With almost every endeavour participants have many more ideas on what might be done that than there are resources to get them done. Prioritisation is thus essential, but, my goodness, […]
Richard Smith
Richard Smith was the editor of The BMJ until 2004.
Richard Smith: Important study points towards a different future
In what I think is a very important BMJ paper, John Ioannidis and Fotini Karassa have shown that systematic reviews, the highest level of evidence, may be highly deceptive. We did, […]
Richard Smith: Medical schools to close?
Until now medical schools have had it easy. They have lots of high quality applicants, most students graduate, and all of them can find jobs. Suddenly, as for many others […]
Richard Smith: Will cuts lead to radical change?
One response to a deep financial cut is to change radically, to do things in a wholly different way. An alternative response is to shrink back to old ways on […]
Richard Smith: Who are the “medcomms community?”
Have you ever heard of the “medcomms community”? I suspect not, but they are shaping your world. It might be worth spending two minutes reading this blog to learn more […]
Richard Smith: Creating a sustainable health system, learning from business
If we carry on as now we will need 2.3 planets to support the 9 billion people who will be alive in 2050, says the World Business Council for Sustainable […]
Richard Smith: Feeding back to individuals the findings of research on their genes
Around the world research groups are sequencing the genome of tens of thousands of people, and a crucial question is what to do about feeding back to individuals findings that […]
Richard Smith: Computers take histories better than doctors – why don’t they do it more?
Here’s a simulated doctor patient consultation that took place today at the Royal Society of Medicine. A 65 year old woman (cunningly disguised as a bald, male professor from the […]
Richard Smith on banks and vulnerable people
Banks are probably now our most unpopular institutions, more so than estate agents, local authorities, and the Press Complaints Commission. So perhaps I shouldn’t kick them when they are down, […]
Richard Smith: Medicine needs to feel defeat
Defeat is a marvellous thing. It can refresh in a way that never happens after victory. Wouldn’t it be wonderful, I thought this morning as I awoke, if medicine were […]