The Chief Medical Officer’s proposed new drinking guidelines were announced on the 8th January. These included specific advice about drinking during pregnancy, to which we could not do justice in […]
Guest writers
Steve Ruffenach: Tech, my new medical assistant
I have a new medical assistant (MA) and I’m trying to learn how to get along with him. My new MA is named Tech and I bet you have one […]
Richard White et al: Efficiency savings in wound care must not compromise patient care
The Department of Health together with the NHS Supply Chain are trying to push through Generic Specifications (known as the Carter Report) where the specification criteria can be applied so […]
Paul Glasziou and Iain Chalmers: Is 85% of health research really “wasted”?
Our estimate that 85% of all health research is being avoidably “wasted” [Chalmers & Glasziou, 2009] commonly elicits disbelief. Our own first reaction was similar: “that can’t be right?” Not […]
Sally Marlow and Sadie Boniface: From “plucked out of the air” to grounded in evidence—UK drinking guidelines reviewed
This week the Chief Medical Officer has published new guidelines on drinking alcohol. Was a revision necessary, and if so why? The old guidelines were two decades old, and we […]
Neel Sharma: Doctors need standardised training in non technical skills
Competency Based Medical Education (CBME) forms the backbone of the teaching and assessment of students and doctors in training. However, limitations have been described including the fact that there are […]
Azeem Majeed: Moving forwards with research on the “weekend effect”
Two articles published in The BMJ in 2015 on the “weekend effect” have sparked considerable debate in The BMJ and on social media. [1,2] A number of previous studies have reported […]
Robin Stott: In favour of constructive dissent
Constructive dissent is essential to arriving at the best possible solution to difficult problems. Jeremy Corbyn provided this useful service in the run-up to the debate on extending bombing into […]
Aula Abbara et al: British air strikes may affect Syrian healthcare
The vote by the British parliament on 3 December for air strikes on Syria has consequences for the already catastrophic humanitarian and medical situation in Syria and surrounding countries. The […]
Chapal Mehra: Is the world prepared to defeat tuberculosis?
On the eve of the World Lung Conference in Cape Town, many of us crowded into the auditorium at the convention centre to listen to Grania Brigden, MSF Access Campaign […]