2012 was a record year for doc2doc in many respects. We have had an unprecedented amount of new members, posts, poll votes and recommends. On behalf of the doc2doc team and the BMJ Group –we would like to say a huge thank you for your excellent posts!

What have been the highlights?  I suppose it’s objective but as community manager, I would like to point out some general highlights from the year.

Firstly, who could forget the London Olympics and Paralympics! Whilst there was pre-games pessimism, once the opening ceremony had begun most of us were simply hooked. We had several discussions including are athletes superhuman and do paralympians with prosthetic limbs have an unfair advantage? This year will also be remembered for the Fabrice Muamba incident and subsequent discussion, and input we had from a football team doctor about screening players for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Another memorable discussion was Was it wrong to use medical care as a reason to track down Bin Laden?  This was a very important issue where politics and medicine intersected. Was this ruse justified and has it jeopardised the validity of future vaccination programmes? This discussion was also picked up by BBC World Service, where our very own Duane argued that this was justified.

The BMJ ran some interesting articles and debates this year which doc2doc reflected. Notably the article stating that doctors should take a neutral stance on assisted dying. The Student BMJ discussion about whether it is acceptable to prostitute yourself to pay your medical school tuition fees was also an electric debate. This year we also covered whether doctors were justified in striking over their pensions.

As always we have a lot of lively debates about medical ethics and spirituality.  We had a discussion about patients who believe in karma, parents who believe in divine intervention, should Christian healthcare workers be allowed to wear a cross and is it ethical to stunt the growth of a severely disabled child?

And of course, we had some great discussions about professionalism. Namely, should junior doctors should wear lab coats, should doctors sport facial hair and should doctors self prescribe?  

However, the top discussion of the year was Does it matter which medical school you go to? This is of course a topic that everyone has an opinion on and achieved  nearly 12,000 views and 900 poll votes.

You can read more about the most popular clinical discussions in doc2doc’s clinical champions’ favourite discussions of 2012. Below are the highest ranking discussions on doc2doc, with the number of views and replies factored in. Of course, this is just one way of looking at the impact of discussions, and I would encourage you all to post below the discussions that had the biggest impact on you below.

Most viewed (overall)

1. Does it matter which medical school you go to? 

2. Should circumcision of both sexes be outlawed unless medically indicated?

3. 50 things to do before you qualify.... 

4. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given? 

5. Was it wrong to use medical care as a reason to track down Bin Laden? 

6. Should Christian health professionals be allowed to wear a cross at work? 

7. What barriers or frustrations do you face when managing patients with long term conditions? 

8. Should junior doctors wear lab coats? 

9. Are doctors justified in striking in defence of their pensions? 

10. Should doctors have a social media profile?

Most commented (overall)

1. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given? 

2. Bush and Blair accused of War Crimes 

3. Should circumcision of both sexes be outlawed unless medically indicated? 

4. Should Christian health professionals be allowed to wear a cross at work? 

5. Which theory do you believe best accounts for human evolution? 

6. DOCTORS - not using Latin language? Why? 

7. Does Study of Islamic Theology Benefit Everyone? 

8. Should prisoners on death row be allowed to donate their organs?

9. What possible problems/challenges do you see/guess during London Olympics?

10. Is it acceptable for a student to prostitute themselves to pay for medical school?  

Most viewed and commented - General Clinical

1. Should circumcision of both sexes be outlawed unless medically indicated? 

2. 50 things to do before you qualify.... 

3. What barriers or frustrations do you face when managing patients with long term conditions? 

4. Should junior doctors wear lab coats? 

5. DOCTORS - not using Latin language? Why? 

6. What shoes do you wear at work? 

7. Vitamin D screening 

8. Would you use Wikipedia to treat patients? 

9. Are surgeons bad doctors? 

10. Should we have published this article about killing babies?

Most viewed blogs

1. Statins and health risks

2. My worst day in medicine

3. First take a history.... (One for the students)

4. I didn't know you were a consultant!

5. Interview with Mr.Jon Barrick, the CE of the Stroke Association