• Can Gurinder Singh Grewal, the new president of the Punjab Medical Council, clean up medicine in Punjab? He is being praised for his anticorruption stance by the media, and his supporters say that he is blazing a new trail in the enforcement of medical ethics. However his critics point out that these assertions are impossible […]
Category: The BMJ today
The BMJ Today: The safety of SSRIs during pregnancy, controversial trade deals, and bow legs and knock knees
• Specific SSRIs and birth defects The association between maternal use of antidepressants, especially selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), during pregnancy and birth defects has been the topic of much discussion in recent years. Recent meta-analyses and systematic reviews have reached conflicting conclusions, so J Reefhuis and colleagues carried out a bayesian analysis to interpret new data in […]
The BMJ Today: Money and medicine
• A report by the Kings Fund finds that “clinicians can do more to deliver better health outcomes at a lower cost.” The report points out examples of successful cost-savings and efficiency, such as increases in generic prescribing and day surgery, but finds that more needs to be done and points out opportunities to save more in […]
The BMJ Today: Which paper should The BMJ be most proud of publishing?
• To mark 20 years of being online we asked 20 readers from the UK and around the world—including Jane Dacre, David Haslam, Jocalyn Clarke, and Samiran Nundy—to nominate their top paper published since 1995. You can read who chose what, and why, here. The choices show a wide range of preoccupations and illustrate some key […]
The BMJ Today: Missed appointments, mandatory vaccination, and saying sorry
• The stretch on NHS resources may reach patient’s own pockets, the health secretary has announced. Speaking on BBC1 Question Time on 2 July, Jeremy Hunt emphasised that the introduction of greater patient responsibility was paramount and that those who missed their appointments should be informed of how much it cost the NHS and they […]
The BMJ Today: The heat is on
• Amid record breaking heat across the globe, including Europe and the UK, Fiona Godlee’s editor’s choice on climate change could not have been timed better. Citing the Pope’s recent encyclical on the environment and the report from the Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change, she calls upon the main funding bodies for research to join […]
The BMJ Today: Too much of a good thing?
• A new research paper shows that 110 highly prolific authors contributed to one third of the evidence base for glucose lowering treatment; of these, 44% were company employees and 56% were academics who work closely with pharmaceutical companies. The authors urge that the burden of authorship be distributed more equitably in future, so that we can […]
The BMJ Today: Healthcare in war
• Who is taking care of civilians and fighters’ medical needs in parts of Iraq and Syria taken over by the Islamic state? Duncan Gardham reports that doctors have been forced to pledge allegiance or flee, aid workers have retreated, and the Islamic state is organising a workforce of medical jihadists from around the world. […]
The BMJ Today: Sex workers in Bangladesh, welfare advice, and incentives for behavioural change
• Female sex workers in Bangladesh In a feature published on thebmj.com today, Jocalyn Clark provides a moving account of the plight of female sex workers in Bangladesh. With effectively no voice to demand basic rights and entitlements, these women suffer severe social stigma, poor health, and violence. Several non-governmental organisations have stepped in to offer […]
The BMJ Today: Spot Diagnosis—a new type of education article in The BMJ
• The BMJ has just published the first of a new breed of articles in the education section, namely in endgames. This new type of article is called Spot Diagnosis, and it consists of a single image that is characteristic of a specific condition, and which is accompanied by a short vignette. The first one […]