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Being a doctor abroad – comparing the Greek healthcare system with the NHS

Healthcare systems and training programmes vary significantly across the world. By learning about other healthcare systems, we can identify blind spots in our own system and continue to improve training. Sofia Anastasiadou, an ENT Registrar in South West England, describes...

Benchmarking for innovation in healthcare ­– an approach from 
Down Under and a gap in the 
National Health Service?

Benchmarking is a process of comparison between the performance characteristics of separate, often competing, organisations intended to enable each participant to improve its own performance [1]. Often, in healthcare, benchmarking is carried out by central government departments or regional agencies...

From trauma to recovery: treatment at Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre

This year (2014) is the centenary year of the beginning of the Great War. This conflict brought with it a cluster of emotional disorders that were called at the time, Shell-Shock. The present conflict in Afghanistan has been talked of...

The doctor – pharmaceutical company relationship

‘Which drug rep is taking us out tonight?’ We have heard this phrase uttered at conferences since meetings began, but as Dylan said ‘those times they are a changing’ thanks to the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) and...

Targeted CMV screening and hearing management of children with congenital cytomegalovirus infection

Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection is a common congenital infection and is the leading infectious cause of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in children. Prof Karen Fowler discusses current research and the exciting future of screening for cCMV in newborns. Figure 1....

Use of automated audiometry for faster patient access to audiology services?

Manual audiometry has long been the gold standard for establishing hearing thresholds. In recent years, a number of automated audiometry applications have reached the market. In this article, a team from Ireland have put a version of automated audiometry to...

Medical racism and the surgical ‘correction’ of the nose in Brazil

Anthropologist Professor Carmen Alvaro Jarrín has conducted extensive research into plastic surgery practice in Brazil. Here, she explains why social and cultural ideas about race may shape rhinoplasty objectives for patients and surgeons in the country. Health professionals worldwide are...

Developing principles of swallow rehabilitation using novel animal modelling

Never let it be said that we don’t cover a wide range of topics. Camilla Dawson tells us about the crossover between swallowing in seals and in humans. Rehabilitation of swallow is complex, informed by anatomical and physiological systems and...

Prudent audiology

Introduction In January 2014, Professor Mark Drakeford, Minister for Health and Social Services, defined Prudent Healthcare as, “Healthcare that fits the needs and circumstances of patients and actively avoids wasteful care that is not to the patient’s benefit.” ‘Prudent’ healthcare...