Best wishes for 2004!

BMJ Learning

There is a new on-line resource called ‘BMJ Learning’. This is currently a free service, targeted particularly at Primary Care in the UK, but of general educational interest. You have to register with your email address and set a password. There is a module that I have written called ‘Understanding Statistics’ under the interactive cases section. This covers the topic of presenting results in relative and absolute terms using Clopidogrel as an example. Feel free to try it out! There will be a more advanced module in February this year covering confidence intervals and statistical significance.

The web address is http://www.bmjlearning.com

Delayed Antibiotic Prescriptions

Those interested in the use of deferred antibiotic prescriptions may be interested in two articles in the November issue of the British Journal of General Practice and an accompanying editorial outlining our ongoing experience with children who have acute otitis media.

The references are:

• Cates C. Delayed prescriptions in primary care. Br J Gen Pract 2003;53(496):836-7.

• Edwards M, Dennison J, Sedgwick P. Patients' responses to delayed antibiotic prescription for acute upper respiratory tract infections. Br J Gen Pract 2003;53(496):845-50.

• Arroll B, Kenealy T, Kerse N. Do delayed prescriptions reduce antibiotic use in respiratory tract infections? A systematic review. Br J Gen Pract 2003;53(496):871-7.

• There is also an interesting editorial in the BMJ on the same topic by Bruce Arroll published in December of this year. This can be found at http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/327/7428/1361 or in the print journal the reference is:

• Arroll B, Kenealy T, Goodyear-Smith F, Kerse N. Delayed prescriptions. BMJ 2003;327(7428):1361-1362.

• Finally a paper from the USA has coined a new acronym for delayed prescriptions as SNAP (safety net antibiotic prescription). I wonder if this will catch on?

• Siegel RM, Kiely M, Bien JP, Joseph EC, Davis JB, Mendel SG, et al. Treatment of Otitis Media With Observation and a Safety-Net Antibiotic Prescription. Pediatrics 2003;112(3):527-531.