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Jury duty

Until a few years ago doctors were exempt from jury duty. I am glad that this exemption was lifted as the stint I did at the crown court in Swansea recently was one of the most illuminating two weeks I...

Informed consent – the Brexit test

The Medical Defence Union (MDU) runs courses on various medicolegal topics. I would guess people only ever attend these courses if they have an exam or an interview approaching as the subject matter is exceedingly dry for clinicians. I myself...

How to win presentation medals

Having been to many tens of thousands of ophthalmology registrar presentation competitions and seen the types of presentations that consistently impress the judges, as well as the ones that fail to make the grade, I feel it is my humble...

Phaco nightmares

I am interested in the stressful nature of cataract surgery from the surgeon rather than the patient’s perspective. It is an issue that has quite literally kept me awake at night. Part of getting to grips with a problem is...

Trainee personality types

Over the past two years I have attended quite a number of medical educational seminars and ‘workshops’ and have been a bit shocked at how out of kilter with reality the world of education seems to be now. It seems...

Existential Crises

Over the past few years and months, I have noticed increased numbers of my colleagues from all over the UK complaining about various problems with their jobs and life in general, and it seems that since the COVID-19 pandemic the...

The results of the last survey Apr21

There was a really fascinating response to the last edition’s practice variance survey. Strictly speaking, I cheated and this was not really about practice variation, but more about your impressions about what represents negligent practice. For the first time ever,...

The results of the last survey Jun21

Thank you so much again for participating in the survey. I have been asked to give several talks at regional teaching sessions about some of the issues I discuss in these articles and I am happy to continue to do...

The results of the last survey Apr23

*Please be aware that this data does not form part of a peer reviewed research study. The information therein should not be relied upon for clinical purposes but instead used as a guide for clinical practice and reflection. My thanks...

Ocular Dirofilariasis: a diagnosis on the rise?

Dirofilaria repens is one of 40 species of Dirofilaria. It is a zoonotic filarial nematode that commonly impacts dogs, however, human infection can occur through affected organs like skin, lung and eyes [1]. Although, there have been case reports of...