The Future Healthcare Journal is published by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP). In a recent study, in that journal, the feasibility of smartwatches supporting rehabilitation post-surgical fixation was assessed (Hewage, 2023). In this UK-based non-randomised intervention study patients who had sustained a hip fracture (age ≥65 and Abbreviated Mental Test Score ≥8/10), were […]
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The Future Healthcare Journal is published by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP). And in a recent paper the future of the hospital has been debated (Edwards, 2023). To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, rumours of the death of the hospital have been greatly exaggerated; or at least that would appear to be one of […]
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In the Lancet recently it has been suggested we need a fundamental change in appraising placebo in psychiatry research (Burke, 2023). Why? In the Alpha-Stim Anxiety Insomnia and Depression cranial electrotherapy stimulation trial, Richard Morriss and colleagues reported no significant difference in their primary depression outcome between active and sham groups. Although not the […]
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The BMJ has recently described new guidelines from the UK government, which suggest that anyone with a suspected concussion during any level of sport should immediately be removed from play (Iacobucci, 2023). The guidance, ‘If in Doubt, Sit Them Out’, is aimed primarily at the general public and people of all ages who participate […]
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Thousands of women are being urged to take up NHS breast screening (mammography) appointments as new figures revealed recently by NHS England showed nearly four in 10 did not take up the potentially lifesaving offer. Last year (2021-22) 1.97 million women aged 50 to 70 (62.3%) attended screening appointments (within six months of invitation) […]
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Short answer is .. no. In the NEJM on 27th April, Pittet et al, reported a RCT of BCG vaccination, in an attempt to prevent COVID-19. In addition to protecting against its target disease, tuberculosis, the bacille Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine has immunomodulatory ‘off-target’; effects that may protect against unrelated infections. The BCG vaccine has […]
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In the Lancet recently Bellary et al, 2023 has stressed the benefits of SGLT2 inhibitors in the elderly. Sodium glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors were initially licensed as glucose lowering agents for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Subsequent studies, aimed primarily at showing cardiovascular and renal safety, reported other benefits, including reductions in […]
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In the BMJ Rimmer, 2023 has noted important differences between the personalities of doctors, their patients, and the general population. In a paper published in BMJ Open, Australian researchers found that doctors were significantly more agreeable, conscientious, extroverted, and neurotic than the general population, but that patients were more open than doctors. The researchers […]
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Women in labour should be offered an alternative to an epidural spinal block injection, say new draft guidelines for the NHS. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is recommending Remifentanil, which is a fast-acting morphine-like drug given into a vein. Women control the medication themselves, by pressing a button to get more […]
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Roughly 38,000 deaths involved COVID-19 in 2022, compared to more than 95,000 in 2020. Before the pandemic, England and Wales, along with other countries, would ‘accept” between 10,000 and 25,000 deaths a year caused by influenza. And it is arguable that countries opening up and living largely as if the pandemic is not ongoing, […]
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