We’ve had magic bullets (q.v.) and holy grails (q.v.). Last autumn, another unobtainable appeared on The BMJ’s news pages: “Is Hunt’s plan to expand medical student numbers more than a […]
Month: January 2017
R N Karuga: “Building a resilient and responsive health system needs strong community support”
“Forget about these people in the national office,” said Maria (not her real name). “They are not in touch with reality!” Maria is a district health manager in Kenya. This […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Juniper
Milton Keynes was established as a “new town”, to relieve housing congestion in London, 50 years ago on 23 January 1967, an event that I did not think worthy of […]
A “Footprints” approach to patient experience and organisational development
Patients as educators [1] are vital for organisational development. Their narratives of patient experience can connect patients, users, and healthcare providers to their common humanity. The Francis report (2013) [2] […]
William Seligman: Trump’s inconsistent rhetoric on US healthcare policy
Donald J Trump is now the 45th president of the United States of America. I’ve just returned from a trip to the Middle East where everywhere I went I heard folks […]
Suzanne Gordon on soliciting input not just listening
Want to be a better physician or nurse leader? Enhance patient safety? Effectively lead teams? One of the current consultant prescriptions is the recommendation that leaders spend more time listening […]
Richard Smith: How do you produce social determinants that promote rather than undermine health?
Health, as we all know but are inclined to forget, is driven not by healthcare but by social determinants. But how do you produce social determinants that promote rather than […]
Kawaldip Sehmi: Patient centred regulation for transparent and equitable healthcare
The purpose of drug regulatory institutions should be to safeguard the best interests of the patient and to drive patient centred healthcare worldwide. Consequently, improving public awareness and providing information […]
Kieran Walsh: Finding your way back from the wrong diagnosis
A 40 year old man has a cough—but his GP cannot find out the cause. Eventually the patient is referred to the local hospital where he is diagnosed with asthma. […]
Richard Smith: Dumfries and Galloway NHS 3: Accident and Emergency—meeting targets but “hand to mouth”
Richard Smith visited and wrote about the NHS in Dumfries and Galloway in 1980, 1990, and 1999, and this series of blogs describes what he found in 2016. A feature […]