Medicine and Science from The BMJ

Dominique Thompson GP - Young people’s health is overlooked

Dominique Thompson, GP and director of the Students’ Health Service at the University of Bristol, is concerned that young people's health is being neglected.
BMJ Voices is a collection of readers’ experiences of working in the NHS. For this, The BMJ is seeking short audio submissions from UK listeners. These submissions will be published on thebmj.com.
If you would like to contribute to this collection, please email a brief audio recording to voices@bmj.com or phone +44 (20) 3058 7427 and tell us what your main concern for the NHS is. Please include your name, job title, and place of work.

Rabies in animals

Rabies is the archytypical zoonotic disease, and only by vaccination in animals will we prevent infections in people. In two podcasts linked to our latest clinical review "The prevention and management of rabies"​ we'll be discussing how we can get there.
In this podcast Sarah Cleaveland, professor of comparative epidemiology at the University of Glasgow discusses control​ling the disease in animals​.​ To find out about the clincial presentation listen to the accompanying podcast with ​Natasha Crowcroft, chief of infectious disease at Public Health Ontario
Listen to the accompanying podcast:
https://soundcloud.com/bmjpodcasts/rabies-in-humans
Read the full clinical review:
http://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.g7827

Rabies in humans

Rabies is the archytypical zoonotic disease, and only by vaccination in animals will we prevent infections in people. In two podcasts linked to our latest clinical review "The prevention and management of rabies"​ we'll be discussing how we can get there.
In this podcast Natasha Crowcroft, chief of infectious disease at Public Health Ontario to discuss the human aspect of the disease, and in the second Sarah Cleaveland, professor of comparative epidemiology at the University of Glasgow explains animal control.
Listen to the accompanying podcast:
https://soundcloud.com/bmjpodcasts/rabies-in-animals
Read the full clinical review:
http://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.g7827

Is the Hep C screening expansion justified?

Until recently, hepatitis C screening was offered to people at increased risk of infection - such as intravenous drug users - but now, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended screening all people born between 1945 and 1965.
Kenny Lin, associate professor of family medicine at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and Jeanne Lenzer, an investigative health journalist from New York, explain why they worry that the evidence doesn't support this expansion.
ead their analysis article:
http://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.g7809

Being a human guinea pig

Drug development happens in stages – pre-clinical, phase I, II,
III, and so on. But how much do trial participants know about what has happened before their enrolment to test for safety, and how much should they be told?
Holger Pedersen from Denmark was one trial participant who tried to find information about the drug he was on, and was surprised at how little data had actually been collected, let alone shared – which has been detailed in an analysis article on thebmj.com
He talks to Helen Macdonald, analysis editor for the BMJ about his experience.
Read the analysis article:
http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g6714

Operating theatre time, where does it all go?

Waiting times in theatre can be a source of friction – but is the delay due to mandatory anaesthetic faff around time (MAFAT), or AWOL surgeons?
Elizabeth Travis, and orthopaedic house officer in New Zealand and colleagues, have been trying to create and evidence base to argue the toss, and she joins me now to discuss her study, Operating theatre time, where does it all go?
Read the full research:
http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g7182

Grumpy old doctors

Those who rise to the top in medicine see themselves as hardworking extroverts with a caring nature, suggests an unscientific analysis of the answers given by contributors to BMJ Confidential.
But ask about their pet hates and another, less nurturing, side emerges. We gathered 6 former confidentialists in The BMJ studio to moan over mince pies.
Read Doctors: caring extroverts or self deluded chocoholics?: http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g7623

Can you trust the advice of TV doctors?

How much can you trust the advice given by TV doctors? A new research paper on thebmj.com has analysed over 40 episodes of popular American TV shows, to see if health claims are evidence based.
This podcast is a bit different, as the authors host their own show - The BS Medicine Podcast, which tops the charts around the world - and they've given us permission to repost on The BMJ.
Read the​​ full research:
http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g7346

Turning back the tide of appointments

In AD 1028 King Canute tried to command the tide to turn back. History records that the king of all lands surrounding the North Sea got very cross, wet, and made a hasty retreat. Every day, in general practices across the country, dedicated practice teams get very cross when they are yet again unsuccessful at meeting the daily demand for appointments and the incoming tide of patient demand and expectation.
Ron Neville, a partner in the Westgate Health Centre in Dundee joins us to discuss what his new appointment system learned from the soggy monarch.
http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g7228

Men are idiots

Winners of the Darwin Award must eliminate themselves from the gene pool in such an idiotic manner that their action ensures one less idiot will survive.
Ben and Dennis Lendrem, and colleagues, have reviewed the data on winners of the Darwin Award over a 20 year period and they join us to discuss why men are idiots, and why their team is not the only ones to have noticed.
www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g7094