A compelling piece in the Economist argues that social media are returning news to the “more vibrant, freewheeling, and discursive ways of the pre-industrial era” and that newspapers will prove […]
Richard Smith
Richard Smith was the editor of The BMJ until 2004.
Richard Smith: In the goldfish bowl with GPs—part 2
In my last blog I described my time in a goldfish bowl with some 35 GPs on a leadership course—how the process worked, and what I learnt about myself, and […]
Richard Smith: In the goldfish bowl with GPs
Two weeks ago I spent 90 minutes in a goldfish bowl with about 30 GPs. The goldfish bowl is a process to encourage reflection, and it certainly caused me to […]
Richard Smith: A short history of patient power
I urge you to read Michael Millenson’s article on “Spock, Feminists, and the Fight for Participatory Medicine: a History.” It’s a fascinating and very readable account of how patient power […]
Richard Smith: Will the NHS let me die of malaria?
I’m about to spend two weeks in Nigeria and need antimalarial tablets, but it seems that the NHS cannot help me. If I come back with malaria, no doubt it […]
Richard Smith: More on the United Nations meeting on NCDs
In September the United Nations will hold a high level meeting on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). This is only the second such meeting that the UN […]
Richard Smith: How important are the “early origins of health?”
How important is what happens to you in fetal and neonatal life in determining whether you develop heart disease later in life? I found myself thinking about that question a […]
Richard Smith: Beware journals, especially “top” ones
Dave Sackett, the father of evidence based medicine, used to warn people against reading journals. They took up time that could be better spent and gave you fragments of evidence […]
Richard Smith: The NHS debate – missing most of what matters
I’ve stayed out of the NHS debate. These days I spend lots of time in countries like Bangladesh, Kenya, and Guatemala, and viewed from those countries – where health workers and […]
Richard Smith: Prevention of diabetes – from impossible to widely available in 30 years
In the 1980s it was conventional wisdom that type 2 diabetes couldn’t be prevented, said Michael Engelgau of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, when I chatted to […]