It was 4 am in the emergency department (ER). An 83 year old woman had come into the ER after experiencing an episode of disorientation and shortness of breath earlier […]
US healthcare
Richard Smith: Is the New England Journal of Medicine anti-science?
About once a year a furious researcher writes to me complaining that the New England Journal of Medicine won’t publish a letter that strongly criticises, even demolishes, an article the […]
Birte Twisselmann on the HighWire Spring Publisher’s conference—massive, open, online, and individualised
Every three years or so I am lucky enough to attend our webhost HighWire’s spring publisher’s meeting at Stanford University in sunny California. This year was no exception—the meeting was […]
Domhnall MacAuley: The US champions primary care
When the US starts to champion primary care, it is time to sit up. With its traditionally specialist focus, this may seem out of character, but as a result of […]
William Cayley on the value of learning to practise in resource limited settings
“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” goes the saying. Recently I was bemoaning with a physician friend the ease with which learners often default to “expert” interpretation for imaging, […]
Fran Baum: From Ottawa to Helsinki—the 8th global conference on health promotion
In 1986 the World Health Organisation held the first global conference on health promotion at which the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion was drafted and adopted. It has become the […]
Edward Davies: Pharma is changing. Can doctors say the same?
About 13 years ago I attended my first US mega meeting of doctors. I was there for a research agency, working on behalf of a large well known pharmaceutical company, […]
Edward Davies: The big bang meeting vs peer review
In the world of oncology, and indeed the world in general, meetings don’t come bigger than that of the American Society for Clinical Oncology. I hesitate to quote a cab […]
William Cayley: Are we getting too systematic for our own good?
“We need to standardize our systems of practice to improve our quality metrics and do a better job of caring for our patients.” Such was the thrust of a recent […]
Scott Fraser: Do doctors have a responsibility to lead on climate change?
When learning biology for my school exams (longer ago than I imagine but not so many years ago) I clearly remember that atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) was rounded down to […]