypertension, Greene [1] has […]