“Making geography history,” “making distance meaningless,” “a hospital in your pocket,” “cost effective, need based healthcare for everyone, anytime, anywhere,” are all hyperbole—fertile imagination working overtime and hype. But is […]
Month: November 2013
Tiago Villanueva: What have I learnt from dealing with an in-flight medical emergency?
Recently I was confronted with a medical emergency on board a short haul to Europe. The problem was a case of syncope, which is the most common in-flight medical emergency. […]
Alice James: Tackling tobacco temptation—why we need to target children
The most effective way we can reduce the global burden of smoking is to target young people. During the debate on standardised packaging of tobacco products, an initiative which has […]
Jen Gunter: Why the recent abortion law in Texas has nothing to do with patient safety
The US Supreme Court recently ruled in a 5:4 decision against an emergency application to stop a Texas law that requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at […]
Navjoyt Ladher on the success of the #hellomynameis campaign
“I’m going to start a ‘Hello. My name is…’ campaign. Sent Chris home to design the logo… #hellomynameis” Kate Granger sent that tweet on the 31 August 2013 during a […]
Tessa Richards: Leadership matters—lessons from Lithuania
At this year’s European Health Forum Gastein, the wannabe Davos for health, a call went out for “stronger leadership on health.” Europe needs health ministers who can advocate to protect […]
Nick Fahy: Is spending money on health an investment or a cost?
In these times of financial austerity, can we convince governments that spending money on health is an investment, not a cost? This was the aim of a conference on 19 […]
Philip Wilson: 10 years of change in medicine
BMJ Learning is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, and we wanted to do something special to mark the occasion. As we talked over ideas, we kept coming back to […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—25 November 2013
NEJM 21 Nov 2013 Vol 369 1981 “The 2011 outbreak in China showed that poliomyelitis-free countries remain at risk for outbreaks while the poliovirus circulates anywhere in the world. Global […]
Richard Smith: Why do doctors make great tyrants?
Simon Sebag Montefiore, the son of a doctor, recently argued that doctors make highly effective tyrants. Is he right and if he is why might it be? His article was […]