How can I gain a patient’s trust?
Honesty is essentialJazz Sethi, founder and director of the Diabesties Foundation, says, “Language and communication…
Category: BMJ
Deaf awareness strategies in healthcare
ALL_EARS@UoS is a patient and public involvement and engagement group established to foster a working…
Phasing out smoking will help Labour narrow life expectancy gap, say doctors
Doctors and public health campaigners have urged the new Labour government to ensure that plans…
A thought experiment: what should be our priorities when we finally “declare war” on climate change and the destruction of nature
The Romans had a formal system of declaring war, the ritual of rerum repetitio. A…
The new Labour government faces stark choices over NHS funding
Labour’s plans for the NHS imply seismic changes in workforce performance and culture. They claim…
When I use a word . . . The languages of medicines—what street drugs are called
Naming street drugsI have previously discussed the problem of defining a street drug and the…
Court orders Japanese government to compensate people over forced sterilisations
Japan’s Supreme Court has ordered the government to compensate people who were forcibly sterilised under…
Covid-19: Are we seeing a summer wave?
Is the UK seeing another covid wave?May and June saw a rise in the number…
Bedfordshire hospitals told to act over inadequate maternity services
A shortage of midwives continues to put women and their babies at risk at two…
Conservative Party’s legacy on the NHS
The NHS is under new management. The Labour Party’s election win on 4 July 2024…
How will expansion of physician associates affect patient safety?
Too often what seems like a good idea turns out not to be. The NHS…
UK general election: Nine doctors are elected as MPs
Nine doctors have been elected as MPs in the 2024 UK general election.Four doctors are…
More healthcare professionals named on database listing payments from industry
A record 80.8% of health professionals who have worked with industry are now named on…
Breaking the plastic mould: rethinking single use plastics at medical school
Single use plastics are everywhere in healthcare, including medical schools. Over the past century, plastic’s…
Strategic enhancement of health literacy through social media in India
Richards underscores the pivotal role of health literacy in improving public health.1Research consistently shows that…
How to improve the NHS: the public doesn’t know the reality of the current service
I agree that we need a new public conversation about how to improve the NHS.1…
Lucy Letby is found guilty of attempting to murder premature baby after retrial
The former nurse Lucy Letby has been found guilty of trying to kill a premature…
Northern Ireland’s budget offers little hope for improving healthcare
On almost every indicator, Northern Ireland’s health and social care system performs worse than every…
Patient power: How one patient editor influences research
Why do you do it?There are three reasons. Firstly, I’ve always believed in citizens taking…
GMC’s use of term “medical professional” deepens row with BMA
The BMA has said that the UK General Medical Council’s refusal to recognise doctors’ concerns…
Rethinking international medical electives
What’s the point of an international medical elective? When I used to consider the benefits,…
We need a contract between the public and the NHS that focuses on prevention
Cunnett and Smith argue for a new public conversation about the NHS.1 But we must…
We need a royal commission to save the struggling NHS
The UK population is set to go to the polls in a general election on…
Brain fog in hypothyroidism: recovery or dementia?
Papautsky describes developing brain fog on starting chemotherapy for breast cancer.1 Brain fog affected my…
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Clarity is power—and ChatGPT can help
I fully support everything that Richards says about health literacy1 and want to mention two…
Artificial intelligence for neurodiversity
Beyond the extreme risks of artificial intelligence (AI)1 discussed by Sorich and colleagues,2 algorithmic bias…
US Supreme Court strikes down Sackler family’s immunity, casting Purdue opioid settlement into doubt
A $9bn legal settlement agreed between Purdue Pharma, the drug company whose misleading marketing helped…
Anaesthetist who sexually assaulted a child is jailed for eight years
An anaesthetist who sexually assaulted a girl aged under 13 who was in hospital for…
US surgeon general declares gun violence a public health crisis
The US surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, has declared gun violence a public health crisis, calling…
The patients bringing lived experience to research teams
In 2015, when the Cambridge Clinical Trials Unit launched its Patient Led Research Hub (PLRH)…
Police investigate hospital admissions and death potentially linked to zopiclone
Police in County Durham are investigating reports of seven adults who were taken to hospital…
Where is women’s healthcare in the political party manifestos?
All political manifestos for the 2024 UK general election have now been published, setting out…
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June top picks: finding your place in medicine
I write this article during my final afternoon in the house where I’ve spent much…
HPV: Cameroon fights back against one of the world’s lowest vaccination rates
Curious to gain knowledge about her own health, a young grandmother attended the launch of…
Acute painful crisis in adults with sickle cell disease
What you need to knowPain in people of Asian, African, Caribbean, Latin American, or Middle…
Peer support in chronic health conditions
What you need to knowPeer support can be particularly helpful at the point of diagnosis…
Sixty seconds on . . . hologram doctors
Are we bringing dead doctors back to life?That would be one solution to the recruitment…
Mpox: Virus behind new DRC outbreak is most dangerous strain yet, experts warn
A deadlier strain of the mpox virus is being transmitted directly between humans for the…
When I use a word . . . The languages of medicines—defining a street drug operationally
Defining street drugsI have previously discussed the difficulties in coining a dictionary-type definition of the…
Philip Morris: Leaked documents show how company tries to influence science and policy on heated tobacco
A series of leaked documents from the tobacco giant Philip Morris International has sparked concern…
Hospital doctors in Wales vote to accept pay offers
Consultants, junior doctors, and specialist, associate specialist, and specialty (SAS) doctors in Wales have accepted…
Re-evaluation of the traditional diet-heart hypothesis: analysis of recovered data from Minnesota Coronary Experiment (1968-73)
In this paper by Ramsden and colleagues (BMJ 2016;353:i1246, doi:10.1136/i1246, published 12 April 2016), the…
Australia’s vaping reforms will protect young people, say public health experts
Australia has become the first country in the world to restrict the sale and supply…
GLP-1 shortages will not resolve this year, EMA warns, amid concern over off-label use
The ongoing shortage of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP-1) agonists such as semaglutide (marketed as…
Infant deaths increased after Texas banned early abortions, study finds
Infant mortality in Texas increased after the state passed a law that banned abortions in…
E coli: Contaminated lettuce thought to be behind outbreak, as death is reported
One death has been linked to the recent UK outbreak of Shiga toxin producing Escherichia…
NICE recommends new gene therapy for adults with haemophilia B
The gene therapy Hemgenix (etranacogene dezaparvovec) should be made available on the NHS as a…
Pregnant women and older adults in England and Scotland to be offered RSV vaccination
Two new vaccination programmes to protect older adults and infants in England against respiratory syncytial…
The next government should support staff to improve care and increase investment
Opinion polls seem to agree that a Labour Government led by Keir Starmer will take…
What next for UK development assistance under the next government?
The United Kingdom was once seen as a global leader in the provision of development…