The physician associate role remains poorly understood
Responses to the avoidable death of a woman seen by a physician associate (PA)1 have…
Category: British Medical Journal
The global community needs to do more to tackle the inequality crisis
The climate emergency and the global rise in inequalities are putting us all at risk….
Outsourcing covid-19 vaccination to the private sector will increase health inequalities
It is challenging, confusing, and divisive to even try to describe the current state of…
US mortality continues to worsen when compared with other rich nations, study finds
The US could have averted more than a million deaths each year in 2020 and…
Cancer charity questions NHS England’s claim that waiting times are improving
A UK cancer charity has challenged NHS England over its use of statistics, claiming that…
Virtual wards: NICE sets out guidance on managing acute respiratory infections at home
More people with acute respiratory infections could be treated outside hospitals in respiratory hubs or…
Personality disorder
What you need to knowPersonality disorders are a set of complex emotional difficulties. They are…
Police in England and Wales step back from mental healthcare
Police in England and Wales are working to release themselves from all but the highest…
India faces a growing need for palliative care
On most days, 60 year old Kuttan is a worried man. He has chronic obstructive…
Avoid using “bcc” in bulk emails, says information regulator
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has warned healthcare organisations that they should use alternatives to…
Assisted dying: Doctors in Quebec aren’t bending rules, says medical leader
The Collège des Médecins du Québec, the professional association of the province’s doctors, has defended…
Biden administration sets out plan to reduce price of 10 drugs used by over 65s that cost $50bn a year
President Joe Biden’s administration has announced it will begin negotiating prices for 10 expensive drugs…
Diabetes: Doctors are told not to start new patients on GLP-1 agonists because of shortages
Clinicians in England are being advised that they cannot prescribe appetite suppressants for patients with…
Expand health based interventions to curb deaths and harms from drug use, say MPs
MPs are calling for an overhaul of drug laws to tackle excess deaths in the…
Letby inquiry gets statutory power to compel witnesses to give evidence
The inquiry into how the neonatal nurse Lucy Letby was able to get away with…
Junior doctors and consultants will strike together for first time over pay erosion
Junior doctors and consultants in England will jointly undertake four days of strike action in…
Two-drug antiretroviral regimens for HIV
What you need to knowAntiretroviral therapy regimens containing two active drugs rather than the traditional…
Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act
Uganda’s recently implemented anti-homosexuality act1 builds on colonial era law to increase prison sentences for…
Professionals must refuse to work on new fossil fuel projects
As the climate crisis intensifies, professionals involved with the oil and gas industry must adopt…
Covid-19 and flu boosters to start earlier than planned, with extra funding for GPs
The government has reversed its decision to delay England’s covid and influenza vaccination campaigns for…
Tom Nolan’s research reviews—31 August 2023
Pred weightHow much should you worry about the effect of weight and blood pressure if…
Another setback for cancer research in the UK
The UK’s National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) announced unexpectedly in June 2023 that it will…
Meet the new editorial scholar: Eabha Lynn
BiographyÉabha Lynn, 22, medical student at Lancaster University, became the editorial scholar at The BMJ…
An unusual cause of recurrent facial oedema
A man in his early 20s presented to the otolaryngology emergency department with a 10…
We owe the families affected by Letby meaningful organisational change
On 21 August Lucy Letby, a neonatal nurse, was sentenced to life in prison for…
Pyogenic granuloma of the small intestine
This double balloon endoscopy image shows a pyogenic granuloma in the small intestine of a…
Almost a million NHS appointments postponed during eight months of strike action
The NHS saw 45 827 acute inpatient and outpatient appointments rescheduled during the latest round…
Happy 175th birthday to public health
The Public Health Act 1848 was a major landmark in the history of health in…
The job of a doctor is not necessarily to be kind
Kindness has made an appearance in the General Medical Council’s updated guidance Good Medical Practice,…
Seven days in medicine: 23-29 August 2023
Covid-19Vaccines will be made available to buy privatelyCovid booster vaccines are expected to become available…
.jpg)
Unreliable private online hormone tests sold for months despite accuracy concerns
A large private laboratory processed finger prick tests for oestrogen levels, which are sold by…
Balancing risks and benefits of cannabis use: umbrella review of meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials and observational studies
ObjectiveTo systematically assess credibility and certainty of associations between cannabis, cannabinoids, and cannabis based medicines…
Surgical outcomes, who does better — male vs female surgeons?
Want to ensure that patients will get better outcomes after surgery? It’s easy, just do…
Peter Brunt: gastroenterologist, physician to the Queen in Scotland, and ordained priest
bmj;382/aug30_12/p1994/FAF1faPeter Brunt, professor of medicine in Aberdeen, worked with some outstanding pioneers before becoming one…
Cancer screening: Study challenges whether six common tests save lives
A meta-analysis of six common cancer screenings has concluded that “current evidence does not substantiate…
Covid-19: US doctors sue regulator for charging them with spreading misinformation in pandemic
Four doctors threatened with disciplinary action by Washington state’s medical regulator over spreading misinformation about…
John Rich Sedgwick
bmj;382/aug30_6/p1984/FAF1faJohn Rich Sedgwick did his first degree in English, at Cambridge. He made use of…
Simon W MacGowan
bmj;382/aug30_5/p1982/FAF1faSimon W MacGowan entered the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1977, following in…
Life as media doctors led to lucrative promotions for pistachios and dental products—but now we’ve embraced the conflict-free life
How are doctors in the media tempted into promotional work?Chris: I would say that, of…
Countering sex and gender bias in cardiovascular research requires more than equal recruitment and sex disaggregated analyses
The US Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial in the 1970s screened 325 348 men and…
High price and demand for semaglutide means lack of access for US patients
So many celebrities have admitted to taking Ozempic—a brand of the diabetes and obesity drug…
How can doctors counter health misinformation on social media?
Researchers have estimated that vaccine hesitancy may have resulted in more than 300 000 unnecessary…
Management of perimenopausal symptoms
In this State of the Art Review by Erin Duralde and colleagues (BMJ 2023;382:e072612; doi:10.1136/bmj-2022-072612),…
Covid-19: Families sue former health secretary over care home and hospital deaths
Families whose relatives died in care homes and hospitals in the early weeks of the…
Helen Salisbury: A cool welcome for management consultants
General practice is in crisis, and clearly something must be done. Funding has shrunk from…
Rammya Mathew: Lucy Letby and the limits of a no blame culture
The dreadful reality of the Lucy Letby case is still sinking in. That a neonatal…
Patient safety: listen to whistleblowers
The case of Lucy Letby, convicted of the murder of seven babies and attempted murder…
US global AIDS programme is under threat
Many people don’t realise the devastation wrought by the AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa. By…
Private equity’s intrusion into US healthcare
In his 2022 state of the union address, US president Joe Biden claimed that more…
Promoting Activity, Independence, and Stability in Early Dementia and mild cognitive impairment (PrAISED): randomised controlled trial
AbstractObjectiveTo determine the effectiveness of an exercise and functional activity therapy intervention in adults with…