Mice-level research, by Kat Ritchie

We invite Dr Tim Senior to reflect on being a GP for disadvantaged groups. He discusses General Practitioners at the Deep End, an initiative involving 100 general practices serving the most socio-economically deprived populations in Scotland.

Tim works at Tharawal, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health service in Western Sydney, and is also a prolific writer and thought-leader in Australian general practice. Although Tim has never advertised the fact, @TimSenior plus @realDonaldTrump together have almost as many twitter followers as @KimKardashian.

Justin calls out a couple of Australian researchers who overplayed a ‘breakthrough’ anti-ageing pill that has only been tested in mice.  In doing so, Justin happily overplays his own role in the subsequent Media Watch TV episode where he was (very briefly) shown raising an eyebrow about the miracle pill.

And we introduce the new segment ‘Liz’s special source’.

This segment is a chance for Liz to showcase a reliable, independent source of medical information. First up is the Trip Database, which Liz actually uses mid-consultation.

Tim is wise, Liz is sharp, and Justin can only admire them both from the shallow end.

References: 

General Practitioners at the Deep End, University of Glasgow website

Tim Senior on twitter

Media love a miracle, Media Watch episode 3 April 2017, ABC television.

Trip database, which describes itself as “a smart, fast tool for you to find high-quality clinical research evidence”. And we agree.