Who will win the Premiership, Mr Obama?

Abstract

Is it possible to read any publication without it mentioning Barack Obama, the man with all the answers? Can he tell us, for example, which of Liverpool and Manchester United will win the Premiership? Or how long the Jade Goody effect on uptake of cervical screening will last? Only God and perhaps Obama know. The JRSM has been as guilty as any with references to the new American President but the genius of Obama's success is that he is at the heart of the global debate on almost any topic. Farooq and colleagues begin this issue by using Obama as a journalistic hook for a bold plea for the feminization of orthopaedic surgery (JRSM 2009;102:124–5). Last year, Clare Marx was elected the first female president of the British Orthopaedic Association, a revolutionary gesture for a specialty caricatured by beer-swilling rugby-playing bruisers. Hence inevitably female medical students view a career in orthopaedic surgery as too physical, a hindrance to family, biased towards men and a submission to antisocial hours. But the authors argue that female role models, and the change in work pattern forced by the European Working Time Directive, might help women to ‘smash through the reinforced concrete ceiling of orthopaedic surgery’. A more balanced workforce will also help better serve patients, they conclude. Meanwhile, Minhas and Wendt focus more keenly on Obama and his health policy (JRSM 2009;102:129–33). Obama's attention has naturally been on the US economy but should that excuse the fact his victory speech failed to mention healthcare, and only a passing reference was made in his inauguration speech? Nonetheless, healthcare will come under increasing focus, argues Noam Chomsky, because of the unsustainable financial impact on corporate America. Obama's strategy on healthcare is not only dictated by the state of the economy but also by the legacy of his current Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. Her brand of ‘Hillarycare’ was criticized by experts, employers and republicans. Obama's reforms are unlikely to stretch to ‘socialized medicine’, in other words an NHS-type system, argue the authors, but the US system holds a perpetual fascination for UK policy-makers who look to it for useful lessons and welcome US companies and ideas to the NHS. A glass of dry white wine, supper en famille and 15 minutes on a back massage machine might be taken from Barack Obama's book of top 10 relaxation tips from the master of the world. Instead, this is the preferred method of winding down at the end of the working day for Trisha Greenhalgh, the mistress of ‘doing the juggle’ – holding down an academic job while also being a wife and mother and managing major life events in the extended family (JRSM 2009;102:165–6). Greenhalgh kicks off our new series on the working days of 21st-century medics. A must read for everybody seeking to smash a reinforced concrete ceiling or just escape Barack Obama for a few minutes.