At the end of last year JAMA Internal Medicine published a study that showed that the authors of two highly influential papers published in the New England Journal of Medicine […]
Columnists
Kieran Walsh: “Tests ain’t fair. Those that study have an unfair advantage.”
Assessment is a core component of medical education. Medical students must undergo continual examinations. Postgraduate trainees must pass their annual assessments. And fully qualified doctors must overcome the twin hurdles […]
Rachel Clarke: The professor, the politician, and the advent of “Huntsplaining”
If this seems like a silly season Twitter spat, it isn’t. It’s deadly serious […]
Richard Smith: Journals, surgeons, and sexist language
Much to my amusement and countering the stereotype of surgeons, the Annals of Surgery has “following an uproar” retracted a paper that used only male pronouns to describe surgeons. It’s counter to […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Judgement or algorithm? Head or formula?
As I discussed last week, Paul Meehl showed, in 1954, in a book called Clinical Versus Statistical Prediction: A Theoretical Analysis and a Review of the Evidence, that various algorithms […]
Matt Morgan: The ward round is broken
We need a new way of working, argues Matt Morgan […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Algorithms
Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī (ca 780-850; picture) was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and geographer who lived during the Caliphate of the Abbasids, a dynasty that ruled in Baghdad from 750 […]
Richard Smith: Humanity is dying—it’s time to switch to palliative care
We should accept that humanity is dying and switch from cure to palliation—just as wise patients do at the end of their lives. This is the core of an argument from […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Hippopotamonstrosequipedaliophilia
Earlier this week, the media delightedly reported that Jacob Rees-Moggs had referred to floccinaucinihilipilification in a parliamentary speech. It comes from Latin: floccus, a wisp of wool, naucum, a trifle, […]
Sharon Roman: Breaking bad news—find a way to bridge the gap
There is no magic formula to giving a patient bad news, but a personal touch can help […]