INVERSE AND POSITIVE CARE LAWS

It is interesting how (in my reading of journals) themes seem to come out of different journals and aren’t planned. Communication, difficult patients and our attitudes to them, and grumpy doctors are the theme for this edition. I shall have to try to cope with patients with chronic muscular pain better: they are one of the most challenging groups that any clinician would have to deal with, especially as I cannot discharge them from my care like those in secondary care can.

Congratulations to the British Journal of General Practice for reformatting the journal following the less than successful reformat last year. The use of a more readable font, the use of an extra colour and the effective use of white space means that this has made the Journal more readable. Added to this is the fact that there have been some thought-provoking pieces recently by Iona Heath (Don’t trust the government), Julian Tudor-Hart (Inverse care law lives on) and John Skelton (Communication skills are only at first base), which means that the Journal is beginning to lose the epithet … ‘worthy but dull’.

Dominic Faux

Each article is graded from 1–5

IMPORTANCE: ★ (very marginal) to ★★★★★ (essential reading)

EASE OF READING: ☻ (impenetrable) to ☻☻☻☻☻ (very clear)