Textbooks & other media
- 03 Nov 2010
As someone who teaches health professionals about critical appraisal of research and its application to clinical practice, I was immediately interested in the content of this textbook. In my experience (and this of course is a massive generalisation) clinicians tend to already have a good understanding of general research design and knowledge about how to appraisal individual studies (e.g. randomised controlled trials and the like). What clinicians can be more uncertain about are issues such as how to distinguish a good systematic review from a bad one, how to read a meta-analysis, how to critically appraisal a clinical guideline, and what to do with qualitative research. Read more »
- 02 Nov 2010
Reviews of two post-World War Two movies on rehabilitation and community reintegration after acquired disabilities: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and The Men (1950). Read more »
"I don't know about you, but I'm terrible to accompany to any movie where there is even a suggestion of rehabilitation occurring..." William Levack writes about why he HATED "Million Dollar Baby (2004)" and "Breaking the Waves (1996)" - but also a bit about a movie he did like: "The Butterfly and the Divingbell (2007)", the story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, who writes his memoir by blinking after he suffers locked-in-syndrome following a devastating stroke. Read more »
Over the last five or six years it has become increasingly apparent to me that as a health professional I have had too little education in the history of the disability rights movement. So it was with interest that I took the opportunity to view ‘The Music Within' on DVD this week - a movie about the life of Richard Pimentel, the man attributed with pushing the Americans with Disabilities Act into law in 1990. Read more »
- 08 Jul 2008
In the 'advice you didn't need to know' column this week we have: how to prepare brains for invalids. These helpful hints come from a 1971 edition of the Edmonds' Cookery Book and were brought to my attention by my partner along with the comment: "I can't wait until you get sick." No advice about checking for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease were included unfortunately... Read more »
Gregory Kolt and Lynn Snder-Mackler edit this second edition of "Physical Therapies in Sport and Exercise" - a textbook intended for all health professionals who use physical techniques in the prevention, management and rehabilitation of injuries. Read more »
- 06 Oct 2007
"Perspectives on Disability & Rehabilitation: Contesting Assumptions; Challenging Practice" by Karen Hammell is textbook that introduces health professionals to theories of disability and rehabilitation that have arisen from the social sciences, and in particular from with the field of Disability Studies. This important textbook brings an area of study which has been largely neglected by the Health Sciences into the world of clinical practice and rehabilitation research. Read more »
- 17 Mar 2006
A review of 'The Knife Man' by Wendy Moore (2005) - a biography of the life of John Hunter, surgeon and anatomist of note from the 1700s. Read more »
- 10 Dec 2005
Directed by Henry Rubin and Dana Shapiro, "Murderball" is a documentary about the lives and exploits of the players in two wheelchair rugby teams - one from the Canada; the other from the USA - in the lead up 2004 Athens games. Read more »
Kath McPherson
