NEJM 13 Mar 2014 Vol 370 1029 Doctors, by and large, make bad scientists. We train our minds for years in some of the hardest intellectual disciplines, and then make […]
Month: March 2014
The BMJ Today: Statins in the headlines again
Statins have been featuring in the news fairly regularly of late. Last week they made the headlines again when a systematic review of side effects in placebo-controlled trials of statins […]
Paul Wicks: Patients take centre stage at the 4th NHS Expo
This year’s NHS Health and Care Innovation Expo was held at the sympathetically converted former train station Manchester Central and felt more like a festival than a trade show. Volunteers […]
Simon Chapman on e-cigarettes: the best and the worst case scenarios for public health
Use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigs or Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems—ENDS) is showing exponential increase in some nations. Their regular use remains marginal in Australia, where the sale of nicotine liquid […]
Phil Koczan: Time to regain trust in care.data
Over the past few weeks we have seen a lot of media interest around NHS England’s plan to bring health information together under the banner of care.data, which will allow […]
The BMJ Today: One portion of broccoli and hummous to go
Do you ever stop off for a burger or a slice of pizza on your way home from work? And if the takeaway had organic broccoli spears and a hummous […]
Krishnan Ganapathy: Is a virtual rural healthcare service the answer for India?
Young doctors all over India breathed a sigh of relief when the Union Health Minister announced that the proposed year of rural service as a pre requisite for post graduate […]
Kiran Varadharajan: A junior surgical trainee’s perspective on surgical simulation
The European Working Time Directive (EWTD) has reduced the number of hours that trainee doctors have to hone their skills. As a junior surgical trainee, I find that time in […]
The BMJ Today: Surgery in a war zone
“Nothing else comes close to the enjoyment of being able to help people in a war zone,” says London based vascular surgeon David Nott in BMJ Confidential. For two decades […]
Robin E Moulder: The role of patient engagement in error prevention
Imagine being told you have a devastating illness, only to find out months later it was a mistake? Medical diagnostic errors are profoundly damaging to the patient, the clinician, and […]