Tuesday 6 December 2011

Local Expert Patient Video Stories

I have some exciting news. Following on from the clear success of national initiatives like the NHS expert patient programme and the website healthtalkonline, we will soon be launching our own collection of patient narratives on video. These will be designed for the benefit of our own new patients who want to see previous stories. They will be available on DVD loan or (hopefully) on the web. The first patient has kindly agreed to be recorded and footage taken.

We hope to launch this exciting resource in the new year

Sunday 27 February 2011

Rate of Depression in Long-term Cancer Survivors: high or low or the same?

We have started working on this interesting question, and we already have a provisional answer which we aim to present at IPOS11 (Turkey). The question is as follows: is the prevalence rate of depression different in long-term cancer survivors cf the general population?


Its has taken some time to gather all the studies, namely 17. The answer depends on the comparison population and the time from cancer. But from the evidence so far I can reveal that the rate of depression in long term cancer survivors (5+ years) looks no different to the general population, including those in primary care.

The implication is that rates of depression gradually reduce with time although it is true that some will still be affected so its best not to ignor depression even in the long-term. The fact that many people do well is, of course, good news. We hope to present this formally very soon.

Saturday 5 February 2011

Top 100 People in Psychiatry....by research success

Research success can be measured by various research metrics, most notably citations, publications and H-index. Using these measures from Web of Science, I have just had help to compile the top 100 most cited people in psychiatry (and psychology). One question I have been asked is how much work is required to make it into the top 100 list?

Looking crudely at the number of peer reviewed publications, the ave number for a person in the top100 is 456!

A more sophisticated analysis would be by the H-index. So, to break into the top 100 you would need a H-index of about 60+; thats 60 papers each attracting at least 60 cites. To break into the top 10 you need a H-index of around 100. Thats 100 papers with 100 cites each. I perhaps have one. Thats 99 more to go then?!

The provisional list of the Top100 most highly cited scientists working in psychiatry is here:
 

aka Top100 psychiatrists worldwide