Under-nutrition harms health, but so does over-nutrition. The Bill and Melinda Gate’s foundation has just released their Goalkeepers' report - highlighting the detrimental impact that poor nutrition is having on children’s health. Rasa Izadnegahdar, director of Maternal, Newborn, Child Nutrition & Health at the foundation joins us to explain how th…

There's a real drive to strengthen quality of care in facilities around the world. However, no matter where you are, improving healthcare depends on quality data—and collecting and using that data can be challenging without the time and expertise. In this podcast, we explore how different healthcare systems, especially those with limited resources,…

The news that GPs in England have voted for industrial action has spooked the healthcare system - Katie Bramall-Stainer, the chair of the BMA's General Practice Committee explains what's lead to this, and why trust in the government has gone. After the games, olympians and paralympians return to their normal lives - but what does that mean for thei…

This week we're questioning the effectiveness of the Galleri Test for early cancer detection with investigation authors Margaret McCartney and Deborah Cohen. They delve into the decision-making and politics behind this test's introduction in the UK. The episode also covers the growing NHS waiting list crisis and how Imran Ahmed and his team at Guy'…

The Paris games have just started - and France has made a concerted effort to ensure that this year's Olympics will have a legacy of physical activity for the whole population. However, mega sporting events don't always have that effect, and Fiona Bull, head of physical activity for the WHO, joins us to explain why it's increasingly important that …

We celebrate 10 years of patient and public partnership strategy at The BMJ with a patient-centred podcast. We ask how should the new Labour government engage patients in shaping the future of the NHS. We also dive into the concepts of social care and peer support, and learn from Brazil's experience in social participation. Highlights: 01:52 - The …

Women's Health, breast cancer screening, epidurals, and GP voices New U.S. guideline on breast cancer screening have been extended to women in their 40s - Katy Bell, from the University of Sydney, and Stacy Carter, from the University of Wollongong explain why the good intention of that change wont be mirrored in outcomes - and may even induce harm…

As increasing numbers of mammalian, and human, cases of H5N1 are documented we askShould we worry about a growing threat from “bird flu”? Wendy Barclay, from Imperial college London, and Christopher Dye, from Oxford University join us to explain why they think we should. Our commission on the future of the NHS has released a manifesto for a sustain…

In the UK, a general election has been called - and around the world, ½ the global population will be voting this year; so in this episode we’ll be talking about how elections and health intersect. Firstly, what are the UK parties’ plans for health? Abi Rimmer, The BMJ's UK features editor joins us with the latest information. The world’s largest d…

With the anticipation of a new government in the UK, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting will hit the ground running - with a winter season (and it's inevitable crisis) and ongoing industrial desputes with junior doctors. Elisabeth Mahase ask him about his plans to handle these challenges if elected. We also find our selves in the puzzling situat…

Where next for psychological safety? Amy Edmundson is professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School. Her work on psychological safety has underpinned so much quality improvement, and she joins us fresh of the stage at the International Forum on Quality and safety in healthcare to talk about the next steps in creating a safe …

Hilary Cass, the former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics, has spent the last 3 years collating the evidence for treatment of gender questioning young people; engaging with those young people, their families and their clinicians - all with the aim of improving NHS treatment of this complex and vulnerable group. In this interview, Kamran…

Derogation, the way in which striking doctors can be recalled to the ward to protect patient safety, was agreed by NHS England and the BMA. Now, new data The BMJ has uncovered shows that the mechanism was rarely used - and when it was tried, was often rejected. Gareth Iacobucci explains what that means about relations between the government, the NH…

In this week's podcast: How AI will affect the clinician-patient relationship? Our annual Nuffield Summit roundtable asks how the promise of tech tools stacks up against reality, and how the future of the therapeutic relationship can be protected (participants below). Your code is as important as your methods, which is why The BMJ now requires you …

The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing a case on the approval of mifepristone for medical abortion - a case which could change the availability of the drug in the US, and which hinges on papers linking abortion to mental distress. However, those papers are contested (including a paper published by BMJ), and some have been retracted already - Julia Litte…

Social media, and the rate at which the online world is changing, is worrying - especially the speed at which health disinformation can speed around the globe. We look to tech companies for a solution to the problems of their own making - but Heidi Larson, director of the Vaccine Confidence Project, and professor of anthropology, risk and decision …

With a new logo, and new music, comes a revamped The BMJ Podcast. Every two weeks we’ll be bringing you a magazine style show, more variety and perspectives on medicine, health, and wellbeing. In this episode: Former chief executive of the NHS, Nigel Crisp, explaining why the UK is facing a national health and care emergency (01:22) The guest edito…

In this festive edition of the BMJ podcast, we hear about what medicine can learn from music, when it comes to giving a convincing performance, and how we can grow an evidence base for nature prescribing. Professors Roger Kneebone and Aaron William of the Centre for Performance Science raise the curtain on the performance of medicine, and we hear w…

There’s an inherent tension between creating quality standards that are very clinically focussed, and standards which are very patient centred - especially in settings where clinical outcomes can be compromised by basic lack of resources. The use of oxytocin to prevent bleeding after birth is an example of this - WHO quality guidelines clearly meas…

In this specially curated three-part podcast series from The BMJ, we explore the importance of community and connection to foster adolescent wellbeing. The discussion covers athe wide array of issues young people face, with a particular focus on the unique challenges of adolescence from a social perspective. The episode unpacks the significance of …

This is the second episode of a special three-part podcast series that delves into adolescent health and wellbeing, focusing on creating a positive trajectory of health from a young age. The podcast explores physical and mental health issues affecting young people globally, particularly in sexual and reproductive health. We hear how young people ar…

In the final episode of this three-part podcast series from The BMJ, we dive into the vital topic of education for adolescents and how it influences the course of life. This podcast explores barriers, burdens and possibilities of change in the educational system to better support young people, and how the traditional system of schooling is failing …

The December edition of the Talk Evidence podcast discusses the complexities of seeking consent from patients who are part of large data sets, and some new research to help patients living with diabetes in places without certain power supplies. First patient consent and data - in the UK, two stories that have made the public worry about the use of …

We were accepting of an increase in deaths every winter 'flu season, but Ashish Jha thinks that is not longer a tenable position. Lessons he learned during his time as the White House Covid-19 coordinator have convinced him we should be taking a different approach to the winter season. In this interview with Mun-Keat Looi, The BMJ's international f…

Each episode of Talk Evidence we take a dive into an issue or paper which is in the news, with a little help from some knowledgeable guests to help us to understand what it all means for clinical care, policy, or research. In this episode: Helen Macdonald take a deep dive into cancer screening tests, prompted by a paper in JAMA which showed most ha…

Organisational and student leaders explore the responsibilities of the British Medical Association and The BMJ to understand and respond to its colonial history. Our panel Kamran Abassi, editor in chief, The BMJ, London, UK Omolara Akinnawonu, Foundation year doctor, Essex, UK, and outgoing co-chair of the BMA medical students committee Latifa Pate…

Leaders from academic and funding organisations discuss the transformative change required to overcome extractive and inequitable research practices in global health, and the need for examining power and privilege within traditional research institutions. Our panel Samuel Oti, senior program specialist, International Development Research Centre, Ot…

International health leaders discuss how feminist and decolonial advocates in health face similar resistance and attempts to sow divisiveness, and how they can join forces to promote health equity and justice for all. Our panel Raewyn Connell, sociologist and professor emerita at the University of Sydney, Australia Sarah Hawkes, professor of global…

Experts discuss how failing to confront colonial pasts is linked to present lack of progress in global health equity, why health leaders need historical educations, and how, for Indigenous peoples, it’s not just a colonial history but a colonial present. Our panel Seye Abimbola, editor of BMJ Global Health, and health systems researcher from Nigeri…

Healthcare leaders discuss the ways in which colonial-era bias and eugenics persist in today’s medical education and clinical practice in the UK and beyond, and what meaningful change is required to overcome racial and other healthcare inequalities Our panel Annabel Sowemimo, sexual and reproductive health registrar and part-time PhD student and Ha…

We’ve heard throughout the series from people who have a passion for sustainability, and have successfully made changes in their organisations to reduce the planetary impact of their work. In doing so, they will have recruited other people who have a similar outlook - but they will have also convinced people who aren’t prioritising sustainability. …

One element of sustainable healthcare is simply reducing the amount of healthcare you’re doing by not doing the things that are of no value to patients. However, how do we do this in practice? And why is it often so hard? What is the role of fear in this discussion? These are all questions we will discuss in this episode. To help us with this we’ll…

Acting on climate change is often framed as having to give stuff up, to cost more money, to make sacrifices. Yet in healthcare we find the opposite can often be true: there are many actions we can take which reduce the carbon footprint of healthcare which actually end up with better outcomes for our patients. In this episode, we hear from two examp…

Ooops! If you listened to episode 3 when it first came out you may have realised that the title didn't quite match the content. We've just updated the title and the show notes below, and stay tuned for when we'll be soon releasing an episode on how sustainable healthcare can be good for patients. In a system where healthcare workers are continually…

In this month's Talk Evidence, Helen and Juan are reporting from Preventing Overdiagnosis - the conference that raises issues of diagnostic accuracy, and asks if starting the process of medicalisation is always the right thing to do for patients. In this episode, they talk about home testing, sustainability and screening. They're also joined by two…

Healthcare is a complex system, and if we want to make changes such as those needed for sustainable healthcare, we need to work across multiple teams, and make sure we hear everyone’s voice, including our patients’. In this episode we’ll discuss how we can communicate and work with those different groups, and some novel ways of getting the message …

Planet centred care is new podcast series for the BMJ exploring issues related to environmentally sustainable healthcare, aimed at all clinicians, and anyone working in healthcare, who want to make sure they can continue to help patients while not harming the planet. In this episode we’ll discuss that first radicalising moment. That moment where yo…

In our final episode of this season, we're going quantitative, with the newly released data on how trainees in the UK are faring. Each year the UK's General Medical Council, the doctor's regulator, surveys trainees in the NHS to ask them questions about stress and burnout, harassment and discrimination, and how well supported they feel in their tra…

In this month's Talk Evidence, we're getting a little meta - how do we keep an eye on research to make sure it's done with integrity. Helen Macdonald is BMJ's Publication ethics and content integrity editor - and we quiz her about what that actually means on a day to day basis. Ensuring the integrity of research could be made both easier, and harde…

They're the trusted public figures of the medical profession, but many of the most famous medics in the UK will have been approached by, and accepted money from, companies wishing to promote their products - and the public will never know. To talk about conflicts of interest in media doctors, we’re joined by two of the most recognisable medics on o…

In this episode of Talk Evidence, Helen Macdonald, Joe Ross, and Juan Franco are back to update us on what's happening in the world of medical evidence. Firstly, the news about the end of the covid-19 pandemic was trumpeted, but the changes to research funding have been more quite - and the team discuss what this means for ongoing work to understan…

We're in pride month, and this year the celebration of LGBT+ people seems to be increasingly contentious. Healthcare's treatment of queer people has improved hugely since the days when being gay was considered a mental disorder, and would end a doctor's career - but that doesn't mean that everything is equal. In this episode of Doctor Informed, we'…

The culture which allows sexism to perpetuate in healthcare is no better illustrated than by The BMJ's investigation into sexual abuse in the NHS. However, The BMJ are not the first organisation to highlight the problems - Surviving in Scrubs have been collating stories of sexism in healthcare, and making waves about the issues for a while. In this…

Helen Macdonald, Juan Franco, and Joe Ross are back with our monthly update on the world of evidence based medicine.This episode delves into new methodologies which can use observational data to emulate trial data. We discuss a new systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs for surgical treatment of sciatica. There is elaboration and explanation o…

Helen Macdonald, Juan Franco, and Joe Ross are back with our monthly update on the world of evidence based medicine.This episode delves into new methodologies which can use observational data to emulate trial data. We discuss a new systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs for surgical treatment of sciatica. There is elaboration and explanation o…

Everyone has coping mechanisms, but sometimes those ways of coping become problem behaviours - addictions.In this episode of Doctor Informed, we're focussing on how to spot the signs that you may be sliding into addiction, how to have conversations with friends and colleagues if you worry about their behaviour, and how seeking treatment is the best…

Everyone has coping mechanisms, but sometimes those ways of coping become problem behaviours - addictions.In this episode of Doctor Informed, we're focussing on how to spot the signs that you may be sliding into addiction, how to have conversations with friends and colleagues if you worry about their behaviour, and how seeking treatment is the best…

In this month’s Talk Evidence, Helen Macdonald, Juan Franco and Joseph Ross are back to talk us through some of the latest research, They’ll talk about pay-for-perfomance schemes, and whether the data they routinely collect is measuring outcomes or tickboxes. They’ll also talk about a new analysis published on bmj.com which suggests ways in which t…

In this month’s Talk Evidence, Helen Macdonald, Juan Franco and Joseph Ross are back to talk us through some of the latest research, They’ll talk about pay-for-perfomance schemes, and whether the data they routinely collect is measuring outcomes or tickboxes. They’ll also talk about a new analysis published on bmj.com which suggests ways in which t…

Fatigue can have as much of an affect in your ability to function as alcohol, and yet while you would be chastised for drinking before appearing on the ward, hospitals have systematically removed the spaces where tired clinicians can rest and recover.The Royal College of Anaesthetists have been campaigning to raise awareness of the dangers of fatig…