Dr Hairy’s Research Summaries, December 2017 (a bit late)

Slightly belatedly, Dr Hairy’s Research Summaries for December 2017 are now online. Subjects covered this time:

Improving access to allied health professionals through the Champlain BASE™ eConsult service: a cross-sectional study in Canada

Br J Gen Pract 2017; 67 (664): e757-e763. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X693125

The role of the Quality and Outcomes Framework in the care of long-term conditions: a systematic review

Br J Gen Pract 25 September 2017; bjgp17X693077. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X693077

Effectiveness of UK provider financial incentives on quality of care: a systematic review

Br J Gen Pract 9 October 2017; bjgp17X693149. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X693149

Perioperative resources for GPs

Br J Gen Pract 2017; 67 (664): 529-530. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X693437

Self-taken vaginal swabs versus clinician-taken for detection of candida and bacterial vaginosis: a case-control study in primary care

Br J Gen Pract 20 November 2017; bjgp17X693629. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X693629

Variations in presentation, management, and patient outcomes of urinary tract infection: a prospective four-country primary care observational cohort study

Br J Gen Pract 2017; 67 (665): e830-e841. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X693641

Non-antibiotic options for recurrent urinary tract infections in women

BMJ 2017;359:j5193

Antibiotics or NSAIDs for uncomplicated urinary tract infection?

BMJ 2017;359:j5037

Management of chronic pain using complementary and integrative medicine

BMJ 2017;357:j1284

National commitment to shared decision making

BMJ 2017;359:j4746

For more information about Dr Hairy’s Research Summaries, please visit http://www.drhairy.org/concrete5/index.php/research-summaries/

Dr Hairy and the QCQ, part 9

The ninth in a new series of puppet-animations about the adventures and misadventures of an ordinary (but rather hirsute) GP.

Dr Hairy goes to visit his Mum, accompanied by his daughter Jenny. Dr Hairy’s Mum appears surprisingly clear-headed, and she also seems not to be wearing any hairclips: in fact all her hairclips seem to have gone missing. Then Dr Hairy ventures into the cupboard under the stairs, and finds out where all the hairclips have got to… with hilarious results!

YouTube – https://youtu.be/mnJWNmhBNMg
Vimeo – https://vimeo.com/243144099

Dr Hairy and the QCQ, part 8

The eighth in a new series of puppet-animations about the life and misadventures of an ordinary (but rather hirsute) GP.

News of Dr Hairy’s outburst about the QCQ comes to the ears of the vengeful Dr Stead, who decides to pay Dr Hairy a visit to sort him out. In the meantime, we find out the truth about the yellow man Dr Hairy’s mother has been seeing in her house, and the mysterious writing he’s been putting on her walls.

YouTube – https://youtu.be/fACVxRH6SgU
Vimeo – https://vimeo.com/239346872

Dr Hairy’s Research Summaries, October 2017

The Research Summaries and Quiz for October 2017 are now online. Subjects covered this time:

The role of contraindications in prescribing anticoagulants to patients with atrial fibrillation: a cross-sectional analysis of primary care data in the UK

Br J Gen Pract 19 June 2017; bjgp17X691685. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X691685

Application of the 2014 NICE cholesterol guidelines in the English population: a cross-sectional analysis

Br J Gen Pract 31 July 2017; bjgp17X692141. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X692141

Long-term benzodiazepine and Z-drugs use in the UK: a survey of general practice

Br J Gen Pract 17 July 2017; bjgp17X691865. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X691865

Influence of the duration of penicillin prescriptions on outcomes for acute sore throat in adults: the DESCARTE prospective cohort study in UK general practice

Br J Gen Pract 14 August 2017; bjgp17X692333. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X692333

Symptom response to antibiotic prescribing strategies in acute sore throat in adults: the DESCARTE prospective cohort study in UK general practice

Br J Gen Pract 14 August 2017; bjgp17X692321. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X692321

Viewpoint: Domperidone and breastfeeding

Br J Gen Pract 2017; 67 (662): 408. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X692345

Global prevalence of antibiotic resistance in paediatric urinary tract infections caused by Escherichia coli and association with routine use of antibiotics in primary care: systematic review and meta-analysis

BMJ 2016;352:i939

Antibiotic resistance in children with E coli urinary tract infection

BMJ 2016;352:i1399

Substance misuse in older people

BMJ 2017;358:j3885

Vitamin D supplementation for women before and during pregnancy: an update of the guidelines, evidence, and role of GPs and practice nurses

Br J Gen Pract 2017; 67 (662): 423-424. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X692489

For more information about Dr Hairy’s Research Summaries, please visit http://www.drhairy.org/concrete5/index.php/research-summaries/

Petrushka: Proceedings of a Conference on Severe Epidemic Phytonotic Syndrome (SEPS)

I’ve been following the work of Peter McCarey, the author of this book, since I reviewed his online project The Syllabary (www.thesyllabary.com/) in 2006. The Syllabary is an attempt to produce a poem for every one-syllable word in the English/Scottish language, and Peter McCarey is best-known as a poet, but he’s also an experimental writer, and Petrushka is a work of experimental horror/science-fiction, somewhat in the tradition of John Wyndham. It purports to be a collection of papers from a conference about the alarming spread of a disease called SEPS, in which human beings find themselves sprouting leaves and thorns as they are taken over from within by plants. It’s a bit like Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids, but more documentary in style. This documentary approach does have its drawbacks, particularly in the second half of the book where one or two of the papers presented by ‘contributors’ other than McCarey himself – on subjects such as the impact of SEPS on social organisations, religion and art, its legal and ethical ramifications, and so on – get a little bit dry and theoretical. On the other hand there is a genuinely creepy conviction to the book: by the end of it you feel that this, or something like this, is actually very likely to happen as a result of our constant nibbling-away and tampering with the environment. There are a couple of very striking sections – one where an investigative journalist tracks down the first case of SEPS to a Russian villager who has started sprouting parsley, and another where an interview is presented, purportedly with someone from the future who has come back to set SEPS in motion as a means of stopping the human race in its tracks before it can entirely destroy the planet. The ideas are constantly interesting and provocative. There are moments where the combination of creepiness, intellectual excitement and elegant prose reminded me of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Dr Hairy and the QCQ, part 7

The seventh in a new series of puppet-animations about the life and misadventures of an ordinary (but rather hirsute) GP.

Grabber’s mother goes through a bright door, Grabber comes into some property, and Dr Hairy’s outspoken email about the results of his QCQ inspection finds its way to the Department of Health – with hilarious results!

YouTube – https://youtu.be/YOgYy2WooOI
Vimeo – https://vimeo.com/232352229

Dr Hairy’s Research Summaries, September 2017

The Research Summaries and Quiz for September 2017 are now online. Subjects covered this time:

Identifying primary care quality indicators for people with serious mental illness: a systematic review

Br J Gen Pract 3 July 2017; bjgp17X691721. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X691721

Diagnosis and management of perinatal depression and anxiety in general practice: a meta-synthesis of qualitative studies

Br J Gen Pract 2017; 67 (661): e538-e546. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X691889

GPs’ mental wellbeing and psychological resources: a cross-sectional survey

Br J Gen Pract 2017; 67 (661): e547-e554. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X691709

Empathy, burnout, and antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory infections: a cross-sectional primary care study in the US

Br J Gen Pract 17 July 2017; bjgp17X691901. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X691901

Helpful strategies for GPs seeing patients with medically unexplained physical symptoms: a focus group study

Br J Gen Pract 3 July 2017; bjgp17X691697. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X691697

Intrusive thoughts and images of intentional harm to infants in the context of maternal postnatal depression, anxiety, and OCD

Br J Gen Pract 2017; 67 (661): 376-377. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X692105

Harm caused by vaccines might vary between individuals

BMJ 2017;358:j3631

Should we allow overseas visitors free access to NHS services?

BMJ 2017;358:j3665

A growth reference for mid upper arm circumference for age among school age children and adolescents, and validation for mortality: growth curve construction and longitudinal cohort study

BMJ 2017;358:j3423

Disturbed grief: prolonged grief disorder and persistent complex bereavement disorder

BMJ 2017;357:j2016

Bad Medicine: The medical untouchables

Br J Gen Pract 2017; 67 (661): 363. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp17X691985

For more information about Dr Hairy’s Research Summaries, please visit http://www.drhairy.org/concrete5/index.php/research-summaries/

Treacle Pudding and Custard

Here’s something really peculiar – Treacle Pudding and Custard by Princess Indigo. It’s a series of comedy-videos about ‘a Commodore 64 who turns into an elephant and a ZX81 who thinks it’s a cat’. That’s a sufficiently offbeat concept in itself, but just to add to the strangeness the voices are produced by text-to-speech software, and the visuals consist mainly of a dreamy slow-motion shot of a pair of hands (with painted nails) playing across a computer keyboard. The entire project has a spaced-out, weightless feel, combining the funny and the banal with the tedious and just a touch of Samuel Beckett. And if you bother to look up the series creator, Princess Indigo, it turns out that (s)he’s some kind of transgender virtual persona (see https://returntocatmountain.tumblr.com/). If you’re into weird stuff, this just might be for you.