It was a most unexpected ending to the day. Rather than feeling joyful, that afternoon was filled with sadness. We had been building a wall on and off for twelve months; it was the year’s big project. Then the work was done, the site was cleared, and it was time for saying goodbye. I didn’t actually cry but it ... Read More »

Animal antics Posted by Joe Collier on 07/May/12 • Categorized as But seriously..
It was part of my job to set exams. One year I decided on a new approach – I would write questions that came at the curriculum from new angles. Within an hour of the exam finishing, angry students had arrived at my door. I had ... Read More »

It took some time to realise what was happening and it was wonderful. On the Wednesday of my week in Paris I had been to a film and had understood most of what was said. By the Friday, understanding spoken French was almost second nature. After six years, something had clicked. In aeroplane terms, I had got up enough speed ... Read More »

Until recently our feelings about views have usually differed. While my wife loves ‘untouched’ expanses of nature, the Cairngorms for example with not a house in sight, or miles of Atlantic rollers, my breath is taken away by man-made structures. The Roman aqueduct at Nimes blew my mind when I was a teenager, ... Read More »

This blog looks at how doctors are allocated to specific jobs within a training programme. It discusses some of the fairer strategies for doing this, and some which seem rather murky and misunderstood, and seem aimed at filling rota gaps rather than treating doctors as individuals who have a career plan in mind and a life outside work. When doctors raise this issue, they are often seen as just another annoying doctor complaining about their immediate frustrations with their job. In fact, the specific jobs doctors do in their core training years often affect what type of consultant they will be and what they will be doing for the rest of their careers, so this is a very justifiable concern for many people. Finally, the blog asks for suggestions from readers on how training jobs can be fairly allocated, whether this is through interviews, or prioritising doctors’ career plans or personal commitments in deciding who gets which job. How does it work in your specialty and are you happy with the arrangement? 

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Chemists are as bad as doctors in making fun of their work

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Analysing what makes a musician a successful profesional may be useful for doctors as well.

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A few days ago a mexican anaesthesiologist hit the news and every newspaper's front page by violating one of the most crucial rules and ethical codes that any physician should devotedly know and practice: the patient‐physician confidentiality bond.   Maybe she was bored or maybe she did not foresee the ... Read More »

Our recent holiday in Kenya was special. And we, to be more precise I, went with serious concerns. The UK had declared that civil unrest made the country unsafe for holidaymakers. Friends warned us about the dual dangers of altitude and buffalo – unlike lions and elephants, buffalo are plain spiteful. And research on ... Read More »

Quick’. ‘Look’. ‘Top of the trellising’. And there they were, just two metres away, a pair of goldfinches. I knew that they were around, we had talked about them often, but this was the first time I had actually seen them, and in our own garden too. They were small (shorter than a robin), and ... Read More »