BMJ talk medicine

Dr Amy Ross Russell, Neurology, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, interviews Dr Sophie Binks and Professor Sarosh Irani, from the Oxford Autoimmune Neurology Group, about their recent paper about a practical approach to diagnosis and management of paraneoplastic neurological syndromes.

Read the latest Editor’s Choice paper on the Practical Neurology website (https://pn.bmj.com/content/22/1/19) and the February print issue of the journal.

The paper is also discussed by Practical Neurology editors, Dr Phil Smith and Dr Geraint Fuller, in their latest podcast: https://soundcloud.com/bmjpodcasts/editors-highlights-of-the-february-2022-issue?in=bmjpodcasts/sets/pn-podcast

Please subscribe to the Practical Neurology podcast via all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify, to get the latest podcast every month.

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider leaving us a review or a comment on the Practical Neurology Podcast iTunes page (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/pn-podcast/id942932053). Thank you for listening.

As Ramadan draws near, clinicians may be approached by their Muslim patients to discuss managing their health conditions during the month of fasting. How should someone with a chronic condition, such as diabetes or epilepsy, time their medications during this period? Can a person who’s pregnant or breastfeeding partake in fasting? What alternative options are available to someone whose health needs make participating fully in fasting too risky?

In this week’s episode, we discuss the many questions doctors and patients may have around this topic with Ammad Mahmood and Sahira Dar, authors of a recently published article in The BMJ on advising patients with existing conditions about fasting during Ramadan, and talk about the importance of individualised advice and shared decision making.

Our guests:

Ammad Mahmood is a neurological trainee, currently undertaking a PHD in stroke imaging at the University of Glasgow.

Sahira Dar is a GP, practising in Glasgow, with special interests in lifestyle medicine and mental health issues.

Further reading:

‘Advising patients with existing conditions about fasting during Ramadan’ by Ammad Mahmood, Sahira Dar et al. https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj-2020-063613

Empathy is one of the essential qualities of a good doctor. One way this is assessed at medical school is the use of objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) stations. The use of OSCEs in medical schools is controversial - it can be used to simulate clinical examination and test students’ ability to express empathy while some perceive OSCEs as an artificial and narrow understanding of clinical medicine.

Topics:

• How do medical students’ experiences of empathy change during their medical education?

• What factors do medical students describe as influencing their empathy during medical school?

• Should and can empathy be assessed?

• Importance of empathy in the patient-doctor relationship

Expert guest:

Dr David Jeffrey is a retired palliative doctor and former academic mentor at Dundee medical school involved in student support. He also did a PhD exploring empathy in medical students.

Recommended reading:

• I never asked to be ICE’d - https://www.bmj.com/content/354/bmj.i3729

• Communication skills and the problem with fake patients - https://www.bmj.com/content/357/sbmj.j974?sso=

*We’re looking for new panel members!*

Are you a:

✅ Medical student

✅ Listener of Sharp Scratch

✅ Keen on representing the voice of medical students?

In the past, the panel only consisted of medical students studying in the UK. However, remote recording meant that we can extend this opportunity to medical students in other countries. If you’re interested, please apply via the link below. We look forward to hearing from you!

Apply here: https://forms.gle/QocryfkG137cWTb88

Check us out on social media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BMJStudent

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bmj_student/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BMJStudent/

This podcast is produced and edited by Dom Byrne and Duncan Jarvies.

Editor-in-Chief of the Archives of Disease in Childhood, Dr Nick Brown, and Senior Editor, Dr Rachel Agbeko, bring you the Atoms - the highlights of the March 2022 issue.

Read it on the Archives of Disease in Childhood website: https://adc.bmj.com/content/107/3/i

Please listen to our regular podcasts and subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify to get episodes automatically downloaded to your phone and computer. And if you enjoy the podcast, please leave us a review at https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/adc-podcast/id333278832

In the latest podcast, we discuss the joint expedited recommendations from the European Stroke Organisation (ESO) and the European Society for Minimally Invasive Neurological Therapy (ESMINT) on indication for intravenous thrombolysis before mechanical thrombectomy in patients with acute ischemic stroke and anterior circulation large vessel occlusion.

JNIS Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Felipe C. Albuquerque, interviews Dr. Guillaume Turc, Department of Neurology, GHU Paris Psychiatrie et Neurosciences, Université de Paris, and co-chair of the module working group.

Paper available here: https://jnis.bmj.com/content/14/3/209.

Please subscribe to the JNIS Podcast via all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify, to get the latest episodes. Also, please consider leaving us a review or a comment on the JNIS Podcast iTunes page: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/jnis-podcast/id942473767.

Thank you for listening!

In this episode of the Heart podcast, Digital Media Intern, Dr. Andrew Perry, is joined by Dr. Alan Daugherty, from the University of Kentucky, and Editor-in-Chief of the Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology journal. They discuss the latest developments in transcriptomics and how they might be used to understand the causes of vascular disease.

If you enjoy the show, please subscribe to the podcast to get episodes automatically downloaded to your phone and computer. Also, please consider leaving us a review at https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/heart-podcast/id445358212?mt=2

In this podcast, Dr. Truchetet discusses her work on the role of innate lymphoid cells in the fibrotic processes in systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients. The group of Dr. Truchetet found that ILC2 are crucial mediators of skin fibrosis in SSc and that combined treatment of patients with TGFb inhibitors and IL-10 might be an attractive new therapeutic approach in SSc.

Read the full paper on the ARD website: https://ard.bmj.com/content/80/12/1594

Please subscribe to the ARD podcast on all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. If you enjoy the show, feel free to leave us a comment or a review on the podcast iTunes page (https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ard-podcast/id1171058059).

In this episode of the IJGC podcast, Editor-in-Chief Dr. Pedro Ramirez, is joined by Dr. David M. Gershenson to discuss legends in gynecologic oncology. Dr. Gershenson is Professor and former Chair of the Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. His major focus is on the clinical and translational research or rare ovarian cancers.

Highlights:

Mentoring is an essential component of a successful career in gynecologic oncology, and every trainee should seek a mentor early in their fellowship.

Strive to achieve the optimal work/life balance to avoid burnout over the course of your career.

The subspecialty of gynecologic oncology has been consistently gratifying for me during the past 40+ years. It provides young trainees with a myriad of wonderful opportunities and career choices.

I strongly recommend having a 5-year plan to optimize success in your professional career.

Associate Professor Izzy Moore and Grainne Donnelly discuss running during and after pregnancy and provide practical tips and great resources for clinicians treating pregnant and post-partum women. How can you ask about pelvic health? What is the role of a musculoskeletal clinician? How can we ensure less women suffer in silence?

Original research: Multidisciplinary, biopsychosocial factors contributing to return to running and running related stress urinary incontinence in postpartum women https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/55/22/1286.info

Editorial: Multidisciplinary, biopsychosocial factors contributing to return to running and running related stress urinary incontinence in postpartum women: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34836883/

2019 return to running guideline https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physio.2020.03.276

Return to running BJSM infographic - https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/54/18/1114

Run ready post-partum BJSM blogs

https://blogs.bmj.com/bjsm/2019/05/20/ready-steadygo-ensuring-postnatal-women-are-run-ready/ and https://blogs.bmj.com/bjsm/2021/08/22/return-to-running-following-childbirth-when-the-principles-of-sports-medicine-and-pelvic-health-collide/

Pelvic health impact questionnaire https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16021067/

Canadian guidelines - https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/52/21/1339

Clinical commentary considering the whole system readiness for running post-partum https://journals.lww.com/jwhpt/Abstract/2022/01000/Beyond_the_Musculoskeletal_System__Considering.7.aspx

In this episode of the IJGC Podcast, Editorial Fellow Felix Boria discusses the contents of the February issue of IJGC in Spanish.