Last month we saw two key messages come through regarding patient safety. The first was the publication of Sir Robert Francis’s “Freedom to Speak Up report.” The second was a report […]
Month: March 2015
Gender inequality given short shrift by India’s draft National Health Policy 2015
The Indian government’s draft National Health Policy 2015 is radical in terms of its analysis of the failures of the past. It fails, however, to translate this admission to policy […]
The economic value of patients in the improvement of healthcare
Despite a growing awareness of patients’ crucial part in contributing to healthcare, the ways by which this can be achieved are still limited. For patients’ innovative power to be efficiently […]
The BMJ Today: An ancient enemy, School-EduSalt, and “low value care”
TB. An ancient enemy getting stronger • BMJ is supporting the World Health Organization’s End TB strategy by highlighting World TB Day today and offering free access to TB papers and […]
Grania Brigden: Time for a jumpstart—accelerating access to new and promising DR-TB drugs
World TB Day is an opportunity to reflect on the progress that has been made in beating this ancient disease. At first glance, the news looks good: two new drugs—the […]
The BMJ Today: Regulator will hunt down apps that harm patients
Action to be taken against apps that harm patients A UK health regulator has issued a warning to makers of mobile medical apps that may harm patients. Speaking at a health […]
Richard Smith: “Flat of the curve” healthcare
Alain Enthoven, an economist and inventor of the internal market, described “flat of the curve” healthcare where increased expenditure on healthcare produces no further benefit. Are we at that point […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—23 March 2015
NEJM 19 Mar 2015 Vol 372 1093 “All bacteria will be susceptible to common cheap antibiotics by 2050” is not a headline you will see in any newspaper. But I’d […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Rough breathing
Exploring the English phonemes, I have reached the unvoiced labiodental fricative f. When consonantal shift changes p, the unvoiced bilabial plosive, into f, a breath becomes a sneeze, even though […]
Zackary Berger and Dave deBronkart: “Precision medicine” needs patient partnership
US President Obama recently presented the outlines of a US$215 million plan for “precision medicine” through support of research funded by the National Institutes of Health and National Cancer Institute. […]