Student BMJ November 2009

Quick round up of the most interesting things in the Student BMJ this month:
Apparently in the US, there is still a long way to go before Obama's healthcare reforms come into practice, with alot of comprimises being made which may end up leaving alot of people unhappy. An open letter from more than 400 doctors in the Us was written to the US government repudiating the outlandish claims made against the NHS.

A paper in the US journal of medical ethics asked the question about whether students should undergo 'doping tests' before undergoing exams to ensure that they are not taking drugs to boost their performance! The same way athletes are checked to be taking performance enhancing drugs, maybe students should too? Not sure what these performance boosting drugs are for students but I need to get my hands on them soon!

Studies have been released recently which confirm that the new working hours implemented by the EU have led to poor continuity of care and loss of teams in hospitals. Consultants were more likely than junior doctors to complain about the cut in hours and 64% thought quality of care had been reduced as a result of the changes.

There is a letter which emphasises the importance of 'traditional' CV writing and the problems created by the 'specific question' approach adopted by the foundation school application process. Things such as clinical audits, original scientific research, teaching and extra-curricular activities are important attributes. I quote 'Ensuring a breadth of good quality academic and non-clinical experiences during medical school leads to a solid basis for future applications'.

There is an article on 'medical professionalism' which states that most complaints made to the GMC are about a doctor's behaviour, and not their lack of knowledge. How can professionalism be assessed? Attendance? Voluntary participation? Completion of assessments on time? In the Us they found a link between negative student behaviour and later disciplinary action. On the other hand too much assessement of proefessionalism amongst medical students has been met with concern and anger. I think that professionalism amongst medical students is an important topic but I wouldn't want to think what my reaction would be if I was being taught it! I don't think teaching professionalism to all students is really necessary.