Personal reflective practice can lead to change
This week The BMJ provides plenty of ideas for readers to improve patient care or…
Category: BMJ
Reducing unnecessary preoperative testing
What you need to knowRoutine preoperative tests (such as electrocardiograms and blood tests) before low…
Cobblestone-like rashes on the penis
A young boy presented to the dermatology clinic with asymptomatic papillomatous brown plaques on his…
Overcoming “failures of imagination”—rethinking the US covid-19 pandemic response
“We did everything we could.” As physicians, we have uttered these words to countless families…
John Marks: outspoken former chair of the BMA, campaigner, and moderniser
bmj;379/oct05_13/o2393/FAF1faCredit: Nick SinclairThere is, it is reported, a convention to bestow honours on BMA chairs….
Health secretary must tackle NHS workforce and pay or face “painful winter,” leaders warn
Medical and healthcare leaders have bemoaned the absence of a plan for tackling the NHS’s…
No turning back on global open access
On 25 August 2022, the Office of Science and Technology Policy of the US White…
Digital consent: engaging patients with plain language and better communication
Signed informed consent is “a pragmatic step that can be easily handled and even enforced,”1…
David Oliver: The government’s “levelling up” agenda has gone into reverse gear
On 29 September the Guardian reported that England’s new health and social care secretary, Thérèse…
Scarlett McNally: Reversing the catastrophic effect of “ȷust one more” on retention of doctors
The stress-strain curve is a stalwart of orthopaedic exams. Its principles guide how implants behave,…
Erythema and erosion on the gingiva
This is pemphigoid on the gingiva of a woman in her 50s (fig 1).bmj;379/oct05_3/e071812/F1F1f1Fig 1The…
Partha Kar: Our international graduates need far better support
I’ll never forget saying goodbye to my father when I’d first come to the UK…
Putting serotonin in its place—again
Beyond discrediting the idea that depression is caused by a deficiency of serotonin amenable to…
Former rugby players may be 15 times as likely to develop motor neuron disease, study finds
The risk of neurodegenerative disease among former Scottish international rugby union players is more than…
The US needs to prepare to introduce the novel oral polio vaccine
On 13 September 2022, the United States was added to a list compiled by the…
Patients with developmental disability at higher risk of preventable harm in hospitals, study finds
A study has found that people with developmental disability are up to three times more…
What does “work” mean in the case of antidepressants?
For many people who think that depression is caused by low serotonin, an antidepressant “working”…
Lung cancer: NHS campaign aims to inflate numbers of early diagnoses
bmj;379/oct04_5/o2383/FAF1faDavid Poultney @In-Press Photography LtdThis giant pair of inflatable lungs is the centrepiece of a…
Association between initiation of fluoroquinolones and hospital admission or emergency department visit for suicidality: population based cohort study
AbstractObjectiveTo evaluate the association between initiation of fluoroquinolones and hospital admission or emergency department visit…
How to improve discussions about osteoarthritis in primary care
The studyVennik J, Hughes S, Smith KA, et al. Patient and practitioner priorities and concerns…
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Helen Salisbury: Being a GP in an unequal society
This week I learnt that England has the second highest income inequality in Europe, and…
Why I . . . play table tennis
It was the long hot summer of 1976 when Bryan Rhodes’ friend asked him to…
Junior doctors vote to ballot for industrial action
The BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee has voted to go to a ballot on industrial action…
Junior doctors’ pay: the dispute and what the future holds
On Saturday 1 October the BMA’s Junior Doctors Committee voted to go to a ballot…
Judge rebukes expert witness in injured baby case for series of failings
A leading neuroradiologist who was an expert witness in an injured baby case has been…
Labour pains left behind by a united and confident party conference
Labour Party conferences have been factional and unsettled affairs for some years. Health campaigning in…
Why it is important to discuss what antidepressants do
Kendrick and Collinson suggest that we overstepped the data in discussion of the relevance of…
Sixty seconds on . . . the “twindemic”
An epidemic of twins?Although the rate of multiple births in the UK has been rising…
Young women and anal sex: should we consider rectal PAP smear testing?
Thank you for drawing attention to the increase in heterosexual anal intercourse.1 In 1983 while…
Young women and anal sex: healthcare professionals must normalise questions about what is normal for many people
Discussion about sex, particularly the neglected topic of anal sex in women, is uncommon in…
Government must proceed with landmark anti-obesity regulations in England
Saturday 1 October 2022 was meant to be a landmark date in food policy, with…
Patients cut back on drugs to save on prescription fees as cost of living crisis bites
Patients are rationing their use of vital medicines to save on prescription charges in response…
Recognising lived experience is essential to empowering disabled patients
Disability is not rare: 15% of the world’s population—more than a billion people—are affected by…
Syphilis and gonorrhoea cases soar in US
Syphilis is surging in the US, with reported cases climbing 28% last year to 171…
Vaping is “unlikely to be risk free,” finds evidence review
Nicotine vaping is far less harmful than smoking cigarettes in the short and medium term…
John Millie Dow Galloway
bmj;378/sep30_3/o2333/FAF1faJohn Millie Dow Galloway (“Ian”) was born in Auchtermuchty, in central Fife, and attended Bell…
Henry Mc William Lyle
bmj;378/sep30_2/o2346/FAF1faHenry Mc William Lyle (“Harry”) was the first doctor in his farming family in Northern…
Replenishing the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria
The replenishment conference of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria on 21…
UK childhood vaccination rates fell last year in almost all programmes, figures show
Vaccination coverage for young children fell last year in 13 out of 14 routine programmes…
Lessons in resilience: what covid-19 taught us about preparing for the crises to come
As of September 2022, there have been over 613 million cases of covid-19 and a…
Torticollis in a child with otalgia
A 2 year old girl attended the emergency department with a slowly progressive, 10 day…
Implementation of covid-19 vaccination in the United Kingdom
Key messagesThe development of safe and effective covid-19 vaccines is one of the great success…
New government’s plan for health and social care in England
The new government has set out its plans for the NHS and social care in…
Multiple oropharyngeal ulcerations with acute myeloid leukaemia
These are multiple ulcers on the oropharynx of a 19 year old man with acute…
John Launer: The art of paying attention
I’m not sure that I’ve ever been an exceptionally compassionate or empathetic doctor, and it…
Stroke, diabetes, . . . and other stories
Stroke in people with type 2 diabetesIn Denmark, time trends of ischaemic stroke in people…
Ann Robinson’s research reviews—29 September 2022
Hope for psoriasis treatmentsPsoriasis is a serious global condition, and according to the WHO, has…
David Marsh: GP and l{-}{-}eading golfer who won a “small chunk of immortality”
bmj;378/sep28_23/o2342/FAF1faCredit: Peter Dazeley/Getty Images.The acclaimed golf writer Herbert Warren Wind reported in the New Yorker:…
A plan for unhealthy growth
The UK government’s plans for the NHS and the economy, unveiled last week, don’t bode…
Labour vows to invest in workforce to improve GP access and cut waiting times
Improving access to GPs and slashing NHS waiting times will be key priorities for a…