Dr Phillip Welsby shares some MRCP tales… My guilty secret? It took me three attempts to pass MRCP. I qualified from the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine for Women (that’s another story that has nothing to do with my sexual orientation in case you were, as you were, wondering). In the olden days in […]
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Invitations to write masterworks
Dr Philip Welsby discusses some recent invitations to contribute to a range of lesser-known journals… I read a paper dealing with predatory or low-quality journals1 with interest. Having written about 100 papers on a wide variety of topics I have obviously been included in multiple commercially distributed lists. Between 6th October 2019 and 23rd April […]
Enlightenment of COVID-19 for medical students as a major public health event
Xianqiang Yu reflects on the role of medical students in the COVID-19 pandemic… We read with great interest an article in your journal about the roles of medical students during COVID-19 [1]. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread and worsen, it raises questions surrounding medical students. From the articles published in your journal, I […]
Two plus two equals four. Well, maybe.
Philip Welsby explores the difficulties that can be faced in answering ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions in general practice… To my annoyance a politician was being interviewed on television. That in itself is perhaps annoying enough, but he would not answer a simple question with a simple answer. He kept on talking and had to be […]
It’s a Scottish term, d’ya ken?
In our latest blog post, Philip Welsby explores some useful Scottish vocabulary… Some of us have had the misfortune to have been born and bred in England and have had the good fortune to end up living and breeding (two out of four daughters) in Scotland, but one drawback is that we have had to […]
The Patients Behind the Hospital Numbers
Bharadwaj V. Chada reflects on the human side of patient suffering “We’d made a promise”, she began carefully after much deliberation, “that if either one of us took ill, we wouldn’t come into the hospital to visit”. Her words were heavy and loaded with emotion, belying her every instinct to come and see her husband, […]
Beware the Trojan Horse: hidden anxieties at the end of specialty training
Dr Brendan McCann reflects upon emotions surrounding finishing specialty training It is about this time of year when many of the Royal College Final Fellowship or exit exams occur. If successful, it provides a truly momentous occasion that deserves celebration and adulation for all involved. The timing of these awards often go hand in […]
Antibody tests prior and posterior (By P Wellsby)
A friend asked about the significance of her positive Covid tests. She had suggestive symptoms and an antibody test was positive. What did this mean? False negatives may occur if you test too soon, before antibodies have developed or the test might have been faulty. Counterintuitively, the significance to her of a positive test depends […]
Successful Are Those Who Adapt; Innovative Teaching Methodologies in Pain Fellowship Training During COVID-19 Pandemic in a Developing Country
Aliya Ahmed, Robyna Irshad Khan, Shemila Abbasi, Ali Sarfraz Siddiqui, Azhar Rehman, Ausaf Khan, Tanveer Baig, Gauhar Afshan Department of Anaesthesiology, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan Corresponding Author Aliya AhmedDepartment of Anaesthesiology, Aga Khan University, P.O. Box 3500, Stadium Road, Karachi 74800, Pakistan.Email: aliya.ahmed@aku.edu COVID-19 pandemic caught the entire world blindsided causing dramatic changes to […]
POETIC INSIGHTS INTO PERPETUAL CHANGE
Most doctors who continue to work on the shop floor of medicine, those who deal with individual patients, often remark on the uncertainty engendered by the continual change of management techniques and structures imposed on them from on high. I was about to wax eloquent in similar vein when I reflected on some lines from […]