I don’t know if it’s just me, but I’ve found a lot of what’s written about “continuous improvement” practically impenetrable. On the face of it, it has a lot to […]
Columnists
Richard Smith: Time for a drive to register all global births and deaths
If your birth is not registered then you don’t exist, and yet a third of global births are not registered. If your death is not registered then your wife (or […]
The BMJ Today: The NHS in the aftermath of the UK’s general election
• Gareth Iacobucci reports that the National Health Action Party secured just over 20 000 votes across 12 constituencies in the UK general election. In three constituencies, it achieved fourth place […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . þink about ðis
In each of the following pairs of generic drug names one is the International Nonproprietary Name (INN) and the other is not: • beclomethasone/beclometasone • betamethasone/betametasone • chlorthalidone/chlortalidone • ethacrynic […]
David Oliver: Minding our language around care for older people and why it matters
I love to plough through the newspapers, with radio or TV news on in the background. My enjoyment can be punctured by annoyances. Recurring candidates for this personal “room 101” […]
Neville Goodman: Drawbacks and deadlines
Drawback started life as excise duty paid back when goods were exported, but few doctors now writing of drawbacks are likely to realize that. There are over 5000 drawbacks on […]
Richard Smith: Keeping the NHS alive
The NHS has to change radically if it is to survive. All those who study the NHS closely know that, but I’m not sure that all those who work in […]
Richard Smith: Australians fire an editor of the MJA for the fourth time
The Australian Medical Publishing Company (AMPCo), a creature of the Australian Medical Association, has just fired another editor of the Medical Journal Australia; that’s at least four (and probably more) […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Grimm’s law
In 1998, The BMJ—which had previously been able to publish only one third of all letters received, and then only weeks or months after the articles to which they referred—took […]
Julian Sheather: Shaping the ends of our lives
Very difficult to know how we will approach our death until we are in the shadow of it. Will we hold to the ideals we formed when we were healthy, […]