America’s iconic “Got Milk?” campaign was pulled this year after a successful run of over 20 years. Graced by the likes of Bill Clinton, Naomi Campbell, Elton John, David Beckham, and Angelina Jolie sporting a milk moustache, the campaign garnered wide recognition. Yet milk was losing favour against a growing variety of breakfast and drink […]
Category: The BMJ today
The BMJ Today: The joys and snags of being a GP
As a GP who didn’t train in the UK and who has never worked in the country as a GP, I follow the situation of general practice in the UK with great interest, but from a certain distance that characterises an outsider such as myself. I am well aware that general practice in the UK […]
The BMJ Today: Swingers, surrogacy, and three parent families
Sexual health and parenthood feature prominently in The BMJ today, in news stories that highlight the need to ensure policies are based on evidence and not prejudice. Jacqui Wise describes a study that finds that heterosexual couples who swap partners or have group sex have high rates of sexually transmitted infections, a finding that may […]
The BMJ Today: Get your sums right
The big news today is the publication of the chief executive of NHS England Simon Stevens’s five year plan for the NHS. As Gareth Iacobucci reports in The BMJ today, the report has a strong focus on public health and the prevention of illness. Unsurprisingly, this includes Stevens’s pet topic of tackling obesity. Stevens claims […]
The BMJ Today: Stop reviewing GP crisis and plan a solution
Two articles just posted on thebmj.com focus on general practice—the crisis that is engulfing it, how it suffers at the hand of political promises, and what action can preserve its future. Veronica Wilkie, professor of primary care at the Institute of Health and Society at Worcester University, compares the current crisis to that in 1950 […]
The BMJ Today: England’s ongoing battle with liver disease
Today, The BMJ reports the stark warnings from public health experts about the rate of mortality from liver disease in England, and the regional variation across the country. As Jacqui Wise reports, new profiles from Public Health England show that male mortality rates from liver disease are four times higher in some local authority areas […]
The BMJ Today: How “political” should The BMJ be?
At the Royal College of Physicians’ Harveian Oration last week, a doctor told me The BMJ had become a “political” rag. And it was not the first time that the accusation has been made. So when are medical and healthcare issues purely scientific matters and when are they “political?” Dr Michael O’Donnell, former editor of […]
The BMJ Today: Aiming for a culture of safety not perfection
Do you believe in the “boundless capacity of medical science?” In a philosophical podcast to accompany this week’s analysis article, Professor Jerome Hoffman and Dr Hemal Kanzaria, of the University of California, suggest that efforts to reduce overdiagnosis and overtreatment should focus on changing physician and public attitudes towards medical error and uncertainty. […]
The BMJ Today: Teenage pregnancy and sleepless nights
Teenage pregnancy (within the ages of 13-19) is a major public health concern. About 16 million females aged 15-19 and about 1 million girls aged less than 15 give birth. Complications during pregnancy and childbirth are the second cause of death in 15-19 year old females globally. A clinical review by McCarthy and colleagues looks […]
The BMJ Today: The pitfalls of migration
I’ve been taking lots of travel histories lately. As a GP who sees lots of patients with fever, patients are even starting to pre-empt me (” . . . and I’ve never been to Africa”). This heightened awareness is unsurprising, given news that some countries are introducing airport screening for Ebola. But will this actually […]