05.08.2021: The COVID-19 pandemic has turned medical education and training into lonely online studies. How can we ensure that the medical students still become fully fledged doctors? At this time, new cohorts of medical students are starting their studies here in Norway and abroad. We have put behind us a spring semester marked by the 'third wave' of the pandemic, with high infection rates, lockdown and the wait for our vaccines. Fortunately, this seems to be over, but some major questions remain: What will the autumn semester be like? Will society – and thus the universities – begin to return to a...

28.06.2021: There is a need to strengthen the evidence base for the Norwegian antibiotics guidelines. This base should preferably be grounded in clinical efficacy. Antibiotic therapy is not a static exercise. New studies are constantly being published, old truths are challenged, bad habits – and good habits – are shaken up and the resistance situation changes. The antibiotics guidelines are zealously discussed, both because antibiotics are widely used and thereby involve many patients and a large proportion of clinicians, and because inappropriate use harms both individual patients and society as a whole...

26.05.2021: The government has proposed that the use of hard drugs should remain illegal but not treated as a criminal offence. The government's proposal, Drug policy reform – from punishment to help, means that society's reaction to illicit drugs for personal use will be transferred from the justice sector to the health sector (1). Today, the use and possession of narcotics is penalised with fines and up to six months' imprisonment or a decision not to bring criminal charges followed by monitoring and drugs testing. This will change if the government gets its way. The police will continue to focus on use...

19.05.2021: Digital communication works well – for everybody, always? In this issue of the Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association, Tveter and colleagues publish experiences from the use of video consultations at the outpatient rheumatology clinic at Diakonhjemmet Hospital (1). The study shows that both therapists and patients were generally satisfied with video consultations for following up patients with rheumatic diseases. However, one-quarter of the patients felt that it was problematic not to be examined, and the therapists believe that video consultations are best suited for following up...

14.05.2021: While the general population is attempting to find a way back to their normal daily life, we must begin the discussion on how to live with SARS-CoV-2 as an endemic virus. The COVID-19 pandemic and the countermeasures adopted have been very costly in terms of suffering, death, the economy and jobs. The direct disease burden is a consequence of the number of individuals infected and the severity of their illness. Disease control measures have helped keep infection levels low in Norway, and ensured that those with severe symptoms have received good medical care (1). As a result of vaccination...

14.05.2021: More clinical intensive care studies are needed with outcome measures that are relevant to patients. Current intensive care practice has a much more solid empirical knowledge base than 20 years ago. Results from robust clinical studies have taught us that interventions based solely on insights into pathophysiology and pharmacology do not necessarily increase survival rates, and sometimes increase the risk of mortality. For patients on mechanical ventilation, this means that gentle ventilation trumps normalisation of blood gases, and that aggressive fluid resuscitation is best avoided for...

12.05.2021: Newly developed COVID-19 vaccines are being widely administered. Spontaneous reports from doctors on suspected adverse reactions have rarely been more important. Only a few days after the first international news reports of serious blood clots following vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine, several similar cases were reported in Norway (1, 2). Observant doctors reacted to unexpected and serious clinical pictures in recently vaccinated health workers who were otherwise in good health. The doctors reported these as possible adverse drug reactions (ADRs) via the melde.no webpage, and also...

03.05.2021: Clinical diagnosis of mild head injuries is difficult, and it is easy to resort to a CT scan for clarification. Biomarkers are set to play an important role. In 2013, the Scandinavian Neurotrauma Committee (SNC) published guidelines for the management of adults with minimal, mild and moderate head injuries (1). Here, a serum measurement of the brain injury marker S100B was included for the first time as an alternative to a CT scan for patients with a mild head injury and a low risk of developing an intracranial haematoma. Up to half of patients are in this category (2–4). Akre and Ingebrigtsen...