Is fake news contributing to increased Covid-19 BAME deaths?

We write this letter as doctors and proud members of the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community from a South Asian background. Recent Office for National Statistics (ONS) data suggest that the BAME population is disproportionately affected by Covid-19. Observations and experiences from within our family and wider community led us to explore how cultural aspects may account for these figures. Both intrinsic and extrinsic factors are likely to contribute to this unfortunate statistic.

Acute Medicine Finishing School: Preparing for the next step.

The transition from registrar to consultant in medicine is one that trainees feel ill prepared for and can be extremely stressful. We devised the concept of an Acute Medicine "Finishing School" for senior trainees in London training programmes and ran sessions on CV writing, a simulated consultant interview, consultant job planning, responding to complaints and an out of hospital emergency scenario. Our feedback survey indicated that our delegates' confidence levels in all of the above aspects increased following the sessions. Both formal and informal feedback highlighted the need and appetite for such a course. By ensuring trainees are trained and supported through this transition process, we can ensure the process is a less stressful one.

Trainee Update, 2017.

The Specialist Advisory Committee (SAC) of June 2017 discussed the sign off of procedural competences relating to Sengstaken-Blakemore tube insertion and transvenous cardiac pacing and the application for chief registrar roles.

Society for Acute Medicine Trainee Update, 2017.

Tehmeena Khan has replaced Sanjay Krishnamoorthy as a Trainee Representative for SAM. We would like to thank Sanjay for all his hard work and contribution during his tenure as Rep. Tehmeena is a final year trainee from North East & Central London. Tehmeena's specialist skills are Leadership, Management and Quality Improvement. She has previously been a Darzi Fellow and has undertaken a Winston Churchill Fellowship. She has recently joined the Health Foundation Q Community.

Lessons from across the Atlantic: an overview of hospitalist medicine in the USA.

In some healthcare systems, patients are cared for by single organ, or single system, specialists; this undeniably has a place in high-quality, effective patient care. A patient who is having a myocardial infarction would understandably want to be under the care of a cardiac specialist to ensure their treatment is effective, evidence based, and up to date. However, in the current climate of an ageing population, long-term chronic diseases and patients with multiple comorbidities, we are in need of generalist inpatient physicians too. After all, a frail, cognitively impaired, diabetic octogenarian with advanced renal impairment who is having an acute coronary syndrome is very different from a middle aged individual with an acute coronary syndrome. Hospitalist medicine in the USA provides this high-quality generalist inpatient medical care. This article explores the model at Rush University Medical Center in -Chicago and any lessons we in the UK could learn from them.