Emotionally demanding workload and confrontational patients key stressors for GPs

Bullying/unsupportive colleagues and fear of complaints add to the mix The emotional impact of their daily workload and confrontational patients are among the key stressors for family doctors in England, reveals an analysis of feedback from general practitioners (GPs), published in the online journal BMJ Open. Dysfunctional working relationships and unsupportive/bullying colleagues, combined with the […]

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Patients’ unfavourable views of hospital care strongly linked to nurse numbers

Increasing the headcount may boost satisfaction with quality of care, say researchers Patients’ unfavourable views of hospital care in England are strongly linked to insufficient numbers of nurses on duty, rather than uncaring staff, indicates observational research published in the online journal BMJ Open. Increasing the registered nurse headcount may boost satisfaction with the quality […]

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Breast cancer survivorship care: evidence based guideline recommendations for primary care physicians

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and effects over 1.5 million women each year. [1] As the number of survivors also increases [2] it’s essential that primary care physician (PCPs) have access to the best available evidence, and are able to provide optimal care for their patients, who may experience side effects […]

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Rubber/plastic bullets used for crowd control can maim and kill

Given their inherent inaccuracy, they shouldn’t be used for this purpose, say researchers Rubber/plastic bullets used for crowd control can maim and kill, and given their inherent inaccuracy, they shouldn’t be used for this purpose, concludes a review of the available evidence, published in the online journal BMJ Open. Rubber/plastic bullets (kinetic impact projectiles) are […]

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Top 10 Most Read in November: health and social care constraints in England, general practice as a career choice, and cost-effectiveness of interventions in preventing type 2 diabetes

November was an interesting month, with many new papers published: five of which reached this month’s Top 10 Most Read list. In the top spot is Watkins et al, with a time trend analysis looking at the effects of health and social care spending constraints on mortality in England. They found that spending constraints, especially […]

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Different types of alcohol elicit different emotional responses

Spirits most frequently associated with feelings of aggression, international survey shows Different types of alcohol elicit different emotional responses, but spirits are most frequently associated with feelings of aggression, suggests research published in the online journal BMJ Open. To explore the potential emotional factors underpinning alcohol preference the researchers drew on anonymised responses to  the […]

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Primary care consultations last less than 5 minutes for half the world’s population

But range from 48 seconds in Bangladesh to 22.5 minutes in Sweden Primary care consultations last less than 5 minutes for half the world’s population, but range from 48 seconds in Bangladesh to 22.5 minutes in Sweden, reveals the largest international study of its kind, published in the online journal BMJ Open. Shorter consultation times […]

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Top 10 most read in October: Physician-pharmaceutical industry interactions, systematic reviews and unpublished data, and polypharmacy and falls in older adults

  Four new entries, and two re-entries, made it into BMJ Open’s top 10 most read articles in October. Climbing back into the top position is a longitudinal cohort study by Xie et al., which examines the association between Proton Pump Inhibitors and the risk of all-cause mortality. New in at number five is a […]

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Less red tape and shorter working hours might help stave off retirement of UK doctors

GPs most likely to stop working because of workload pressures, survey shows Less red tape and shorter working hours are the two key factors that might persuade older UK doctors to carry on working rather than hanging up their stethoscopes, suggests an analysis of survey responses, published in the online journal BMJ Open. Family doctors […]

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