• Our latest BMJ Confidential casts the spotlight on Liam Smeeth, a GP and professor of clinical epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). He says that doing a masters degree in epidemiology at the LSHTM was his best career move: “On the first morning I sat down between a woman […]
Category: The BMJ today
BMJ Today: Junior doctors’ contract, cardiac rehabilitation, and working for the US marines
• The junior doctors’ contract: how did we get into this mess? With junior doctors about to vote on whether to strike over government plans to impose a new contract on them, Tom Moberly’s feature explains how and why the negotiations collapsed. […]
The BMJ Today: Practising what you preach, corporal punishment, and scientific misconduct
• Walking the walk? Drug and device manufacturers have been keen to publicise their rhetoric to share clinical trial data, but is it happening in practice? Mayo-Wilson and colleagues found out by asking Astra Zeneca for data from trials about quetiapine. After 9 months of correspondence their request was declined. Is this a typical scenario? We […]
The BMJ Today: Diagnosing miscarriage and IBS
• When is it safe to diagnose a miscarriage? There has been some debate about miscarriage diagnostic criteria over past years, with evidence emerging in 2011 that criteria at the time might be too liberal. Newer 2013 criteria were more conservative, but are they conservative enough? This week The BMJ published a large multicentre prospective […]
The BMJ Today: The FDA, drug addicts, and standing with junior doctors
• The FDA’s new clothes Two new research papers (here and here) and a linked editorial take a detailed look at the FDA’s regulatory process. They present concerns that the FDA has prioritised expedited approvals at the expense of adequately assessing whether new drugs are more effective than existing products or whether they are safe. […]
The BMJ Today: Food fights and contract concerns
• The scientific report guiding the US dietary guidelines: is it scientific? For years, Western dietary guidelines have recommended that we follow a low fat diet: eat less meat, less dairy, and more grain, we have been told. But as more research has suggested that saturated fat might not be the great bogeyman it has […]
The BMJ Today: No cash in the attic
• Politics of desperation In the latest of his regular column, Nigel Hawkes comments on the impossible situation the NHS finds itself in: as prey to an austerity hungry government convinced that more efficiencies can be squeezed out of the service. Hawkes despairs at various improvement initiatives designed to wring extra savings out of the […]
The BMJ Today: Appraisals, carers, and cognitive enhancement
• What is appraisal good for? As big finance companies such as Accenture are reported to be scrapping formal appraisal systems for their employees, Margaret McCartney, our Glasgow based weekly GP columnist, also takes aim. “Appraisal is a false god. It is a waste of time and a misuse of resources,” she writes, slamming it […]
The BMJ Today: Dengue, refugees, exercise, and the future
• What is dengue fever, and who gets it? What are its causes, and can it be prevented? Our latest clinical review provides an overview of the current evidence, including the diagnosis, management, and complications of this globally important infection. • Blogger Alison Criado-Perez is the medical team leader on board the Phoenix, a search and rescue […]
The BMJ Today: GSK’s Study 329, BMJ Confidential, and facial nerve palsy
• A feature discusses GlaxoSmithKline’s Study 329. Under the restoring invisible and abandoned trials (RIAT) initiative, The BMJ has published a major reanalysis which found paroxetine to be neither safe nor effective in treating adolescents with depression. The story has been widely picked up in the international press, including including New York Times, Washington Post, Reuters, the […]