Hypertension is the world’s leading cause of premature death, ahead even of tobacco and obesity, and most of those deaths occur in poor countries. Yet the health system in most […]
Columnists
David McCoy: Why nuclear disarmament would keep us safer
The 2017 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). It came as a surprise to many people who had not heard of […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Implementation
In various blogs that I have been writing in the last few months about translational research, algorithms, knowledge and its diffusion and dissemination, skills, performance, and competence, implementation has been […]
Matt Morgan: Medical notes are broken
Matt Morgan discusses how patient notes could be improved […]
Kieran Walsh: Class war—e-learning
In the early days of e-learning there was great enthusiasm, but little evidence of effectiveness. The enthusiasts said that they couldn’t wait for evidence and so went ahead anyway. When […]
Richard Smith: How we shun the mortally ill
When you develop a mortal illness, as you will do if you’re not one of the fifth of the population who dies suddenly, you are likely to find that many […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Checklists
If etymology were anything to go by, checklists would rule our lives, although we must beware not to let etymology rule our views of language, informative though it can be. […]
Julian Sheather: Unrest
The award-winning cinema documentary Unrest explores the stories of people living with ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Ahead of its UK theatrical release on 20 October, Julian Sheather, Specialist Adviser, Ethics and […]
Rachel Clarke: A blame culture has made the NHS less safe, not more
“The NHS is not fit for the 21st century,” was the headline in the Daily Telegraph this weekend, reporting on an interview with Professor Ted Baker, the new chief inspector […]
Richard Smith: Surely time to let the private sector take over dental care completely
The NHS is primarily concerned with fending off death. It may be crazy, but it’s so. No expense is spared: heroic surgery, prolonged chemotherapy, absurdly expensive drugs, intensive care, experimental […]