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I’ve noticed a change in my colleague’s behaviour. What should I do? BMJ 2019 June

It can be difficult to approach a colleague if you have concerns about their wellbeing because of a change in their behaviour. Abi Rimmer asks experts how best to handle this situation. Remember a) small gestures make a BIG difference b) Take your doctor hat off c) Don’t be embarrassed to ask Small gestures make a big difference Lucy Warner, chief executive of the NHS Practitioner Health Programme, says, “If you’ve noticed a change, then this situation has probably been around for some time and may already have become a fairly serious problem. Doctors are very good at focusing

1 million Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STI) a DAY in the World – WHO

Every day, there are more than 1 million new cases of curable sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among people aged 15-49 years, according to data released today by WHO. This amounts to more than 376 million new cases annually of four infections – chlamydia, gonorrhoea, trichomoniasis, and syphilis. On average, approximately 1 in 25 people globally have at least one of these STIs, according to the latest figures, with some experiencing multiple infections at the same time. STIs are preventable through safe sexual practices, including correct and consistent condom use and sexual health education. LINK https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/sexually-transmitted-infections-(stis) Sri Lanka From 2017

Digital Health

What is Digital Health? “Digital health, or the use of digital technologies for health, has become a salient field of practice for employing routine and innovative forms of information and communications technology (ICT) to address health needs. The term digital health is rooted in eHealth, which is defined as “the use of information and communications technology in support of health and health-related fields”. Mobile health (mHealth) is a subset of eHealth and is defined as “the use of mobile wireless technologies for health”. More recently, the term digital health was introduced as “a broad umbrella term encompassing eHealth (which includes

Hypertension guidelines: how much low?

In an era that that ‘evidence-based medicine’ is facing challenges from many fronts, the benefits of blood pressure control have been shown to decrease morbidity and mortality and increase lifespan. The evidence is strong and there is no disagreement among clinicians and researchers. However, there is considerable uncertainty and debate as to how much reduction is needed in systolic blood pressure among the leading guidelines that look at the same evidence. The JNC 2018, AHA/ACC and now NICE guidelines vary with the recommendations. The page below gives the summary of guidelines available from JNC 8 (2014), ACC/AHA (2107) and ESC/ESH

How Should Clinicians Engage With Online Health Information?

From the ‘AMA Journal of Ethics – Illuminating the Art of Medicine’ Many adults, physicians, and medical students search the internet for health information. Open access has many benefits, but the variable quality of internet health information—ranging from evidence based to false—raises ethical concerns. Using Wikipedia as a case study, this article argues that everyone engaging with internet health information has ethical responsibilities. Those hosting and writing for health websites should ensure that information is evidence based, accurate, up to date, and readable and be transparent about conflicts of interest. Health care professionals, including medical students, have both ethical responsibilities

Screening and General Health Checks in adults – the latest from Cochrane

Screening and prevention ‘Screening is a way of finding out if people are at higher risk of a health problem so that early treatment can be offered or information given to help them make informed decisions. Screening is a way of identifying apparently healthy people who may have an increased risk of a particular condition. The (NHS UK) offers a range of screening tests to different sections of the population. The aim is to offer screening to the people who are most likely to benefit from it. For example, some screening tests are only offered to newborn babies, while others

Phishing – stealing legitimate user credentials

Phishing is a form of fraud in which an attacker masquerades as a reputable entity or person in email or other communication channels. The attacker uses phishing emails to distribute malicious links or attachments that can perform a variety of functions, including the extraction of login credentials or account information from victims. One common explanation for the term is that phishing is a homophone of fishing, and is so named because phishing scams use lures to catch unsuspecting victims, or fish. [LINK] Phishing attacks typically rely on social networking techniques applied to email or other electronic communication methods, including direct messages

What we learned in 2018 in Health & Medicine according to the NYT

Developments in medicine and health that we’re still thinking about at year’s end. It’s not easy to say that any particular development in health or medicine was the most important in a given year [Ref – NYT]. But if we had to choose some highlights, we’d opt for these unforgettable events and findings. From left, Douglas A. Warner III, Memorial Sloan Kettering’s board chairman; Dr. José Baselga, its former chief medical officer; and Dr. Craig B. Thompson, its chief executive, at its charity ball in New York last year. Credit Rebecca Smeyne for The New York Times Conflicts of interest

Screening for breast cancer in order to reduce the burden of breast cancer in Sri Lanka – the way forward – Is mammography an essential tool?

Screening for breast cancer in order to reduce the burden of breast cancer in Sri Lanka – the way forward – Is mammography an essential tool? Yes, mammography is an essential tool for screening for breast cancer. To what extent mammography reduces the burden of breast cancer will depend on the context, country and the research. The NCCP guidelines published in 2014 gives a comprehensive detail in ‘Early Detection and Management of Breast Symptoms’. This is valid even today. [Ref] Q1 Does mammography screening decrease the incidence or mortality rate from breast cancer? N0, because mammography detects breast tumours in the asymptomatic

Coach, Don’t Just Teach

‘Both teaching and coaching are of course helping someone learn a particular skill or sharing a certain piece of knowledge. Teaching however, is primarily a one way interaction. A person that knows something shows you how to do something or tells you some piece of information that they know. Coaching on the other had requires a cyclical, ongoing interaction. In order to coach someone, you need to first teach them something, then observe the student, and then provide feedback again. Unless all three of these interactions are taking place, it cannot be considered coaching. The biggest difference is that,

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