Why do we find it so difficult to talk about dying? A question that palliative care specialists, such as Scott Murray and Kirsty Boyd, have been asking ever more urgently as populations age and the need for a good death (after a healthy life) moves higher up the healthcare agenda. It’s not hard to find evidence of […]
Category: The BMJ today
The BMJ Today: The dangers of anal sex, ensuring service redesign is evidence based, and the EMA taken to task over data disclosure
There are some topics that the British just don’t like to talk about, and bottoms, bowel habits, and anal sex fall firmly into that category—even when the conversation is with their GP. But these conversations are necessary. The latest statistics from Cancer Research UK show that rates of anal cancer in the UK have increased […]
The BMJ Today: Sick notes for “World Cup fever” and Obama pushes health benefits of carbon cuts
With the 2014 World Cup in Brazil fast approaching, hundreds of workers in China have been struck down with a serious bout of football fever. As Jane Parry reports, an online vendor on Taobao.com (China’s equivalent to eBay) has sold 440 fake sick notes in just one week, as scheming workers seek to avoid work […]
The BMJ Today: Cozy conversations—coffee breaks and integrated care
If, like me, you have struggled with defining “integrated care,” then Richard Vize’s Feature on the subject is definitely worth a read, if only to be reassured that it is, as you suspected, an “imprecise term.” Despite the lack of a concrete definition, most people, Vize says, agree that integration will be better for patients. But […]
The BMJ Today: High hopes—legal highs and pharmaceutical hype
The BMJ’s readers are used to maintaining scepticism in the face of hype and hyperbole, and two new articles suggest that this is a healthy position to maintain. Rory Watson reports on the growing number of new psychoactive substances, or “legal highs,” recognised by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). The number of […]
The BMJ Today: Sugar, kids, and cranberry cake
What should we eat? And to what extent can doctors influence the diet of their patients? Last week, NICE recommended that doctors send their overweight patients to Weight Watchers or similar schemes because of their proven effectiveness. But every time I read an article on what we should be eating, I come back to the […]
The BMJ Today: Flu jabs during pregnancy
As a mother and a doctor, I am often asked medical questions by my non-medical friends. Most of the time this has nothing to do with my specialty (radiology), and I am probably not as helpful as my friends had hoped. Several months ago, a pregnant friend asked me if she should have the “flu […]
The BMJ Today: The challenges of foodborne illness, HIV, tuberculosis, and scorpion stings
Being a GP myself, one of the first things I did when I arrived in London last year to work at The BMJ was register with a GP. In London, for a certain catchment area, a resident is free to choose to register in one of a number of NHS GP practices, assuming that they […]
The BMJ Today: Screening for lung cancer, treating warts, and prescribing the polypill
At the end of last year, the US Preventive Services Task Force launched guidelines recommending screening for lung cancer in those at high risk. These were greeted with applause by some and dismay by others. In yesterday’s State of the Art Review, Canadian authors Tammemagi and Lam discuss the evidence for and against. Yes, there […]
The BMJ Today: Sham surgery and the placebo effect
Imagine you have severe gastro-oesophageal reflux. You are taking the maximum dose of your antacids and guzzling your way through bottles of Gaviscon, yet you’re still plagued by heartburn. It wakes you up in the middle of the night, prevents you from enjoying the odd glass of wine, and as for eating anything spicy— forget […]