When staging becomes screening: public education is the key
Lessing’s experience with incidentalomas raises important questions around cancer staging, overdiagnosis, and informed patient consent.1Cancer…
Author: British Medical Journal
Longitudinal data on covid-19 immunity could be collected from medical records
Baraniuk reviews what we know about natural and vaccine induced immunity to SARS-CoV-2.1 Vaccines for…
Medication adherence in cardiovascular medicine
AbstractCardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death globally. While pharmacological advancements have improved the…
Vaccinating healthcare workers against covid-19
Parliament’s decision to make vaccination against covid-19 a condition of employment for care home workers12…
Evaluation of an intervention targeted with predictive analytics to prevent readmissions in an integrated health system: observational study
AbstractObjectivesTo determine the associations between a care coordination intervention (the Transitions Program) targeted to patients…
Covid-19: Charity offers scholarships to bereaved children of healthcare staff
A UK charity is offering education scholarships worth £5000 (€5600; $6900) a year to children…
Guinea reports west Africa’s first ever case of Marburg virus disease
West Africa’s first ever case of Marburg virus disease, an epidemic prone disease with high…
Teaching Careers Clinic
Practical examinations, virtual teaching Grace George, foundation year 1 doctor, Northumbria NHS Foundation Trust, academic…
Reducing risk of childhood obesity in the wake of covid-19
The swift and necessary public health response to the covid-19 pandemic has had detrimental consequences…
Commentary: My pandemic grief and the Japanese art of kintsugi
After the loss of my husband to covid-19, I kept working and tried not to…
Covid grief has cracked us open: how clinicians respond could reshape attitudes to bereavement—an essay by Lucy Selman
Grief and death have something crucial in common: an incidence of 100%. The ache of…
Doctors have faced “worrying levels of abuse” in past month, BMA reports
Just over half (51%) of GPs and 30% of hospital doctors have reported experiencing verbal…
A history of psychiatry in 1500 words
Psychiatry today, perhaps more than any other branch of medicine, has continuities with the past….
Covid-19: How effective are vaccines against the delta variant?
“Two days after my first symptoms, I began to feel seriously ill,” wrote BBC TV…
Covid-19: Uganda’s low inpatient numbers mask high community infection as desperate patients turn to herbs
One month ago, Uganda was badly hit by the covid-19 delta variant that has been…
Presumed consent and sharing medical data: Scottish register allows researchers to approach patients
Salisbury wonders whether presumed consent is enough for sharing medical data and concludes that data…
BMA is to survey trainees over industrial action for exclusion from pay award
Junior doctors in England will be surveyed on whether they wish to consider any form…
Sheila Cameron Fowler
Sheila Cameron Fowler started her career as a GP in the early 1960s as an…
Parents of brain damaged girl enlist US and Israeli politicians to maintain treatment as legal options run out
The parents of a two year old girl with serious brain damage have enlisted politicians…
Violence against women and girls
Violence against women and girls is regularly making headlines in the UK, gaining prominence with…
Covid-19: Junior doctors write to young people to acknowledge vaccine concerns
A group of junior doctors from Scotland have written to young people in their age…
Improving the evidence on health inequities in migrant construction workers preparing for big sporting events
To host big sporting events such as the Olympic Games and the Fédération Internationale de…
Trust boss gets GMC warning for failing to mention that doctor he referred had raised concerns
An NHS boss who wrongly assured the General Medical Council that a doctor he was…
A new leader for the NHS in its summer of discontent
Amanda Pritchard is the new chief executive officer of NHS England and the first woman…
Covid-19: All 16 and 17 year olds in the UK to be offered first vaccine dose
All 16 and 17 year olds in the UK will be offered a first dose…
Scotland intends to set up safe spaces for drug users in defiance of UK government
The Scottish government is set to override UK opposition and set up safe consumption rooms…
Calcification in arteries . . . and other stories
Progression of aortic stenosisThere’s an inverse relation between calcification in arteries and calcification in bone….
Swooning, stereotypes, and observing a birth—the Sharp Scratch roundup
Have you tried turning it off and on again?Andrew MacFarlaneYou are now locked out of…
Why Cuba developed its own covid vaccine—and what happened next
Rather than negotiating with pharmaceutical giants or the Covax vaccine sharing initiative, Cuba bet everything…
The ripples of trauma caused by severe pain during IUD procedures
Examples of excruciating pain experienced during the fitting of an intrauterine contraceptive device (also known…
GP efforts to cut antibiotic use failed to curb spread of drug resistant E coli, evaluation finds
Researchers have called for a more radical, multisectoral approach to halting the rise in drug…
Should covid vaccination be mandatory for health and care staff?
Yes—Michael ParkerPatient safety is ultimately the responsibility of health and social care institutions. With regard…
Terminal decline in objective and self-reported measures of motor function before death: 10 year follow-up of Whitehall II cohort study
AbstractObjectivesTo examine multiple objective and self-reported measures of motor function for their associations with mortality.DesignProspective…
Effect of low glycaemic index or load dietary patterns on glycaemic control and cardiometabolic risk factors in diabetes: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
AbstractObjectiveTo inform the update of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes clinical practice…
United States trails other rich countries on almost every measure of health, report finds
The US is a distant outlier in delivering quality healthcare, a study has found, lagging…
Taking BMJ investigative journalism into a new era
British members of parliament fiddling with their expenses, the treatment of Windrush immigrants, and the…
Patient partnership: a roundup from the BMJ patient advisory panel
TheBMJ has long been committed to partnering with patients and the public. In 2014 it…
Changing the implied consent model for investigations is not easy
Lessing highlights the significant distress that can result from unexpected incidental findings on follow-up imaging.1Unnecessary…
Mask related acne: using barrier tape with respirators may contravene safety standards
Rudd and Walsh discuss facial skin irritation attributed to the wearing of “facial personal protective…
Covid-19: Most symptomatic children recover within a week, study finds
Most children who test positive for covid-19 and experience symptoms recover within a week, although…
David Oliver: Is more statutory power for the health secretary to intervene in the NHS wise?
One controversial feature of the recent health and care bill is the intention to confer…
“Hidden” cost of the pandemic: drug overdose deaths
bmj;374/aug04_3/n1929/FAF1faThe US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published two related sets of…
Vancomycin induced infusion syndrome
This is vancomycin induced infusion syndrome on the back of a man in his 20s…
Ward based management of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia
What you need to knowBehavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) can be exacerbated by…
Peter Kopelman: medical academic, educator, and obesity medicine expert
bmj;374/aug03_18/n1924/FAF1faCredit: University of LondonPeter Kopelman, who has died aged 70, rose from being a medical…
Helen Salisbury: Running on empty
Most years, there’s a noticeable slackening in the pace of GPs’ work over the summer….
An international medical student’s perspective
As an international medical student, I support the decision1 and believe it is a positive…
Points: Are we missing the point?
As an intercalating medical student, I admit that gaining educational achievement points was a motivating…
Cohorts of medical students will be unable to plan
Although I support the decision to exclude additional degrees and publications from the points system…
Will removing intercalation undermine our clinical academic foundations?
Intercalation inspires future healthcare professionals to engage in research. We need to inspire students to…