Systematic reviews of randomised trials are hampered by inconsistency in the patient outcomes assessed across the different studies. Many meta-analyses have to leave out key studies because the relevant outcomes […]
Latest articles
Domhnall MacAuley: goodbye health visiting
Baby clinic was always the happiest and busiest afternoon of the week. After routine medical checks, there was a chance to share the excitement of the new baby and build […]
Joe Collier on: When does “1+1+1 = 1” become “1+1+1 = 3?”
A key component of medicine is the diagnosis. The principle process we use for reaching a diagnosis is to identify the patient’s signs and symptoms and then look for a […]
What we’re reading 5 March 2010
In the BMJ editorial office, we often come across interesting articles, blogs, and web pages. We thought we would share these with you. Some are medical, some techie, and some […]
Douglas Noble on patient safety curricula
WHO recently released a medical school curriculum in patient safety. To date the number of downloads is in the 1000s. The curriculum includes teaching resources on systems thinking in healthcare, […]
Richard Smith: Move money from the NHS to social care
When governments spend money on “health” they get lots of sickness but very little health. Increasing expenditure on healthcare—now 17% of GDP in the United States and 9% of GDP […]
K M Venkat Narayan: A case of well-intentioned public health reductionism?
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently released its elegantly titled report, “A Population-Based Policy and Systems Change Approach to Prevent and Control Hypertension” (Washington, DC. National Academies Press, 2010). […]
Emily Spry has a new role model
Over the past month or so, things have been changing fast at the children’s hospital, thanks to my new hero, Professor Tamra Abiodun. […]
Martin McShane: Pathways don’t fit
The buzz word of late has been “pathways.” I guess that has been brought about by Michael Porter and Elizabeth Teisberg’s article in the Harvard Business Review and their book […]
Joe Collier on bad lecturing
Recently I attended a debate on aspects of the pharmaceutical industry. The venue was prestigious as was the audience. There were two speakers and each was given twenty minutes for […]