It’s been a turbulent and highly unpredictable few weeks in the UK. The Brexit vote to leave the EU, a new Prime Minister and the main opposition Labour party seemingly at war with itself have dominated the headlines. In amongst this we have seen the retention of Jeremy Hunt as Secretary of State for health […]
Category: Editorial
Social Media is Exploding – But is it Effective?
About a year ago, I posted about accelerating knowledge translation using Twitter, blogs, and other social media. In some respects, the embrace of social media was still in its infancy – originally, #FOAMed, powered by an independent group of individuals passionate about sharing knowledge and teaching Emergency Medicine. The Emergency Medicine Journal, driven in part […]
More Trouble For tPA at the BMJ
The BMJ recently stirred the pot again on a subject near and dear to our hearts – no, not exit block – but intravenous thrombolysis for acute stroke. For a therapy that’s been approved within 3 hours for nearly two decades, and was extended to 4.5 hours by guidelines in Europe and the United States […]
What Happens When Conflict-of-Interest is Stripped Out of Guidelines?
Nearly 20 years after hitting the prime-time following publication of the findings of the NINDS rt-PA Study Group, tPA use has become widespread. However, there yet remain many vocal opponents. To say there is sometimes a hearty debate over the use of tPA in acute stroke would be a dramatic understatement. Indeed, even as select […]
Clinician Abuse: Electronic Health Records
This month, the print version of the Emergency Medicine Journal features an article from a group including Jeffrey Perry and Ian Stiell on a topic near and dear to our hearts – Electronic Health Records. While the next generation of physicians will never remember a time of charting on paper, the majority of practicing physicians recall such […]
Predatory Journals – Enemies or Inspiration?
Science – unlike deranged, furious cursing – is not best cloistered behind closed doors, in the dark, with no audience. Dissemination of medical evidence is critical to refinement of practice and the generation of future research hypotheses. Yet, most evidence resides behind electronic publisher paywalls, accessible only for a fee, or to those with specific […]
Patients, are they the silent contributor to case reports?
We are in currently in the process of putting together a case report following a toxicological emergency in the ED. It’s an interesting case, deals with new street drugs and has some great lessons for emergency management…., well we would say that wouldn’t we, every case report author from the dawn of time has said […]
An Unexpected Discussion; How to Close the Loop?
A few weeks ago, on one of my other digital knowledge translation projects, I wrote about an article published in the Emergency Medicine Journal: “Prehospital use of furosemide for the treatment of heart failure”. The content of the article – making an accurate diagnosis of dyspnea is difficult in the prehospital setting, and that many […]
Choosing Well vs. Choosing Wisely
In the United Kingdom, the NHS and Manchester publish “Choose Well” – a guide for patients in need, to help them find the healthcare resources correct for them. The resources described include self-care, local general practitioner services, and advice regarding when to choose Urgent Care or Accident & Emergency services. In a system where resources […]
All change at the EMJ….
The New Year brings many changes to the EMJ. Not only do we have a new cover, we have a new editorial team too. For the last 7 years Geoff Hughes and Kevin Mackway-Jones have developed the EMJ into a scientific journal with real impact across the emergency medicine and pre-hospital care communities. They have […]