I seem to have incurred some wrath... If there is one thing that gets right up my nasal passages, it's the encroachment of fluffy ideologies into the realms of science in general and medicine in particular. It has been my view for quite some time (and as I get older, this is concretifying rapidly, if that's even a word) that there's a group of no-doubt well-meaning but scientifically illiterate punters who are trying to develop a framework of talking about human behaviour, at all levels from the individual to the societal, based on whims and arcane concepts that have no useful mapping to anything scientific. This is the world of pseudophilosophy (or maybe "Philosophy as She is Writ), where concepts are "isms" and everything belongs to a rigid ontological hierarchy. It's the world of CP Snow's Two Cultures, except that the scientists are the baddies, and to get anywhere you need to be able to drone at length on "post-structuralism" and "dialectics" and the like. So we're stuck with what is actually the key problem.
“@jranck: World Without Walls - Technology Review how meanings of privacy must change” login to access - but looks good People have long worried that technology is destroying privacy. Today, the lament focuses on Facebook; but as far back as 1890 William Brandeis, a future Supreme Court justice, and his associate Samuel Warren were decrying the unprecedented assault against privacy by the new media of their day: tabloid newspapers and cheap photography. The two Boston lawyers were defending what they called a “principle as old as the common law”; their article, “The Right to Privacy,” was probably the most influential law-review article ever written. 1 But Brandeis and Warren had it backward. We see this pattern repeating itself again and again, with technologies ranging from the postal service to e-mail. This legal model is inadequate for an age of networked information. In the last 50 years, the sheer density of the information environment has reached and surpassed the point at which privacy might be maintained by walls. Data mining as criminal investigation is a good example.
Retraction Watch “[W]e did not succeed:” Frontiers editor on handling of controversial retraction Controversy continues to swirl around the retraction of a Frontiers paper linking climate skepticism to conspiratorial ideation, with three editors resigning from various Frontiers journals, and competing narratives. The authors say the journal retracted the paper because of a fear of legal threats, while the journal, and critics of the study, has said it was withdrawn because the paper did not protect the rights of its subjects. Whatever the issues with the paper, we and others have been saying that the journal stumbled since the study was first retracted last year. Today, editor-in-chief Henry Markham acknowledged missteps in a blog post. Read the rest of this entry » Fraud fells Alzheimer’s “made to order” neurons paper in Cell “[This is] simply a remarkable and complete piece of work which will now set a standard for stem cell work in neurological disease. Read the rest of this entry »
Gallows humor is only a temporary release from a traumatic situation Cheryl and Susan arrived at the hospital at 6:30 AM. As was their routine, they stopped for their Starbuck’s latte and shared family stories as they walked toward the ICU. The two were well known pranksters but were widely respected for being top notch ICU nurses. The whole crew there was like a family. They went to baseball games, picnics, and vacations together. Room three was, in ICU lingo, a disaster scene. The night crew was really bummed out. Cheryl and Susan immediately shifted in to professional mode in order to help Carol and the other RN’s, by saying “What can we do to help? Carol responded, “The best thing you could do to help is to take the body to the morgue while we finish up here. “We’ll do it.” Cheryl and Susan were glad the hour was early, that the family had left, and that they we’re unlikely to bump into visitors coming up the back elevator. After another 15 feet down the hall, the noise came again, even louder, “ooooooohhhhhhmmmmm”. Cheryl and Susan had had enough!
RT @ProfKEPickett: John Sentamu: Only shared wealth brings happiness - Commentators - Opinion - The Independent Sadly, such plenty today is tinged with bewilderment. Drug abuse and violence are rife. Mental illness seems to have become more common, not simply better recognised, over the last generation or so. So what has gone wrong? The Prime Minister was right to draw attention to this book. It is a sorry picture, and one that throws new light on the puzzling contrast between the material success of the UK and her many social failings. Among the rich countries, the United States and Portugal stand out both as more unequal than Britain and as doing worse on most of these measures. Whether or not we have close friends or relatives suffering from financial or job inequality, these problems diminish the quality of life for all of us. No one can doubt that we would all feel better in a society that is friendlier and more at ease with itself; a cohesive society with less violence, fewer drug problems, a healthier society with well-being for all, in which children's chances in life were fairer.
RT @llantwit: The Girl With the Red Hair blog on Occupy Cardiff 11/11/11 (video to accompany blog) The Occupy Cardiff movement had been building for a while, inspired by others who have joined in the worldwide movement, Friday 11th November 2011 marked the beginning of Occupy Cardiff, around 100 protestors met at the Aneurin Bevan statue at 2pm to begin the occupation, it lasted just over 6 hours. Arriving on the scene of Occupy Cardiff at half past four the afternoon of November the 11th, myself and fellow journalism student Nick Meredith were greeted by the sight of wet and weathered tents, sodden trampled grass, and damp, cold protesters. Surrounded by different types of people, old and young, all had come together for one purpose. Stepping down onto the grounds outside the castle, working my way among the tents I spotted a few familiar faces. There was chatter all round, people discussing plans and talking amongst themselves. (Cardiff council byelaw, section 164 Public health act) PDF Of the six arrested, four were held for six hours. Like this:
The Rest Project RT @SysThinkReview: The NHS. A "fantastic business for Britain"? Outsourcing & mutuals do not equal good method for improvement. http ... The first private company to take over an NHS hospital has admitted in a document seen by the Observer that patient care could suffer under its plans to expand its empire and seek profit from the health service. Circle Health is already feeling a strain on resources due to its aggressive business strategy, the document reveals, and the firm's ambition to further expand into the NHS "could affect its ability to provide a consistent level of service to its patients", it says. The company, run by a former Goldman Sachs banker, was awarded management of Hinchingbrooke hospital in Cambridgeshire last week in a ground-reaking move lauded by ministers as a "good deal for patients and staff". However, the government was forced to answer an urgent question in the Commons after the move sparked furious accusations that the deal was privatising the NHS and putting jobs and health services in jeopardy. The revelation that the company shares some of the fears of its critics has caused fresh uproar.
Incognito cowl - Knitty: Winter 2009 Mellow version: With smaller circular and CC1, loosely cast on 56[60, 64] st. Place marker and join, being careful not to twist. Knit 9 rounds. Switch to larger circular and MC, purl 1 round. Knit rounds even until cowl measures 7[8, 9] inches from purl round. Switch to smaller circular and CC1, purl 1 round. Tangy version: With smaller circular and CC1, cast on 56[60, 64] st using provisional cast on. Place marker and join, being careful not to twist. Switch to larger circular and MC, purl 1 round. Carefully remove scrap yarn from cast on edge and place live stitches onto smaller circular. Switch to smaller circular and CC1, purl 1 round.
Inside Schwartz Center Rounds Giving Thanks to the Caregivers At a community hospital in southern New Jersey, Schwartz Center Rounds® have become a welcome and much-needed addition. When the hospital first started the program more than three years ago, it received an immediate positive response from staff. While the topics have varied – from the loss of patients to violence against staff – each time the room is full of caregivers eager to hear about the experiences of their co-workers, learn about the strategies they have used to cope with difficult situations, and to be there to support them. This particular session was going to be very different. The first family was a young couple whose twins had been born prematurely and spent three months in the NICU. The second family consisted of the grown children of a patient who had died in the hospital. The family spoke about how staff had helped them cope by breaking down the experience into increments of time. Back to Top Helping Patients Understand Their ICU Experiences
Osteoporosis International, Online First™ Summary This survey suggests that patients are prepared to accept higher absolute fracture risk than doctors, before considering pharmacological therapy to be justified. Patients require that drug treatments confer substantial fracture risk reductions in order to consider long-term therapy. Introduction Absolute fracture risk estimates are now incorporated into osteoporosis treatment guidelines. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 114 patients referred for bone density measurement and 161 doctors whose practice includes management of osteoporosis. Results The absolute risk of both major osteoporotic fracture and hip fracture at which drug treatment was considered by patients to be justifiable was higher than that reported by doctors [major osteoporotic fracture, median (interquartile range): patients, 50% (25 to 60); doctors, 10% (10 to 20); P < 0.0001; hip fracture: patients, 50% (25 to 60); doctors, 10% (5 to 20); P < 0.0001]. Conclusions
“@amednews: Nurses are more likely than doctors to quiz patients about their expectations for care hmmm not sure Eighty-five percent of physicians say it is important to know what patients expect from a hospital stay to ensure high-quality care, yet only one in 10 doctors asks about patient expectations. Nurses are likelier to quiz patients about their expectations, with 20% doing so, according to a survey of more than 1,000 physicians and nurses in the U.S. and three other countries published in November's BMJ Quality and Safety (link). Forty-seven percent of respondents were physicians and 53% were nurses. The gap between physicians' recognition that patient expectations are important and their failure to ask about them constitutes a "blind spot," the study says. More than 60% of health care organizations are using patient satisfaction scores to determine physician incentive payments, according to a report released in October by the Hay Group, a Philadelphia management consultancy. But patient satisfaction is about more than money, Rozenblum said. Reacting to patient concerns
I seem to have incurred some wrath... If there is one thing that gets right up my nasal passages, it's the encroachment of fluffy ideologies into the realms of science in general and medicine in particular. It has been my view for quite some time (and as I get older, this is concretifying rapidly, if that's even a word) that there's a group of no-doubt well-meaning but scientifically illiterate punters who are trying to develop a framework of talking about human behaviour, at all levels from the individual to the societal, based on whims and arcane concepts that have no useful mapping to anything scientific. This is the world of pseudophilosophy (or maybe "Philosophy as She is Writ), where concepts are "isms" and everything belongs to a rigid ontological hierarchy. Anyway, within the constraints of the 140-character limit of Twitter, I became embroiled in a discussion of the value of concepts like "structure" and "agency" in addressing inequalities in health. So we're stuck with what is actually the key problem.
Move over Dr Google, the future of health is social Pretty soon, not being involved in social media will be just as implausible as not having a telephone. If my 80-year-old dad is on Facebook and women over 55 are the fastest growing demographic on the site, then it’s fair to say that social media tools aren’t the province of the young. Talking about social media as a revolution is no overstatement. This week I addressed a Hospital Alliance for Research Collaboration (HARC) forum in Sydney about bringing the social media revolution to health care. Advantages of social media Electronic tools merely facilitate broader, more efficient transmission by overcoming inertia and friction. We’ve had our own experience of this at Mayo Clinic. No one could tell her what the risk of a second heart attack could be, as the only study into the condition at the time had involved a small group of people. She found an online SCAD support group, who banded together and asked Mayo Clinc if we wanted to study them. The Mayo Clinic story Catching up