If preventable, why not...?

Ask "WHY NOT?" Not "WHAT IF?"

The editor-in-chief asks: with strong evidence in favour of collaborative practice, why has it not yet been adopted across the system? What is holding it back?

Not if but when; no longer why but how

There is accruing evidence that information technology can improve patient health care, with several trials of technology showing smaller numbers of medication errors, or can provide earlier detection of adverse events. Critics of this type of research point out that better resolution of events is of no value unless their direct management influences clinical outcome. Nevertheless, indirect evi...

Are medical educators following General Medical Council guidelines on obesity education: if not why not?

BACKGROUND Although the United Kingdom's (UK's) General Medical Council (GMC) recommends that graduating medical students are competent to discuss obesity and behaviour change with patients, it is difficult to integrate this education into existing curricula, and clinicians report being unprepared to support patients needing obesity management in practice. We therefore aimed to identify factors...

Cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors: are they really atherothrombotic, and if not, why not?

UNLABELLED BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY: Selective cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 inhibitors are increasingly being used in place of "conventional" nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). This is because they are just as effective as NSAIDs in relieving arthritic pain and yet less gastrotoxic. However, the cardiovascular safety of selective COX-2 inhibitors has been questioned because they selectively...

Ending preventable stillbirths 3 Stillbirth: Why invest?