bmj.com:

Research

Management of urinary tract infection

A randomised controlled trial of five different management strategies for urinary tract infections (UTIs) in primary care found that all five approaches achieved similar symptom control. There is no advantage in routinely sending midstream urine samples for testing, and antibiotics targeted with dipstick tests with a delayed prescription as backup, or empirical delayed prescription, can help to reduce antibiotic use, say Paul Little and colleagues. The accompanying cost effectiveness study found that dipstick testing with targeted antibiotics is likely to be cost effective if the value of saving a day of moderately bad symptoms is £10 or more, but caution is required given the considerable uncertainty surrounding the estimates. In a linked observational study, antibiotic resistance and not prescribing antibiotics were associated with a greater than 50% increase in the duration of more severe symptoms in women with uncomplicated UTIs. An accompanying editorial says that how doctors deliver care is as influential as the treatment itself.

More on UTIs published on 5 February:

Research

Use of venlafaxine compared with other antidepressants and the risk of sudden cardiac death or near death

In this large, population based study using the UK General Practice Research Database, the use of venlafaxine was not associated with an excess risk of sudden cardiac death or near death compared with fluoxetine, dosulepin, or citalopram, in patients with depression or anxiety. The accompanying editorial agrees that the risk seems no greater than for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and concludes that continued restriction on the use of venlafaxine on the grounds of cardiovascular toxicity seems inappropriate.

News

Most leading US medical schools lack rules on ghostwriting

A survey of the top 50 US medical schools found that only 10 schools explicitly prohibit ghostwriting, though not all define it, while three have authorship criteria that ban ghostwriting in practice. They propose an amnesty during which faculty members who have participated in ghostwriting could own up and suggest that from the academic year 2010-11 medical schools adopt an authorship policy that defines and explicitly prohibits ghostwriting.

More news published on 8 February:

US health spending surges to 17% of GDP

Comment

Haiti: I want to go back

Richard Villar, the surgical team leader for Merlin, writes about his recent experience of helping in Haiti as part of the UK's emergency response unit. "After three earthquakes and as many wars, I should be in control. Yet fresh back from Haiti I am not. As I grow older emotionally I become more involved, not less. As I become more experienced I find it harder to detach myself from my surroundings," he says.

Education

Endgames

This week's instalment of our new weekly educational clinical quiz is now live. Compiled from peer reviewed contributions from readers, it covers clinical medicine and statistics. There's also a prize quiz, pulled from the BMJ's sister product OnExamination.
This week's Endgames articles:

doc2doc

The not so green NHS

Do you strive to recycle every bit of paper and plastic at home but get frustrated at work when there isn't a recycling bin in sight? Is this the case at all NHS hospitals or is your hospital an exception? A waste management representative allegedly said: "As long as we have doctors and nurses who still can't put sharps in the right bin, what is the point in recycling?" Do you agree? Or is this a rubbish excuse? Join the debate at doc2doc, BMJ Group's global clinical online community.

Video

Submitting your research to the BMJ

We've produced a short video to help you find out about getting research published in the BMJ. It includes interviews with published authors and clips from some of the short films we often commission to accompany important research articles.

BMJ Group Awards 2010

BMJ Group Awards are back for the second year

The shortlists for the BMJ Group Awards 2010 have just been announced. The 11 awards include three new categories: primary care team of the year, secondary care team of the year, and junior doctor of the year.

The awards are run in association with MDDUS (Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland). They recognise individuals, organisations, and initiatives that have made outstanding contributions to health care. More than 700 nominations had to be whittled down to produce shortlists of a reasonable size.

For all except the lifetime achievement award the winners will be chosen by expert panels (see the shortlisted candidates for the 10 categories here). For the lifetime achievement award the 117 nominations were reduced to a shortlist of 10, choosing candidates on the basis of who has, over their working lives, made a unique and substantial contribution to improving health care, whether in clinical practice, public health, health policy, medical education, or medical research (see full list below).

Voting started on Monday 4 January; to vote for the lifetime achievement award go to bmj.com. Winners of all the awards will be announced on 10 March. For more information, or to book tickets for the awards ceremony, visit the BMJ Group Awards website. To find out more, watch a video of last year's event.

Find out more about the 10 shortlisted candidates for the BMJ Group Lifetime Achievement Awards 2010.