Paul Cann, director of policy and external relations at Help The Aged, said: ‘Any moves that make it more likely older people will die with dignity are welcome. When people are dying, being part of decisions about their care can literally be their final wish.’
Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern, said: ‘Many older people have strong views about how they want to be cared for at the end of their lives, Read more »
Reader Takes is a regular feature where selected op-ed style pieces from the audience at KevinMD.com will be published on the blog.
Posts are between 500 and 600 words in length, and can argue any opinion related to medicine and health care.
Articles that are provocative, well-written, free of grammatical or spelling errors, and generally follow these guidelines are preferred.
Pieces that have not been published elsewhere Read more »
I wrote previously that pharmaceutical industry influence should be removed from physician continuing medical education courses.
The American Psychiatric Association is taking that recommendation to heart, announcing that it will end industry-sponsored seminars at its annual meeting.
Good for them.
But, I’d be interested to see how many of these professional organizations can survive the funding cut. For instance, Read more »
Independent think tank Reform says a healthy society will be an essential component of a swift recovery from the recession.
Both government and the private sector acknowledge the need to tackle public health issues and this report reveals a number of examples of best practice in commitment to employee wellness.
Reform’s paper looks at how more of this activity can be encouraged and its success built on to improve Read more »
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) was given the award from the Union Learning Fund, established by the government in 1998, for a two-year project starting in April 2009.
Dr Peter Carter, RCN chief executive and general secretary, said: ‘I am delighted that the work the RCN has done with unionlearn in delivering projects over the last 10 years can continue, and that we have been able to secure this further funding of 300,000.
Read more »
The first company that comes up with a effective drug for obesity is bound to make billions.
Prior failures notwithstanding, a trio of small pharmaceutical companies are trying to come up with the next great obesity pill. That means clinical studies are ongoing.
So, what’s it like to participate in such a trial? Ed Susman, a contributing writer at MedPage Today, was involved in one, and chronicled his experiences over the past Read more »
A study showed that nearly all of recent Boston firefighting recruits were either overweight or obese.
And, of those who were classified as obese, nearly half failed the required treadmill test. Ordinarily, this probably wouldn’t make news, as it’s well documented how slovenly American society has become.
But, because firefighters do serve a public safety function, it should be noted that they “depended on one another in emergencies Read more »
London locums have seen the lower end of their daily pay range halve in a year, according to the poll of 446 locums.
In 2008, the lowest day rate for London locums was 300. This had dropped to 150 this year.
The top end of the day rate range in London also fell from 625 last year to 530 in 2009.
One London GP said: ‘Inner city London locum rates are considerably lower than other regions.’
Do most surgeons think mid-level providers can replace primary care physicians?
That much was implied during recent testimony by the American College of Surgeons’ John Preskitt, who said, “With trauma care and surgical emergencies, there are no good substitutes or physician extenders for a well-trained general surgeon or surgical specialist.”
The ACP’s Bob Doherty took that to mean that there were good substitutes for primary Read more »
The average salary for a foundation trust chief executive officer rose 7.6% to 159,888, while their non-foundation trust counterpart’s income increased 5.7% to 138,419, researchers at Incomes Data Services said.
Conservative shadow health minister Stephen O’Brien said: ‘Why is it that NHS bosses think it is acceptable to award themselves generous perks and inflation-busting pay rises while hard working nurses are Read more »
