“Research highlights” is a weekly round-up of research papers appearing in the print BMJ. We start off with this week’s research questions, before providing more detail on some individual research […]
Latest articles
Jim Dobbin: The rise of vaccine coverage in Bangladesh
I am in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to mark world pneumonia day and also to learn more about how the UK’s financial contributions to Bangladesh and the GAVI Alliance are helping to […]
Caroline Boobis: All day dialysis
I’d like to tell you about my mother, Doris.* She is 87 years old and has been on haemodialysis for nearly 25 years (is this a record?). She has dialysis three […]
Richard Smith: More on the uselessness of peer review
I know I’m becoming a bore with all this raving against prepublication peer review, but like all true bores I’m charging on regardless. And I’m fired up by the experience […]
Chris Ham: Commonwealth Fund survey: If the NHS is doing well, why is it changing?
The Commonwealth Fund’s survey of the experience of adults with complex care needs, published last week, paints a remarkably positive picture of the NHS. The results show that, of the […]
David Pencheon: What is it about large scale change that makes anaesthetists act?
Change may be the new constant, but it is always important to understand who embraces change most readily, and where. Doctors in general are traditionally conservative, as those outside the […]
Desmond O’Neill: Donizetti and the GP
It is almost certainly the most unique operatic experience in Europe. As you walk up a narrow street of terraced houses in a small coastal town in south-eastern Ireland, you […]
Domhnall MacAuley: NAPCRG and the relevance of evidence based medicine
Trisha Greenhalgh (London) was always going to challenge the current paradigm. And, she didn’t disappoint. Her keynote at NAPCRG was elegant, persuasive, and beautifully crafted. Drawing from literature and philosophy […]
Tracey Koehlmoos: Climate change, health, and security
On 17 October, I was fortunate to attend a daylong seminar at BMA House on “the health and security perspectives of climate change.” Uniquely, this programme pulled together medical and […]
Richard Smith: Battling over safe alcohol limits
Advice on smoking is simple: don’t smoke. But what should be the advice on alcohol? It can’t be “don’t drink,” nor can it be “drink less.” Doctors and governments think […]