At least that’s what I’m concluding from this BMJ paper “Adoption and non adoption of a shared electronic summary record in England: A mixed-method case study.” The authors examined many instances of the record being used and decided that it didn’t seem to improve safety, but that it might rarely avoid medication errors. And that […]
Continue Reading →Evidence that euthanasia laws
don’t seem to work that well. See this paper in the Canadian Medical Journal: euthansia and assisted suicide seem to occur in Belgium without explicit request. I cannot understand why there is so much belief in the idea that ‘good laws’ could protect people if a UK law allowing physician assisted suicide were passed. There seems no […]
Continue Reading →Fit to have a gun: who is?
Recent tragic events in Cumbria have brought the problems with gun licensing into sharp relief. The police take most of the responsibility for who should be allowed a shotgun license: but it is doctors, usually GPs, who are asked to sign to say that there are no health concerns with gun ownership. GPs are used to dealing […]
Continue Reading →Would you be a patient in the hospital where you work?
A while ago I commented that if you really wanted to know how good a Trust was, you’d find out if the staff would have their own, or their loved ones, medical care there. I reckon this is a better test than any amount of stars or league tables. Here, from the Daily Mail, a […]
Continue Reading →David Southall restored to the medical register
After a very long time. Part of the problem with getting to the truth has been the media reporting of Southall’s work. This article by Iain Chalmers and the late Edmund Hey is hard hitting and worth reading.
Continue Reading →Affording the professions
The Fair Access to the Professions report is just out. The bottom line is that there are not many students studying medicine or law from lower social classes. According to the British Medical Association, just 4 per cent of medical students are from lower social classes. I for one am not convinced that it therefore all […]
Continue Reading →High and dry: column
What do you do for a living? I confess that, when asked this question, I have lied many times. At parties, at gyms and at dinners, I’ve been reluctant to talk about being a doctor, often for the sake of whoever I’m with, as I invariably start moaning about NHS politics. The question of whether […]
Continue Reading →Health and holiday housekeeping
I’m taking a couple of weeks off the blog to hide from the heat, the lack of which I usually complain about. In the meantime, two thought-provoking treats: an excellent article on cancer screening – It is not wrong to say no – from Dr Iona Heath, who is the new president of the Royal College of […]
Continue Reading →Health choices: and smoking in psychiatric hospitals
An interesting survey has been published by the Foundation for Mental Health. It’s called “Death of the smoking den, The initial impact of no smoking legislation in psychiatric units in England in 2008.” In the introduction to the report, Louis Appleby, the National Director for Mental Health is quoted as having said in 2007 “The rest of […]
Continue Reading →Putting the emphasis on ‘sell’
My interviewee has asked for her surname and current place of work not to appear here. Louise is the perfect science pin-up girl: blonde, slim, and dressed in denim and boots when I meet her on campus. She works as a university teacher, facilitating medical students in “problem based learning” sessions. I have arranged to […]
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