Poor practice on conflict of interest in NHS may be damaging trust in clinicians

US-style statutory body needed to ensure all trusts have strong policies in place, say researchers Many NHS trusts in England are failing to log, track, or disclose information on conflicts of interest (COI) for their staff, so potentially undermining public trust in health professionals, suggests research published in the online journal BMJ Open. A statutory […]

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New requirements for patient and public involvement statements in BMJ Open

Patient partnership at The BMJ: Walking the talk In 2014, The BMJ launched it’s patient partnership strategy, seeking “to promote patient partnership by walking the talk“. The strategy, informed by an international patient advisory panel, launched a number of innovative editorial practices, including patient peer review and patient co-production of educational articles. Listening to patients’ voices […]

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Surgeries employing GPs with additional training in complementary medicine appear less likely to prescribe antibiotics

Use of complementary/alternative medicine may help reduce over prescribing of antibiotics GP surgeries with doctors who also have training in complementary and alternative medicines appear to be less likely to prescribe antibiotics to patients and may hold the key to reducing over-prescribing of these drugs, suggests a study published in the journal BMJ Open. Inappropriate […]

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Top 10 most read in February: Eating speed and obesity, micronutrients in low-carbohydrate diets, high-carbohydrate intake and obesity, urinary bisphenol A in teenagers

  Eight new entries made it into BMJ Open’s top 10 most read articles in February. New in at number one is a secondary analysis of longitudinal data by Hurst & Fukuda, which examined the association between lifestyle factors, including eating speed, and obesity in Japanese patients with diabetes. The authors demonstrated that slower eating […]

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2016 junior doctor strikes in England had ‘significant impact’ on healthcare provision

Thousands of appointments cancelled; effects greatest when emergency care withdrawn The 2016 junior doctors strikes in England had a ‘significant’ impact on the provision of healthcare, with thousands of appointments cancelled, and significantly fewer admissions and A&E attendances than expected, reveals research published in the online journal BMJ Open. The effects were greatest during the last of […]

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Top 10 most read in January: patient satisfaction with hospital care and nurses, manual therapy for excessively crying infants and the timing of probiotic milk consumption during pregnancy and adverse outcomes

January sees seven new papers enter BMJ Open’s top 10 most read articles. In at number one is Aiken et al, who investigate how patient perceptions of hospital care are associated with confidence in nurses and doctors, nurse staffing levels and hospital work environments. The authors found a strong association between patients’ perceptions of hospital […]

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Editors’ picks of 2017

  BMJ Open has had an incredible 2017 – publishing more than 2,700 articles across the whole spectrum of medicine. The editorial team at BMJ Open have selected some of their highlights from our articles published throughout 2017. Enjoy! Emotions and alcohol consumption: Is it wine that is making you whine? Alcohol is a popular […]

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Women taking probiotics during pregnancy might have lower pre-eclampsia and premature birth risk

But timing may be crucial, findings suggest Probiotics taken during pregnancy might help lower the risks of pre-eclampsia and premature birth, suggests observational research in the online journal BMJ Open. But timing may be crucial, the findings indicate. Pre-eclampsia, a condition in which the mother’s body mounts an exaggerated inflammatory response, affects up to 8 percent […]

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Top 10 Most Read in December: Death, injury and disability from kinetic impact projectiles, Clinical trial transparency of Big Pharma and the relationship between PHC physician specialisation and hospitalisation in Brazil.

December saw four new papers enter into BMJ Open’s top 10 most read articles. In first place is a systematic review of deaths, injuries and permanent disability from rubber and plastic bullets and other projectiles used in crowd-control settings between 1990 and 2017. The authors conclude that rubber/plastic bullets used for crowd control can cause […]

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