Healthcare has become a victim of its own success, with more patients being treated than ever before, and more patients surviving for long periods with multiple comorbidities. This has put […]
Month: December 2018
Medical professionalism: a key to a better health system and more satisfied doctors
I wonder how many medical students and doctors could confidently define “medical professionalism.” Few, I suspect. Indeed, I don’t think that I could have done until I spent two months […]
Crying “nanny state” is a way of crushing sensible public discussion
Political slurs and simplistic slogans are damaging democratic discourse and policy making. In place of open and clear debate, we see unfounded assertions, innuendo, and smears. Influential—and often wealthy—elites (they […]
Rachel Clarke: Why Matt Hancock’s promotion of Babylon worries doctors
Is there anything more worrying in healthcare than a zealot? Sweeping, soaring visionaries who refuse to be held back by boring niceties like evidence? Health secretary Matt Hancock is an […]
Sarah Markham: Dealing with iatrogenic harm in mental health
When the prime minister Theresa May commissioned the current independent review of the Mental Health Act (MHA), she committed to dealing with “the burning injustice of mental illness.” One aspect […]
Matt Morgan: Buying toilet rolls and writing rotas—is this really the best use of clinicians’ time?
Quality improvement schemes have so far been aimed at solving clinical and logistical problems, but have forgotten about the most important asset—staff […]
Alex Nowbar’s weekly research reviews—3 December 2018
Alex Nowbar reviews the latest research from the top medical journals […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Digits
In my hundredth contribution under the “When I Use a Word” heading, I discussed powers of ten and official and unofficial SI (Système Internationale) prefixes used to denote thousand-fold divisions […]