National drive to reduce harms from illegal drugs needs more focus on causes, warns watchdog
Efforts to tackle harms to society caused by illegal drugs are being thwarted by too…
Category: British Medical Journal
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Cost of living and workforce crises are creating two tier health and care system, CQC warns
The unsustainable pressures on England’s health and social care system are leading to a “two…
Sixty seconds on . . . AI socks
Pull the other oneOr, rather, both of them. A trial is underway of socks that…
Tom Nolan’s research reviews—19 October 2023
Rhythm and reviewsBack in those dark early days of my medical career it seemed that…
Menopause health checks for all women over 40 are unworkable, say GPs
A demand for the NHS to offer menopause health checks to every woman over the…
The illegal drugs market is changing—is the UK prepared?
Drug related deaths in the UK are at crisis levels. This is largely driven by…
Maternal and neonatal trauma during forceps and vacuum delivery must not be overlooked
Operative vaginal deliveries—forceps and vacuum assisted deliveries—are recommended as safe, acceptable alternatives to caesarean delivery…
C difficile and antibiotics . . . and other stories
Clostridioides difficile infection after antibiotic exposureA case-control study from the US quantified the risk of…
Annular papules on the legs
These annular papules and plaques with brownish, raised, and advancing borders (fig 1) developed bilaterally…
Sudden onset generalised yellowish papules
A woman in her 20s presented to the dermatology clinic with a seven day history…
Author’s reply to Pereira Gray and colleagues
I thank Pereira Gray and colleagues for debating my provocative contention that neither prevention nor…
Cost effectiveness of continuity in general practice
Bhopal says that prevention and better primary care are unlikely to save money.1 He undervalues…
Seven days in medicine: 11-17 October
Waiting listsMore people are waiting longer in EnglandA further 65 000 people in England joined…
Clinical effectiveness of septoplasty versus medical management for nasal airways obstruction: multicentre, open label, randomised controlled trial
AbstractObjectiveTo assess the clinical effectiveness of septoplasty.DesignMulticentre, randomised controlled trial.Setting17 otolaryngology clinics in the UK’s…
Septoplasty for nasal obstruction
Health resources everywhere are stretched in this post-pandemic era. The pursuit of effectiveness has led…
Rosuvastatin versus atorvastatin treatment in adults with coronary artery disease: secondary analysis of the randomised LODESTAR trial
AbstractObjectiveTo compare the long term efficacy and safety of rosuvastatin with atorvastatin treatment in adults…
The government’s maȷor conditions strategy must look beyond the NHS
Scarlett McNally, 23 SeptemberMcNally is right, the new strategic framework for major conditions accurately details…
General practices need a safety alert system, says RCGP
General practices should have a patient safety alert system which allows them to suspend non-urgent…
Gaza: “Unprecedented” bombing of hospital leaves hundreds dead and inȷured
Hundreds of people are believed dead and many more injured after Al Ahli Arab Hospital…
Covid-19: Up to 2% of hospital patients acquired infection after being admitted
Between 95 000 and 167 000 patients are estimated to have caught covid-19 in England’s…
Doctors’ strikes: Government agrees to hold talks with consultants
The UK government has agreed to hold talks with consultants’ leaders in a bid to…
Why there is new hope for the care of chronic diseases in Africa
Inequity has always been one of the biggest health concerns in African countries. For decades,…
Florida loses legal battle to keep covid data secret
The state government of Ron DeSantis in Florida, which manipulated covid data to show deaths…
Spinal metastases and metastatic spinal cord compression: summary of updated NICE guidance
What you need to knowImmediately contact the MSCC coordinator if a person with a past…
The not-so-average 70 kg man
I welcome Steuernagel and colleagues’ review of sex and gender bias in cardiovascular research1—a poignant…
Stroke patients should be offered at least 15 hours of rehabilitation a week, NICE advises
People who have had a stroke should be offered at least three hours of rehabilitation…
Doctors googling patients is a commonly broken taboo
Priya* is a foundation doctor working for a London NHS trust. Last year she worked…
Charity accuses minister of backtracking over community liver scan pledge
The British Liver Trust has accused the government of reneging on its pledge to introduce…
Implementing Labour’s NHS plans requires leaders to think and act creatively
With a general election in prospect, and opinion polls showing the Labour Party well ahead…
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Sexual and reproductive healthcare must be disability inclusive
In May this year, G7 leaders made an unusually political statement denouncing the “well coordinated…
The role of programming code sharing in improving the transparency of medical research
Abbasi says that the importance of sharing data and code from research is obvious.1 As…
A practical strategy for increasing representation of women in research
Abbasi says that the under-representation of women and ethnic minorities in clinical research is “nothing…
Scarlett McNally: Using clear information as a patient and surgeon
I wore a wig for a year after I had a stem cell transplant. The…
Alcohol treatment services should target health inequalities, say draft guidelines
Clinical services for people with alcohol dependency should focus on equitable access and personalised treatment…
BMA chief urges prime minister to engage in strike talks
The BMA’s chair of council, Philip Banfield, has urged Rishi Sunak to accept consultants’ invitation…
We need better care for long covid and ME/CFS
As a patient with severe long covid and myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), I was pleased to…
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail: the decline of life support training for medical trainees
In 2021, Health Education England removed advanced life support as a mandatory component of foundation…
Linda Cardozo: energetic urogynaecologist and researcher whose focus was on women’s health
bmj;383/oct17_6/p2378/FAF1faIn 2014 Linda Cardozo, the UK’s first professor of urogynaecology, received an OBE. Cardozo was…
Long covid: Researchers “extremely angry” at Boris Johnson’s “bollocks” comment
Clinicians who led research on long covid from early on in the pandemic and who…
Basic income is a popular idea, but small pilots cannot produce generalisable evidence
In June 2023, the thinktank Autonomy announced a proposal for England’s first ever pilot of…
Paramedics and net zero: There is much more we can do to decarbonise our fleet
Although the role of a paramedic is increasingly diverse, most of this profession will have…
How do I prepare for a non-resident on-call shift?
Be ready to leave in a hurryBenjamin Millette, consultant in intensive care medicine and anaesthetics,…
Kindness: treating others the way you’d like to be treated
“At the end of the day people won’t remember what you said or did, they…
Gaza: Israel’s hospital evacuation orders are “death sentence for the sick,” says WHO
The World Health Organization has condemned Israel’s repeated orders to evacuate 22 hospitals in northern…
Doctors should be competent, curious, and not unkind
Doctors need to be competent and curious. They must not be unkind. But to stipulate…
Kindness: a subjective ideal
McCartney highlights the situations in which kindness is not as simple as being interpersonally pleasant…
Desflurane: Action across Europe is needed to reduce the use of carbon emitting anaesthetic, says expert
A public health expert in Italy has called for a Europe-wide study into the unjustified…
Diagnosing visceral leishmaniasis
What you need to knowVisceral leishmaniasis can cause prolonged fever, massive splenomegaly, peripheral cytopenias, diffuse…
Managing visceral leishmaniasis
What you need to know?Aim to cure the patient, reduce the risk of relapse and…
Sixty seconds on . . . hash brownies
They’re so good—pass me anotherAre you sure? All things in moderation.Lighten up, they’re only littleYes,…