Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
1 General Medical Council. Duties of a doctor. London: GMC, 1997. 6 Lloyd-Jones G, Margetson D, Bligh JG. Problem-based learninga coat of
2 Medical Manpower Standing Advisory Committee. First report. London: many colours. Med Educ 1998;32:492-4.
Department of Health, 1992. 7 Wade V, Silagy C, Mahoney S. A prospective randomised trial of an urban
3 General Medical Council. Tomorrows doctors. London: GMC, 1993. general practice attachment for medical students. Med Educ 1998;32:
289-93.
4 Bligh J. From the editor: continuity and change. Med Educ 1998;32:229.
8 Newble DI, Jolly BC, Wakeford RE. The certification and recertification of
5 Eitel F, Moore-West M. Problem based learningand then? In: Majoor doctors: issues in the assessment of clinical competence. Cambridge: Cambridge
GD, Van Vleuten CPM, Vluggen PMJ, Hansen PA, eds. Med ed 21: an University Press, 1993.
account of initiative for change in medical education in Europe for the 21st cen- 9 Rosenthal J, Ogden J. Changes in medical education: the beliefs of medi-
tury. Amsterdam: 1997. cal students. Med Educ 1998;32:127-32.
further work is needed. Again editors and readers will Michael Docherty Professor of rheumatology
enjoy restraint. Indeed, this is the part of the paper City Hospital, Nottingham NG5 1PB
where authors often run amok. There is nothing to Richard Smith Editor, BMJ
stop you writing another piece that is all speculation,
but dont corrupt your evidence with speculation.
1 Hall G, ed. How to write a paper. London: BMJ Books, 1996.
Other subheadings might sometimes be needed, 2 Ad Hoc Working Group for Critical Appraisal of the Medical Literature.
but we think that our suggested structure should fit A proposal for more informative abstracts of clinical studies. Ann Intern
Med 1987;106:598-604.
most studies. Although some may find uniform 3 Taddio A, Pain T, Fassos FF, Boon H, Hersich L, Einarson TR. Quality of
structuring difficult and even restrictive,8 we believe nonstructured and structured abstracts of original research articles in the
BMJ, the CMAJ and the JAMA. Can Med Assoc J 1994;150:1611-5.
that our proposed structure should reduce overall 4 Begg CB, Cho M, Eastwood S, Horton R, Moher D, Lokin I, et al. Improv-
length; prevent unjustified extrapolation and selective ing the quality of reporting of randomised controlled trials. The
CONSORT statement. JAMA 1996;276:637-9.
repetition; reduce reporting bias; and improve the 5 Doherty M. Uniform structured formats for scientific communications:
overall quality of reporting. Such a supposition could how far should we go? Ann Rheum Dis 1997;56:81-2.
6 Horton R. The rhetoric of research. BMJ 1995;310:985-7.
readily be tested. We invite comment from authors and 7 Gore SM, Jones G, Thompson SG. The Lancets statistical review process:
areas for improvement by authors. Lancet 1992;340:100-2.
readers of the BMJ, and if reaction is positive then we 8 Greenhalgh T. Commentary: scientific heads are not turned by rhetoric.
will introduce structured discussions. BMJ 1995:310:987-8.
Papers pp 1235, he national confidential inquiry into suicide about the accurate clinical quantification of risk, a
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