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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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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Evidence for potential harms of light drinking in pregnancy ‘surprisingly’ limited

But review confirms alcohol best avoided ‘just in case’, say researchers The evidence for the potentially harmful effects of light or occasional drinking in pregnancy is ‘surprisingly limited,’ but women are still better off avoiding all alcohol while pregnant, just in case, concludes a pooled analysis of the available data, published in the online journal […]

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People with disabilities face major hurdles accessing healthcare in UK

Disabled women are particularly disadvantaged People with disabilities in the UK face major hurdles accessing healthcare, reveals research published in the online journal BMJ Open. Disabled women are particularly disadvantaged, the findings show around one in five (19%) people in the UK is thought to live with a disability, but little is known about their access […]

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Improvised explosive devices inflict much more serious injuries than land mines

Multiple amputations much more likely The types of close contact injuries inflicted by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are much more serious than those associated with land mines, finds research published in the online journal BMJ Open. Landmines came into widespread use in the Second World War, where they were designed to injure/maim rather than to […]

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Drugs to curb excess stomach acid may be linked to heightened risk of death

May be time to restrict use of widely available proton pump inhibitors, say researchers Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs)—a widely available class of drug designed to curb excess stomach acid production—may be linked to a heightened risk of death, indicates research published in the online journal BMJ Open. Given how widely available these drugs are, and […]

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