• Thebmj.com at 20—This week marks an important birthday for thebmj.com which has been online for 20 years. Continuing to embrace progress in multimedia, you can read the related editorial from our digital and deputy editors, listen to a podcast interview with Richard Smith, former editor-in-chief, explaining why The BMJ was an early adopter amongst […]
Category: The BMJ today
The BMJ Today: More evidence on the harms of overdiagnosis
• More evidence on the harms of over diagnosis: Teppo Järvinen and colleagues argue that evidence for stratifying risk of fracture and subsequent drug therapy to prevent hip fracture is insufficient to warrant our current approach. Being labelled as at risk of fracture imposes a psychological burden. Drug treatment is associated with adverse events, such […]
The BMJ Today: How do editors make decisions?
• How do editors make decisions? How can we improve editorial practices and the quality of biomedical publications while promoting greater transparency and trust in the system? These are some of the questions that have been discussed in the last seven international congresses on peer review in biomedical publication. In an editorial in The BMJ today, […]
The BMJ Today: Healthy behaviours and the power of the WHO
• Campaigners are taking the Dutch state to court over links with the tobacco industry, which is allegedly unlawfully influencing policies on the availability of tobacco products. The fight is on for children, who the industry apparently want to see as “replacement smokers” when those seeking a smoke free society believe it starts with young […]
The BMJ Today: Crisis and corruption
• Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the BMA’s general practitioners committee, urges UK health ministers to halt a “surreal obsession” with seven day working at a time when the GP workforce is facing a workforce catastrophe, with more than a third set to retire in the next five years. Addressing the association’s annual local medical committee conference […]
The BMJ Today: Tobacco, tennis, and “unmitigated quackery”
• An investigation by The BMJ into attempts by big tobacco to prevent the introduction of plain packaging of cigarettes has revealed that MPs and peers accepted gifts from the tobacco industry, including tickets to the men’s final at Wimbledon and the opera at Glyndebourne. Jonathan Gornall’s article showed that 38 MPs received a total […]
The BMJ Today: Patients let down by end of life care, seven day working, and a letter from Australia
• A new report has found that terminally ill people are enduring painful and distressing deaths through failure by the NHS in England to properly manage care at the end of life. The concerning findings from the parliamentary and health service ombudsman are summarised here by The BMJ’s correspondent Clare Dyer. […]
The BMJ Today: Migrants’ health, screening guidelines, and benefits of social media
• Migrants are finding it increasingly difficult to access healthcare, the charity Doctors of the World has warned. The charity, which provides healthcare to vulnerable groups, found that around two thirds of the people at its clinics had no healthcare coverage. Migrants cited inability to pay, administrative problems, and lack of knowledge as hampering their […]
The BMJ Today: run, boy, run
Exercise as good as stopping smoking A study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine has found that thirty minutes of physical activity six days a week in older age is linked to a 40% lower risk of death from any cause, which is as beneficial as giving up smoking. The researchers said that […]
The BMJ Today: TripAdvisor, smoking in pregnancy, and CONSORT
• TripAdvisor for fertility clinics? Would a user generated website that scores fertility clinics help people seeking treatment? The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) says it’s not a question of whether a review service should exist—but when. But the legal implications for people posting reviews, the HFEA, and clinics themselves are huge. Read who […]