Contents: January 2006
Front cover (large)
Contents page (PDF)
Editorials
All together for health?
In the wake of the first world meeting of healthcare students,
Emily Spry explains the importance of aiming for more
interprofessional education and practice
Foodborne zoonoses
Food poisoning can be serious—as well as diarrhoea and
vomiting, infection can have long term implications. Sarah J
O’Brien looks at the key roles that doctors and vets have in
tackling the hundreds of millions of cases a year worldwide
News
Newsbites
Australia runs short of rural
doctors
Education
Warning: Christmas
can seriously damage your health
Impress your mates at the pub
with your startling repertoire of
esoteric medical knowledge
From medical student to junior doctor: Clinical pharmacology to prescribing responsibility
In the fourth article in our series, Geoffrey
Robinson, Sarah Aldington, and Richard
Beasley give a practical guide to good
prescribing practice
The limping child
Tosan Okoro
takes us through the approach and management of limp disorders in children
The white cut: Egas Moniz,
lobotomy, and the
Nobel prize
In 1949 the Nobel prize was awarded to
Egas Moniz, the neurologist who carried
out the first lobotomy, a procedure that
caused severe physical and psychological
impairment. Seye Abimbola investigates
the ongoing debate.
Is it enough?
Hip pain after
trivial trauma
BMA NOTICES
Careers
Collaborate
Collaboration between healthcare disciplines is essential,
and countless examples show doctors working closely
with other professionals. But student action has not been
so well explored. Bryony Whipp looks at how medical
students are collaborating with other students and
professionals in programmes that are making a difference
The face of
32 000 students
Kirsty Lloyd trained professionally as a dancer for 10
years, starting at the age of 11. Now aged 32, she’s an
intercalating medical student at Leicester University and
head of the BMA’s Medical Students Committee,
representing the United Kingdom’s 32 000 medical
students. Nadeeja Koralage finds out how she got there
Clinical audit
made easy
Are clinical audits a mystery to you? This is your chance
to learn the ropes, as Farah Janmohamed explains
From Malaga to London
Sara Carrillo de Albornoz interrupted her medical
studies in her home city in Spain to spend some time in
the United Kingdom. What was supposed to be a gap
year ended up as six years filled with an eclectic range of
study, work, and life experiences. Tiago Villanueva finds
out how it all happened
Physiotherapy
explained
A physiotherapist can be a great ally to doctors and
medical students. Ciaran Scott Hill tells you what
physiotherapists really do and explains how we can
get the most out of them
Working as a
healthcare assistant
Working as a healthcare assistant while at medical school
could make you a better doctor, as well as helping to pay
off your student debt. Robert Annan explains why
Tips on:
Organising summer research
The last thing most of us want to do is spend the
summer in a laboratory.
Papers
Everything you do as a health
professional has a cost: cost
effectiveness analyses
Developing countries, more than any others, need to get their money’s
worth when it comes to investing in healthcare interventions. Martin
Dawes explains why learning about cost effectiveness analyses is
important—because every intervention has a cost
Life
Helping hands
Physician assistants have improved the delivery of health
care in the United States, and other countries have
introduced the profession. Etienne Laverse considers
whether this new breed of healthcare professional could
solve the problem of doctor shortages in the NHS
The other
side
Medical student Filip Simunovic decided
to spend his summer holidays working as
a porter in a German hospital and explains
how working on “the other side” was an
enlightening and rewarding experience
Food for
thought
Patients benefit from proper nourishment throughout their
illness, and medical students and doctors should be
properly trained in nutrition. Keri-Michčle Lodge
investigates why the standard of hospital food still has a
long way to go, and why medical school curriculums are
not covering nutrition effectively
Formula for
success
After two years’ work experience in
Cambodia, Kerry Davies talks about how
she set up and carried out a project with
local staff to tackle the issues involved in
identifying and treating children with
malnutrition
Burger babies: the
future is fat
In schools, parks, shopping centres, and
communities throughout the United
Kingdom, fat kids are a common sight.
Ghias Shafi explains why there is a
growing risk of obesity in young people
Letters
Croatia’s brain drain
Practising in the United States
Women have it at least as hard
as men
Women make better doctors
Reviews
The Constant Gardener
Medics do nursing
Keep playing
Nutrition
ER: The Game
Eyespy
