"So there I was, wondering what to do, when I noticed the shop next door. It had a flaking hand-painted sign announcing it as Imaginary Medical Solutions, and a window display that invited deep cleaning rather than curiosity."
These cautionary tales are steeped in cultural lore and parental wisdom. However, they may not always be based in truth. We have lightly explored the evidence, underscoring that while such traditions hold value, a dose of scepticism often helps separate fact from
...none of this stuff is difficult if you keep in shape and know what you’re doing ... Bosco felt like she had been running her whole life, one way or another, and you might just as well have asked her to stop
John Launer had had never heard of Edogawa Rampo until he bought “Beast in the Shadows” on impulse in an airport bookshop.
Even as a GP trainee in the mid-90s, I genuinely don’t recall learning about the concept or practice of clinical reasoning. It’s not as if we weren’t guided on data synthesis or critical thinking, or the importance of these aspects of the
Seasons Greetings! Party games and other Christmas crackers from BJGP Life
In a parallel reality, and in a distant multiverse and metaverse, BJGP Life has, in a Christmas charity raffle won a chance to interview Schrodinger’s Prime Minister (PM) a self confessed Artificial Intelligence (AI) nerd himself, the Right Hon Richard Turpin.
Hyperreality describes this tendency for symbols to come adrift from what they represent, and for the distinction between the two to be lost, so that it becomes unclear which is real, and what we should expect from our dinner. We can see
When we talk of doctor and patient, we instinctively see both as very separate groups, but stripped back of language and assumed meaning, there ultimately sit two human beings in the same space. The person sitting in the chair telling their story
The ever changing face of health services has been reflected in incessant change in language. Here is a (tongue in cheek) glossary for those who have not kept up (Caution: contains satire).
Nigel Masters has a déjà vu experience as he looked onto the ‘White screen’ of a newly registered patient and finds empty allergy fields, problem lists, consultations and immunisation screens.
How many of us allow ourselves the possibility that from our vantage point as general practitioners, we may have had our focus so sharpened by years of walking alongside our patients that we might see the benefit of a letter where bland
Mark Tan offers short reflections on negative descriptors in the International Classification of Diseases 2010 (ICD10)
My heart goes out to all of us, who have been 'set up to fail'. Take heart and glove up - the work must go on... A poem by Rebecca Quinn
Dr Somebody* is a fictional late middle aged, mild to moderately burnout GP Partner in North London; he is suspicious about the current managerial changes in the NHS; his motto however is "contented with little, yet wishing for more", and at heart
Newshound: Thanks for agreeing to see me, doctor…
Subject: John, it's just John these days. I appreciate your making the trip. Did anyone try to stop you?
(Dystopian satire from Ben Hoban)
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!
"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
A few minutes when they were outside, they started hearing the sounds of police cars and sirens and a loud deep droning noise, like a distant thunder, with the police obviously making their way to the ICAC... But it was too late
Gareth came round with the checklist and electronic timesheet and held the face scanner in front of each of their faces in turn to register their arrival... speculative fiction by Georgia Avon (Part 2)
...the term GP, she remembered that had previously existed, had been changed to IHP – Integrated Health Practitioner - in 2026 by the RCPHP... speculative fiction by Georgia Avon (Part 1)
So anyway, I left by the COVID door under cover of a virtual PCN meeting, figuring that by the time anyone noticed the urine samples building up at reception I’d be long gone. I’d heard of a guy with the kind of
'I hoped it would be all right...' is a temptation to be resisted, leading to the final bind the researcher find him/herself in as it dawns that all is not all right.
Mark Steggles frames the GP workforce crisis as a 'Choose your own adventure'
Bhupinder Goraya reflects on the clinical consultation from a GP perspective. A courtroom with competing sovereign views?
Bakula Patel asks is cracking work-life balance is as simple as considering life-work balance? Comments welcome!
Bhupinder Goraya muses on the concepts of order and randomness in relation to health and primary healthcare. We’ve worked 'bloody hard' to make a random mechanical universe work, in doing so we have ordered our leisure.
Hannah Weston-Simons shares an ode to her GP colleagues
John Brooks discusses the experiences, the writings, the politics and the health of George Orwell
Rajiv Chandegra is a GP, passionate about holding impactful conversations. He interviews Professor Roger Jones, Editor-in-Chief of the BJGP. Roger has been in the role for almost a decade and the BJGP has risen to be the world’s leading primary care journal.
I admit that Slazenger’s cat is a red herring, but my wife was in a rail carriage a while ago, close to a small group of friends in earnest discussion. One was trying to refer to the paradox of Schrödinger’s cat, but
We were in Athens with a couple of hours to kill. Acropolised out, too early for Ouzo. We had seen Socrates’ jail cell (almost certainly apocryphal). We had seen the remains of Aristotle’s Lyceum, lovingly excavated. We had felt the weight of
Adam Staten is a GP trainee in Surrey and is on Twitter @adamstaten. Cold reading is the art of obtaining information about a person by making a rapid assessment of their body language, manner, age, dress and behaviour. It is commonly used