Author Archives: Braden O'Neill
Evidence Live 2015 for students – Join us in Oxford in April!
The first time I heard about ‘Evidence-Based Medicine’ was at 8:03 am on a cold November morning in my first year of medical school. The professor who ran our EBM course sighed as he discussed the course objectives: understand sensitivity … Continue reading
Medical journals are like magazines. Here’s why they don’t need to be.
Professional medical journals are full of advertisements for treatments. A typical issue of a journal- such as the British Medical Journal (BMJ) or the Lancet, two of the world’s most prestigious, based right here in the United Kingdom- consists of … Continue reading
ObamaCare and the limits of technology
It is well known that population health in the United States remains poor in comparison with high-income countries, and that improvements in health outcomes have not kept pace with those in similar nations. The recently implemented Affordable Care Act (ACA), … Continue reading
Music decreases kids’ pain during IV starts? Not so fast…
For those of us who don’t practice pediatrics day in and day out (and, I would imagine, for a fair number who do as well), having to do an IV start on a sick kid is a tough task. It’s … Continue reading
Patient stories on the internet: ‘people power’ or ‘pester power’?
Social media, including YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, have democratized the production of health information, making it possible for anyone with an internet connection and a computer to post their own health stories online. Much of this information comes in the … Continue reading
Homeopathic “vaccines” and Health Canada: Just say no
Vaccines have widely been considered the greatest advance in healthcare in the 20th century. Polio, mumps, measles: these are just three examples of serious conditions that harmed and killed thousands before the advent of safe, effective vaccines to prevent them. … Continue reading
Exercise improves brain function? Maybe…
One of my colleagues brought to my attention a recent article on the New York Times Well blog. The article reports results of a study in which castrated rats are randomized to do some running on a treadmill, or to … Continue reading