My Filipino roots and family ties usually take me to the Philippines once a year, but this year my trip was unusual as I had the chance to make contact with the local healthcare and medical education system. This was all unplanned as a relative has been receiving hospital treatment and I ended up visiting […]
The BMJ Today: HPV vaccine, chemotherapy, and psychiatry in the Gaza strip
Another evidence booster for the quadrivalent vaccine today. Controlled clinical studies have shown it almost completely prevents high grade cervical abnormalities, and now a BMJ paper has confirmed that even in the messy, real world it confers a risk reduction of 46% for these, and also of 34% for other cervical abnormalities. Whilst this is […]
Guddi Vijaya Rani Singh: Why the political origins of health inequity haven’t been tamed just yet
Last week saw the release of the much vaunted “Political origins of health inequity” report by the Lancet-University of Oslo Commission on Global Governance for Health—an analysis of how policies and factors external to the health sector impact on health inequity, with appropriate recommendations. The question for the public health community is: does this herald […]
Tessa Richards: Access to health records—patients first
Criticism of the government’s plan to collect data from patients’ medical records to build a new NHS database—care.data—has been fast and furious. With data collection postponed amid public concern about its confidentiality the government is now fielding advice on how to get its “busted” scheme right next time round. While the research potential of analysing […]
David McCoy: Why doctors need to take climate change seriously
Owen Paterson is the minister for environment, food, and rural affairs and therefore leads on government policy with regards to global warming. But his reaction to the latest report on the physical science of climate change by the Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) raises questions about his fitness to play this vital role. […]
The BMJ Today: The Super Bowl doctor, The BMJ Awards, and gluten free diets
Could you cope with dehydration, hypothermia, and the Madden rule? Jonathan Drezner, team physician for the Seattle Seahawks, talks about this year’s Super Bowl and what it takes to become a primary care sports physician. […]
Helen Steiner: Do GP trainers have enough protected time for training?
As a recently qualified GP trainer I have been aware of an “elephant in the room” regarding protected time for training. I have not been able to find any written advice regarding how much time a practice should make available to the trainer for supervision of surgeries; informal teaching, tutorial preparation, e-portfolio review, trainers’ group […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—3 March 2014
NEJM 27 Feb 2014 Vol 370 799 I’ve reached the age when people look back and sigh and cluck about the way the world has changed since they were children. In the 1950s, the world was actually a pretty nasty place, and at any moment the hydrogen bomb might bring it to an end. People […]
The BMJ Today: Sponsorship, epilepsy, and votes
Welcome to this new blog category, The BMJ Today. We aim to post an update each weekday of recent articles and other content to have caught our eye. We hope it will function as an online editor’s choice, chosen by different members of The BMJ’s editorial team each day. Our first highlighted article is Drug treatment […]
Richard Smith: What will robots do when they take us over?
Lord Rees, the Astronomer Royal and former president of the Royal Society, believes that robots might replace human beings within 50-60 years. Looking at writings from him on the web, I’m not sure that’s exactly what he believes, but an audience at the London School of Economics was told he did by his friend Lord […]