Plagues create business opportunities and the worried well in any era present a commercial opportunity. In the Middle Ages, the Black Death and the Great Plague saw brisk sales in […]
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Peter Lapsley: Degrees of care
There have been mixed messages from the Patients Association in response to the announcement of plans for nursing in England to become an all-graduate profession. Writing in The Times on […]
Frances Dixon on medical professionalism
I was flicking through my Student BMJ the other day when I came across an article on Medical Professionalism. This is a subject that I have been thinking about recently, […]
Andrew Potter on not taking the swine flu vaccine
Increasing numbers of clinical staff at the hospital where I work declined invitations to be vaccinated against pandemic “swine” influenza. I think this is a worrying trend for both public […]
Ohad Oren: Routine operation, impeccable performance
“Bring sac close to peritoneum, drain its purulent liquid content, and have the shrunken pouch squeezed through this tiny hole.” Such was the senior surgeon’s instruction at the conclusion of […]
Tom Nolan: New pandemic flu guidelines – don’t forget your oximeter
New guidelines on the management of pandemic H1N1 influenza were published recently by the Department of Health. They include guidelines on when to refer patients to hospital (see below) and […]
Peter Lapsley: Please tick the box!
Some things never seem to change. I spent much of the ten years during which I ran the Skin Care Campaign (SCC) explaining patiently to the government and to pharmacists […]
Louise Kenny on paraquat poisoning
The night before last, one of the other doctors admitted a 22 year old male who had ingested concentrated paraquat whilst intoxicated. At the time of admission he was 24 […]
Liz Wager on Einstein, David Nutt, and academic freedom
I’m just back from Washington DC, where we held the first US meeting of COPE (the Committee on Publication Ethics). Engraved onto the building housing part of the National Academy […]
Richard Smith on assessing health technology assessment
The budget of Britain’s Health Technology Assessment programme has grown from £13m in 2006 to £88m in 2010, and it has conducted a swathe of trials on new technologies, published dozens […]