Have you ever looked at a cloud and seen the likeness of a cartoon character? This phenomenon is known as pareidolia. Laura Amarin and Camille Gajria tell us about pareidolia in medicine.
How many times a day are we hearing the ‘R’ word in our lives? The request of healthcare staff to be r*******t at a time when primary care is assaulted daily by the British media and those in power is an insult.
Hannah Milton shares her experience of compassion fatigue following being both a mum and a GP at the same time. She shares how she not only recovered, but how her recovery has left her now better able to empathise with patients.
The climate and ecological emergency is nothing less than the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced. With the meat industry being the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases could the best option to save our planet be the mass transition to a
Giles Hazan reflects on his experience of high dose opiates following surgery.
The development of multi-disciplinary teams working as part of the primary care team alongside GPs in Northern Ireland is both new and untested anywhere else in the UK. Peter McNelly tells us about Northern Ireland's experience.
Cutting the doctor out of the diagnostic loop is often not such a good idea. Chris Ellis reminds us of some basic truths......
Case presentations based on a problem-oriented system can function as a medium through which medical students gain a disease-focused viewpoint. Koki Kato and Junichiro Miyachi suggest that to change our viewpoint we should change our language.
Whilst COP26 storms above our heads, all we can do is buy electric and put out the recycling - right? No! Shireen Kassam and Laura Freeman give us compelling evidence of a win-win for ourselves and the planet.
Zakariya Goga reminds us that our legacy, wherever we work is woven in the fabric of our community and will be palpable for generations to come. So do not validate yourself by external references. Validate yourself from within.
Rubia Usman is a female GP from an ethnic minority. Her message is simple: "If you work hard and you are a woman you have the power. More power to you. This is (y)our time!"
Irresponsible journalism creates a false narrative with the public. We are seeing patients! Kasun Theivendran questions whether we need to introduce a “how to deal with unfair blame” module into the GP curriculum.
Social media uses "persuasive technology" that has real effects on mental health and social wellbeing. Richard Armitage calls us to identify this as an urgent public health problem
A significant percentage of GP2GP transfers are not being successfully completed. Nigel Masters explains that a failure to get this right soon will see significant degradation of primary care medical notes.
Under the Additional Roles Reimbursement scheme, 26 000 roles are being funded to create bespoke multidisciplinary teams in primary care. But is there a risk that these new roles will only exasperate those for whom they were set to rescue?
Nobody wants to be greeted or processed in an uncaring and clinical manner. Sue Thurlow suggests that our motto should be "Compassion First", not "Digital First".
The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) is not a medical assessment, an incorrect assumption often claimed by politicians. Mo Stewart discusses the negative and sometimes catastrophic consequences for the disabled.
Has a reduction in face to face appointments meant a change of vision for UK General Practice? Richard Pratt argues that our vision is unchanged, it is our methods that have had to change.
Being a GP is a great vocation. But what if we have two vocations that may conflict? Anupma Parihar reflects on juggling her work and family commitments.
Last year the Lancet predicted ‘Substantial increases in the number of avoidable cancer deaths in England’ as a result of diagnostic delays due to the pandemic in the UK. Jenny Stephenson discusses some of the issues involved.
Is the concept of the patient as an 'inconvenience' a pernicious aspect of the hidden curriculum of medical school and postgraduate training? Nathaniel Aspray tells us his story.
Our current system is not OK. Day after day, my clinic is full of people struggling to cope with their mental health needs. So what is going wrong?
Following the BMA vote to withdraw opposition to physician assisted suicide the possibility of doctors being expected to be involved in hastening their patients' deaths looks closer. Claud Regnard and his colleagues discuss some of the practical issues involved.
Frustrated. Exhausted. Burnt out. If we don’t support those working in primary care, the NHS as we know it will no longer exist.
Why is the General Medical Council's ‘Good Medical Practice' like eating plate after plate of chips? No, it's not the first line of a joke - let Bhupinder Goraya explain all.
Time for a bit of mind bending together with a trip to the seaside? Nigel Masters reviews an exhibition entitled "Big Medicine" in the new art gallery in Bournemouth.
In consultations there is an emotional “exchange” between the doctor and the patient. Usually the patient comes to see us in a state of anxiety, ill health, sometimes frustration and anger and then projects this onto the GP. The GP will then
Positive experiences on GP placements make undergraduates more likely to pursue GP training later on. Jack Amiry found that GPs who enjoy teaching have numerous opportunities to get involved.
She is young to have so many layers to her suffering. I know about the fragile life she leads on the edge of homelessness ...
It takes great commitment, responsibility and dedication to save lives at the coal-face of the NHS. Yet we are seeing sharp increases in the abuse, violence and discrimination of our NHS staff. Carter Singh reflects on the way that the Euro 2020
COVID-19 has forced many conferences to be held virtually in 2020 and 2021, but in a post-COVID world should conferences continue to be held virtually? Dr Niha Mariam Hussain discusses positives and negatives to virtual conferencing, providing primary research and insights into
During this pandemic we have sometimes been so overwhelmed by the obvious information that we overlook what is hidden in plain sight. Samar Razaq advises us to avoid premature enumeration.
Dr Sooyoung Lee describes her own experience of the misunderstanding and dismissal of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) evidenced in primary care. Is it time to reconsider our attitudes?
There is a cash crisis in the NHS and Social Care. As there has been for the last decade. Arthur Kaufman suggests that a government issue of Health & Social Care Bonds could raise a substantial amount of finance without imposing further
NHS England-led changes to the way we deliver primary care to our care home residents were accelerated due to the Covid pandemic. Deirdre Walsh and Domini James report on their own local feedback.
"There is something immensely grounding about working with the earth and weathering the seasons. Gardening is immersive. It slows you down and can be a humbling experience." Charlotte Sidebotham takes us back to the soil.
We know that information gathering in the medical consultation is through both verbal and non-verbal communication. But there is also that which goes unsaid. Chris Ellis offers his reflections on the importance of accessing that which is unsaid.
We are given reassurances that the MRCGP exams are fair and unbiased. But Laura Emery, an Academic Clinical Fellow at the University of Sheffield, challenges us to ask whether this is correct.
Euan Mackinnon and colleagues sound the alert that COVID-19 lockdowns have reduced head and neck cancer referrals to secondary care, and now primary tumour size is significantly larger at presentation. We need to reverse this worrying trend. Cancer hasn't gone away.
Funding for online consultation services varies across the UK. Kris McLaughlin argues that online consultations will remain a vital part of future general practice, and will in fact improve access for all patients, not just the young or digitally savvy.