To sustain maternal and newborn health in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime, midwifery must be prioritised
Following the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in August 2021 and the Taliban’s rapid…
Author: British Medical Journal
UK’s foundation training programme for 2022 was oversubscribed by almost 800 places
The level of oversubscription to the 2022 UK foundation programme is higher than in previous…
Progress to eliminate racial discrimination in complaints against doctors is too slow, say leaders
Doctors’ leaders have urged the General Medical Council (GMC) to do more to stamp out…
We need to optimise genome surveillance and tracing of SARS-CoV-2 variants
Whole genome sequencing has been crucial in studying the evolution and genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2…
When I use a word . . . . Listening to the patient
Listen“Listen to the patient; he is telling you the diagnosis.” I should be surprised if…
Covid-19: Pandemic has shown that science can widen inequalities, says WHO head
The covid-19 pandemic has been exacerbated by underinvestment in public health, an “infodemic” of false…
Russia’s war: Why The BMJ opposes an academic boycott
If truth is the first casualty of war, the second is health and wellbeing. BMJ…
Tom Nolan’s research reviews—10 March 2022
Switching hourEvery GP has a handful of patients who ask that their medication comes from…
Most female doctors return part time after maternity leave, analysis shows
Fewer than two in five female doctors work full time when they return from maternity…
Teenager with autism and rare kidney disease can seek transplant, judge rules
A High Court judge has ruled that a teenager with autism, ADHD, and a complex…
We cannot afford to repeat these four pandemic mistakes
As a physician, one of the hardest parts of the covid-19 pandemic was watching patients…
Increasing vaccine uptake . . . and other stories
Vaccine hesitancyJournalists and politicians use the phrase “vaccine hesitancy” to explain why people remain un-immunised…
Global, regional, and national burden of diseases and injuries for adults 70 years and older: systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease 2019 Study
AbstractObjectivesTo use data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2019…
The public finance cost of covid-19
Official figures show that, globally, the covid-19 pandemic has so far claimed 5.8 million lives.1…
Elections loom large in France’s pandemic policies
Doctors in France have mixed views about the government’s handling of the covid-19 pandemic, but…
Fuel poverty is intimately linked to poor health
People are said to be experiencing fuel poverty when they cannot afford to heat their…
Services for children with gender dysphoria need fundamental reform, says interim review
A “fundamentally different” service model should replace the current system for assessing, caring for, and…
Review of gender identity services for children and young people
Contemporary clinical practice presents us with day-to-day challenges which are a far cry from many…
Clinical severity of, and effectiveness of mRNA vaccines against, covid-19 from omicron, delta, and alpha SARS-CoV-2 variants in the United States: prospective observational study
AbstractObjectivesTo characterize the clinical severity of covid-19 associated with the alpha, delta, and omicron SARS-CoV-2…
Covid-19: Ukraine conflict calls Russia’s vaccine diplomacy into question
Although Russian covid vaccines are licensed in over 70 countries, their success on the international…
Covid-19: Coalition pledges $42m to develop broad protection vaccine against betacoronaviruses
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has pledged up to $42m to support the…
It’s time to stop infant formula marketing practices that endanger our children
As societies, we are failing to protect children and families from the marketing of products…
Conversations about financial hardship should not be off limits
Salisbury asks whether healthcare staff should pay more attention to poverty.1 Financial hardship is both…
Stronger efforts are needed to safeguard the nutrition of school aged children
Climate change, weather, and climate variability—as shown by the increasing frequency of extreme weather events,…
NHS App should be new “front door” to NHS in England, says health secretary
Technology and in particular the NHS App should become the new “front door” to the…
Covid-19: Florida surgeon general says state will be first not to recommend vaccination for children
A doctor who appeared in a video tweeted by Donald Trump questioning the need for…
Obstructive sleep apnoea/hypopnoea syndrome and obesity hypoventilation syndrome in over 16s: summary of NICE guidance
In this article by Sharangini Rajesh and colleagues (BMJ 2021;375:n2360; doi:10.1136/bmj.n2360), the article title was…
Diagnostic reasoning: a single entity diagnosis is often inadequate
I enjoyed Brush and colleagues’ review of diagnostic reasoning, especially the figures illustrating the relation…
Benefits and harms of direct oral anticoagulation and low molecular weight heparin for thromboprophylaxis in patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery: systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised trials
AbstractObjectiveTo systematically compare the effect of direct oral anticoagulants and low molecular weight heparin for…
David Oliver: Medicine should be a stronger ally to other health professions
Modern medicine relies more on multidisciplinary clinical teams and on the wider systems of care…
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Ethnic health inequalities in the NHS
Health inequalities are unfair and avoidable differences in health among different groups within society. These…
A young man with red eye
A man in his 30s had left eye redness for three days. He attended a…
Solving retention to support workforce recovery post-pandemic
Rammya Mathew, GP and quality improvement lead for Islington GP Federation“Since I started as a…
Disseminated cutaneous gout
This is cutaneous disseminated gout on the abdominal wall of a man in his 40s…
Let’s develop multiple layers of primary care
The BMJ has published many good articles about GPs, their roles, and the future of…
Medicine’s gender pay gap is still a glaring manifestation of pervasive inequality
The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is the hope of a world free…
Diagnostic reasoning: maximise trainees’ clinical experience
Brush and colleagues point out that diagnostic reasoning is a seriously under-researched and under-taught area…
Ukraine invasion: 16 health facilities have been attacked, WHO confirms
The World Health Organization has verified 16 reports of attacks on health facilities in Ukraine…
Should Western science institutions and scientists boycott their Russian equivalents?
The question inevitably arises whether Western universities, research institutes, journals, and scientists should refuse to…
Helen Salisbury: The wrong prescription for primary care
When medical consultations go wrong it’s sometimes because the doctor didn’t listen, and instead of…
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Why I play in a brass band
“When you’re playing in the brass band, the only thing you think about is the…
Pandemic panic and indiscriminate prescriptions drive India’s antimicrobial resistance
There’s a stark difference in how high and middle to low income countries have been…
Risk of breast cancer with HRT depends on therapy type and duration
The studyVinogradova Y, Coupland C, Hippisley-Cox J. Use of hormone replacement therapy and risk of…
Rammya Mathew: Emotional toll of being a junior doctor
Watching the TV adaption of Adam Kay’s book This isGoing to Hurt took me back…
Ketamine for suicidal ideation: heed lessons from opiate epidemic
The use of ketamine in mental health is controversial. Psychiatry does not need to do…
Which antihypertensive treatment is better for mild to moderate hypertension in pregnancy?
In this article by Danielle Ashworth and colleagues (BMJ 2022;376:e066333; doi:10.1136/bmj-2021-066333), the definition of mild…
Ukraine invasion: Why I fear for Ukraine’s healthcare workers
For anyone who has paid attention to the Syrian conflict over the past 11 years,…
Lancet will not retract discredited paper on tissue engineered trachea transplants
The Lancet has said that it will not retract a 2008 paper on tissue engineered…
Moving from self-responsibility to blaming clinicians
I was saddened to read about Philip Mitchell being found guilty of negligence regarding periconceptional…
How many GPs do we need? The answer is not a number
Planning the workforce is harder than guessing the number of general practitioners needed.1 We need…