Student BMJ Review: December 2007 issue

Thank you for asking me to review the Student BMJ. I read it online, so won’t comment on the paper version, which I haven’t seen. Firstly I thought this was an excellent issue, one which has a particularly good balance of serious science, topicality and more light-hearted content. As another general point, I found the website easy to navigate, but found the scrolling items from BMJ distracting. I disliked the red “New!” flags by letters and other items and thought this made an otherwise professional product appear amateurish. The current issue page is highly text laden and lacks colour. We’re spoiled by bmj.com and this is now the gold standard.

Editor's choice

Looking forward, looking back

I liked your introduction and your development of themes to reflect both innovation and your international readers. You write clearly and this was a good editorial.

News

Newsbites

Abortion in Great Britain and doctors' strike in Gaza strip
The first sentence was too clunky : “Medical students in the United States know little about military medical ethics, and many students are unaware of doctors' ethical duties under the Geneva Conventions, a survey of 1700 students has found.” It got better, but not much better. More news mouthful than bite.

Doctors go to Business School in India

Great story, quirky angle. I would have made more of this.
I’m not sure if the Newsbites are illustrated on paper, but online they look fairly lacklustre and it’s an effort to keep scrolling. The sole trauma pic was busy and too small.

Attending medical school in virtual reality

Go take an online module
For me, this was the pick of sBMJ. The topic is both interesting and pertinent to international student readers. The tone assumes an intelligent, young(ish), technology savvy audience, and it is the best structured piece this month.

Editorials

Now is the time for ehealth

IT in healthcare
An enjoyable and informative read, especially the stuff on electronic clinical decision support and the concept of E-iatrogenesis, which was new to me.

Charging vulnerable migrants for health care

The doctors's role?
I agree this is an important topic. The delivery was a little worthy and one sided at times, and I wonder if you would consider a short boxed alternative view to give some balance? Easier said than done, I know, and on balance, I think you did well to cover this emotive area.

Life

Head to head

Should all medical students be graduates first?
A good topic for a debate that won’t go away. Both parties argued cogently and it was a lively read. Two points. Given your international readers, might you in future include a view from countries where only graduates are admitted to medical school, for instance the USA? Secondly, when you republish something that has appeared in BMJ, what do you think of reproducing a digest of rapid responses to fuel the debate?

Technology and health care in the developing world

Using mobile phones. PDAs and the internet
I couldn’t read this, sorry. A combination of techno overload from previous articles and the amount of text I needed to scroll through online. I wonder how other online readers find this? There’s so little breaking up the text and it is hard going.

Industry funded patient information

The slippery slope to New Zealand
Important topic, pertinent to medical students. I liked the US and NZ comparisons and felt this was a credible view that students are likely to find useful. I’m being picky, but thought the standfirst could be more tightly edited: “Les Toop and Dee Mangin warn of the situation in their country”. It’s “warn of the situation in their country” that bothers me. How about “report”?

After tsunami

Visiting an Indian village
I wonder how and why this was chosen? There have been a lot of good Tsunami revisits, but this isn’t one of them. It’s quite introspective, doesn’t contain many general learning points and was too long. Again, my eyes were aching for an illustration.

Cutting class

Medical education is evolving
An honest, reflective personal view. Deola has a warm writing voice. I felt I’d met her for coffee and heard about her experiences in lectures.

When my patient died

Learning to cope
Stunning writing. By turns harrowing and emotional, without resorting to melodrama. I think it’s important for sBMJ to keep revisiting death.

People

Clinical research on Mount Everest

Meet Monty Mython
What an interesting, inspiring and modest man. I liked this a lot. Ok, I was envious, we would have loved this for Careers. Well done. A minor quibble is that I couldn’t read the fact file illustration on line. It looked like little ants. I suggest leaving it off rather than having a microversion.

Careers

Shadowing the junior doctor

Use the time well
Excellent article. It ought to be part of the orientation packs that some trusts are starting to prepare for “shadowers”.
Is the history of medicine worth your while?

Doing an intercalated degree

An enthusiastic account. I think a few more practical examples of what she learned would help convey that enthusiasm to others.

Brainwave to brilliant innovation

Doctors becoming inventors
I’m not commenting on this, as Peter commissioned it for Careers and I’m biased.

Education

Prescribing in pregnancy

The last in our prescribing series
This has been a brilliant series and this last article is particularly good. I love the combination of case example Mrs P, didactic facts and sprinkling of anthropology.

Reducing perioperative blood use

Answering why and how
This didn’t do much for me. It read like a textbook. I got bored in the middle and clicked on skin things instead, as I thought there might be something to look at.
Distinctive skin signs

Take the picture quiz

Hurrah, pictures. What an enjoyable way to learn dermatology. I’ve been a fan of sBMJ picture quizzes for about a decade. I like to see what I can remember about parts of medicine I have little to do with, and learn something new, without too much effort. This one hit the proverbial spot. Hopefully students thought so too.

Holistic HIV care with HAART

Doctors have new responsibilities
This was good. I would have liked to see a boxed patient story.
Muscle weakness and wasting

Take the picture quiz

This quiz was particularly strong as the answers were so comprehensive and included learning points not asked for in the questions.

Cardiac patient simulators

Improving clinical examinations skills?
Great article. Please could you use new instead of novel? Novel is a work of fiction.

A brief history of plastic surgery

From ancient Egypt to World War 2, and beyond
This read more like an above average but not outstanding student essay. I’m not sure how it got into sBMJ.

Paper+

Counting CD4 cells cheaply

What can we learn from this diagnostic accuracy study?
Again, I’m a huge fan of Paper+. A particularly timely topic and valuable introduction to critical appraisal skills.

Frontiers

The month in research

Hysterectomy and incontinence, treating heart attacks, and nitric oxide
This page didn’t load, unfortunately, so I can’t comment on it.

Reviews

An ethicist on the ward round

An interesting perspective.
Good doctors teach us about life
One of those feel good articles that remind us why we went into medicine.

   

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