The BJGP is the world-leading primary care journal. At BJGP Life we add multi-media comment and opinion for the primary care community.
Imagine having to relive the moment you are told that you have a life-limiting illness every time you need support; every time you feel vulnerable because of a physical or mental complaint that needs attention. Emilie Couchman argues for meaningful informational continuity.
In 'Helgoland,' Carlo Rovelli attempts to bring us up to date with the latest in the bewildering and bewitching subject of quantum physics. One of his main assertions is that the observer will always affect the observed.
Richard Armitage reviews two self-help books by controversial psychologist Jordan Peterson
Digital medicine is a priority for modern general practice and is a core theme for NHS England strategy. As a recent Topol Digital Health Fellow, Bilal Salman describes ...
Cyclothymia, a mood disorder, can result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. Here, Carolyn Chew Graham and colleagues define the illness and outline how best to identify, diagnose, and manage cyclothymia in patients
All four countries in the UK are devising methods/models to enable healthcare professionals by way of multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) to work with GPs thereby reducing the workload & enhancing the patient experience, but such changes may not bring about these desired outcomes.
In this episode, we talk to Dr Sarah Sowden about socioeconomic disadvantage, common mental health conditions and non-drug therapies.
The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA), in new guidelines endorsed by Health Canada, recommend that Canadians should have no more than two alcohol-containing drinks per week. Nada Khan explores alcohol advice in primary care.
Is it because people are getting older and sicker, developing more and more chronic diseases as they age and then expecting a magic cure-all that doesn’t exist? Expectations for such, we have all likely fed into.
"While undoubtedly fibromyalgia may not be adequately covered in the medical curriculum, I am not sure that this book fills the gap." – Carolyn Chew-Graham reviews Fibromyalgia by Thanthullu Vasu ...
When someone asks you whether you’re telling them it’s all in their head, the most accurate answer is: Yes, but isn’t everything?
Finding the right partner is critical. With a generation of senior and capable partners retiring and not being replaced at the same rate, there is a huge concern of seeing this post continue to diminish. Here, Adnan Saad outlines how best to
As the latest cohort in the Oxford International Primary Care Research Leadership Programme, we present the ‘10 things we wish we had known’ for anyone considering a career in academic primary care.
In this episode, we talk to Professor Emma Wallace about adverse drug reactions amongst older adults and the implications for primary care.
here’s no appointments, and I’ve waited weeks, To show you my piles, and rash on my cheeks, I’ve also had chest pains, for the last year, And there’s just one more thing, now that I’m here!
"As this book progresses, its early playful, even comedic, lightness gives way to the author’s very substantial criticisms ... [that] attempts to metricise, micromanage, and proceduralise all medical consultations and services has led to the displacement and destructing of trusting relationships ...
Labour seems to have its own version of a disruptor in Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, who declared that he wants to phase out the system of GP partners, & scrap the gatekeeping model of primary care, but how many of
It is well known that the life expectancy of people with severe mental illness (SMI) is reduced by 15–20 years compared to the general population, but what is less well known is that people with SMI also experience serious inequalities in oral
We talk to Becky White about vague cancer symptoms and risk of cancer.
"When a patient who happens to be a barber comes to see me for a consultation, that is precisely what – and only what – he gets. When I go to see my barber for a haircut, however, not only do I
How might American political economists Rawls and Nozick have viewed Julian Tudor Hart's inverse care law? Ayu Takayanagi explores two types of self-interest.
At six-years-of-age, Hibo Wardere was forcibly held down and brutally subjected to Type III female genital mutilation (FGM). This book tells her story, a riveting, personal, and candid account of her journey...
Ask yourself ‘Do I feel lucky?’ This often-misquoted line from Dirty Harry, said by Clint Eastwood in role, serves to introduce the notion of moral luck. Gratifyingly, we do not often find ourselves staring down the barrel of a violent cop wielding
Piecework is advantageous for production where output volume is a reliable proxy for productivity and monitoring and incentivising output volume does not compromise quality. Lara Shemtob and colleagues argue this is inappropriate for general practice.
Apichai Wattanapisit reminds us that lifelong learning is a crucial element to maintain the standard of practices and develop the future career.
We talk to Dr Claire Taylor about testing accuracy for diagnosing heart failure
The results of a recent BMA survey, which asked junior doctors what they felt about leaving the NHS, should send a shudder to the heart of the NHS, including through general practice upon which the health system stands.
"Out of nowhere a fit GP [Paul Coffey] ... approaching retirement is diagnosed with inoperable gastric cancer ... Coffey charts the medical, human, oncological, and psychological dramas that take place over the next 3 years with great charm, insight, intelligence, and honesty."
"For me, Range gave credibility to a pre-existing feeling — that early specialisation is less likely to succeed." – Richard Armitage reviews Range: How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, with additional reflections on GP training and today's general practice ...
Ben Hoban suggests that GPs can keep track of more in the consultation by not worrying about keeping track of so much, but instead choosing what to focus on.
Tim Senior argues that without GPs we systemically remove the part of the health system that has researched and trained in handling relationships and complexity, and is capable of doing this well. We need to be able to describe what health systems
What are safe workload limits in general practice, and how can these limits be implemented in practice? Nada Khan investigates.
The editors have a round table discussion looking at the top 10 most read papers on the BJGP website from 2022.
in 2022 Richard Armitage altruistically donated a kidney. He discusses what GPs need to know in order to support patients who choose to go through this process themselves.
"Last night, after the three hours it took to get to the toilet and back, to change the bed, to negotiate the medication, he told me I’m very irritating." - Karen Chumberley reviews Fiona Mason's 36 Hours, a reflection on the last
I am trying to patch a clinical web over your problem ...Empathetically. Communicating blind. Flushing the darkness systematically with questions ...That dredge the deep... A poem by Rebecca Quinn.
...despite all that science has to tells us in general terms about people and how to care for them, it is often harder to pin down on specifics...
Over the last 50 years society has become progressively diverse as the needs of the population continue to change. As these diversities become increasingly recognised, it has resulted in differences becoming more pronounced and the possibility of discrimination thus becoming more prominent.
ChatGPT is an online program allowing a user to ask any question and receive an answer, which can be incredibly detailed, in under 10 seconds. However, what does this mean for primary care? Richard Armitage investigates and puts ChatGPT to the test,
The idea of excess deaths is of course just an attempt to make sense of what’s happening in a complex system with a view to allocating resources appropriately.
