Reflections on HIS 2014: In praise of enthusiasts

The Journal of Hospital Infection
A M Walker

Abstract

Medical conferences have had a bad press recently. They have been accused of leaving nothing but indifferent research and an enormous carbon footprint. They are also likely to contribute to 'intervention bias' in healthcare, in that the speakers tend to be selected from among the more enthusiastic interventionists and charismatic optimists. But this weakness is arguably also an important strength, for they can be the vehicle by which participants are inspired to innovate and evaluate. It is difficult to predict the outcome of interventions aimed at prevention and control of infection because they involve interactions between people and complex systems, not to mention the invisible agents of infection. Progress therefore depends largely on the empirical approach - trial and error. In this context we need both enthusiasts to inspire trial and sceptics to expose error. Conferences deserve support for encouraging debate between enthusiasts and sceptics, for providing a forum for cross-fertilization between sub-specialties, and for inspiring trainees as well as practitioners. The papers presented in this issue of JHI illustrate the wide range of contemporary challenges in healthcare-associated infection, and summarize the 'state of ...Continue Reading

References

Aug 3, 2005·PLoS Medicine·John P A Ioannidis
Feb 6, 2007·American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine·Matthew E J Callister, Mark J D Griffiths
Jun 28, 2008·BMJ : British Medical Journal·Malcolm Green
Mar 29, 2012·JAMA : the Journal of the American Medical Association·John P A Ioannidis
Jan 13, 2015·The Journal of Hospital Infection·W H Seto
Jan 15, 2015·The Journal of Hospital Infection·J Gray
Jan 17, 2015·The Journal of Hospital Infection·Philippe EggimannJean-Luc Pagani
Jan 28, 2015·The Journal of Hospital Infection·J Walker, G Moore
Jan 31, 2015·The Journal of Hospital Infection·A-G Venier
Feb 2, 2015·The Journal of Hospital Infection·F Barbut
Feb 3, 2015·The Journal of Hospital Infection·M O'Riordan, F Fitzpatrick
Feb 14, 2015·The Journal of Hospital Infection·H Sax, L Clack
Feb 18, 2015·The Journal of Hospital Infection·M BouscambertB Lina
Feb 18, 2015·The Journal of Hospital Infection·H Humphreys, P J Jenks
Mar 3, 2015·The Journal of Hospital Infection·A KambhampatiB A Lopman
Mar 3, 2015·The Journal of Hospital Infection·E Castro-Sánchez, A H Holmes
Mar 5, 2015·The Journal of Hospital Infection·D Wyllie, J Davies
Mar 5, 2015·The Journal of Hospital Infection·P M Hawkey
Mar 7, 2015·The Journal of Hospital Infection·M Çakmakçi

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Acinetobacter Infections

Acinetobacter infections have become common in hospitalized patients, especially in the intensive care unit setting and are difficult to treat due to their propensity to develop antimicrobial drug resistance. Discover the latest research on Acinetobacter Infections here.

Related Papers

BMJ : British Medical Journal
Ian Roberts, Fiona Godlee
The American Journal of Medicine
Charlie Goldberg
Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Arlene Vetere, Rudi Dallos
© 2021 Meta ULC. All rights reserved