It’s not just spelling errors which medical writing needs to guard against. I think The BMJ editor’s proverbial blue pencil needs to be wielded in stylistic matters as well.
In this issue, in an article on Alzheimer’s disease the question is raised, “What treatments could the NHS roll out?” Unless we’re talking about beer barrels or a method of getting out of bed, could we please abolish the slang expression “roll out”?
How about saying, for example: offer, introduce, launch, or bring out?
And again, in the same issue in an article on private practice, Dr Tom Black is quoted as saying, “We were knee deep in debt.” Only knee deep? That doesn’t sound too bad. But then we learn that his practice was “about six months from bankruptcy.”
Perhaps he meant to say they were up to their necks in debt.
Rapid Response:
Re: Sixty seconds on . . . spelling errors
Dear Editor,
It’s not just spelling errors which medical writing needs to guard against. I think The BMJ editor’s proverbial blue pencil needs to be wielded in stylistic matters as well.
In this issue, in an article on Alzheimer’s disease the question is raised, “What treatments could the NHS roll out?” Unless we’re talking about beer barrels or a method of getting out of bed, could we please abolish the slang expression “roll out”?
How about saying, for example: offer, introduce, launch, or bring out?
And again, in the same issue in an article on private practice, Dr Tom Black is quoted as saying, “We were knee deep in debt.” Only knee deep? That doesn’t sound too bad. But then we learn that his practice was “about six months from bankruptcy.”
Perhaps he meant to say they were up to their necks in debt.
Yours sincerely,
Gabriel Symonds
[email protected]
Competing interests: No competing interests