The BMJ Podcast

By BMJ Group

What's The BMJ Podcast about?

The BMJ is an international peer reviewed medical journal and a fully “online first” publication. The BMJ’s vision is to be the world’s most influential and widely read medical journal. Our mission is to lead the debate on health and to engage, inform, and stimulate doctors, researchers, and other health professionals in ways that will improve outcomes for patients. We aim to help doctors to make better decisions.

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LAST EPISODE

The BMJ interview: Fixing A...

01.19.2021

US president elect Joe Biden wasted no time in appointing a special advisory board of experts to guide America out of its coronavirus crisis. One of those experts is Celine Gounder, an infectious diseases epidemiologist who has worked on Ebola, ...

The BMJ Podcast episodes:

01.19.2021 The BMJ interview: Fixing America’s covid response in the Biden era US president elect Joe Biden wasted no time in appointing a special advisory board of experts to guide America out of its coronavirus crisis. One of those experts is Celine Gounder, an infectious diseases epidemiologist who has worked on Ebola, ...
01.16.2021 Talk Evidence - Lateral flow tests update, not the best public health approach In this episode of Talk Evidence, Jon Deeks, professor of biostatistics at the University of Birmingham, returns to the pod with an update on lateral flow tests - and why the government plan for using them in asymptomatic screening for ...
01.14.2021 The BMJ Interview - Andrew Pollard on the Oxford/Astra Zeneca vaccine Andrew Pollard is Director of the Oxford Vaccines Group - who, along with Astra Zeneca, have developed an modified adenovirus vaccine for SARS-CoV-2. In this interview we talk to him about the development of that vaccine - what he thinks ...
01.12.2021 Wellbeing - where to turn for emotional support during the pandemic The Samaritans have traditionally been there for people in a crisis, those who are on the verge of ending their life by suicide - but during this pandemic, with the personal toll of caring for covid-19 patients, they are also ...
01.08.2021 Food aid - helping providers support the health of their users The growth in the need for food aid, in the UK, has been staggering. That's why The BMJ has chosen the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) as its annual charity appeal. Nutritional guidelines which work for everyone is difficult, even ...
01.06.2021 Coronavirus second wave - The UK's fourth lockdown Recorded Tuesday 5th Jan 2021 As the UK enters lockdown, again, schools are closed, the NHS struggles under the surge of cases, new variants of SARS-COV-2 virus stalk the world, and vaccination programmes make a faltering start. In this podcast, ...
01.05.2021 Listening is the first part of research The BMJ has long campaigned for better patient and public participation in research, making the case that it leads to better outcomes for patients and for society - but an article published in the Christmas edition of The BMJ goes ...
01.03.2021 A (non-systematic) evidence review of 2020 As 2021 hoves into view, we look back at a year of extraordinary evidence. Helen Macdonald is joined by Joe Ross, one of The BMJ's research editors, as well as a researcher at Yale. They discuss the way in which ...
01.01.2021 The Deep Breath talking wellbeing evidence round-up of the year. In this end-of-year podcast from Deep Breath In, we're bringing you a light hearted look back at 2020, and trying to remember some of the non-covid-19 medicine that has crossed our desks. This festive quiz features the deep breath in ...
12.28.2020 Talking Christmas evidence - how Christmas research is chosen If you've had time to digest this year's Christmas edition of The BMJ, you might have wondered how those papers get into The BMJ. Well in this Talk Evidence podcast, Helen Macdonald, UK research editor at The BMJ talks to ...
12.24.2020 Wellbeing - Human factors, and Christmas Logistics How do human behaviours affect patient outcomes? And what has that got to do with Christmas? Graham Shaw, director of Critical Factors, and Peter Brennan, a maxillofacial surgeon in Portsmouth, join us to explain what human factors are, why they’re ...
12.23.2020 Food insecurity in the 6th largest economy Every year, the BMJ has a charity appeal - we’ve regularly focused on organisations like MSF, or Lifebox - providing support to areas of the world which don’t have good healthcare provision… This year though, covid-19 has changed everything - ...
12.22.2020 The soundscape of a hospital Until hear death in 2019, Annabel and her husband James Weaver, spent a lot of time together in hospitals - in patient and outpatient wards, waiting in makeshift waiting rooms in corridors and atriums. And while you or I might ...
12.18.2020 Rob Poynton wants you to pause Robert Poynton is an associate fellow of the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, and author of books designed to help people work in ways which help both their career and wellbeing. In this wellbeing podcast, we focus ...
12.16.2020 Coronavirus second wave - Should we cancel Christmas? As London and some neighbouring counties move up to tier 3, and Germany, Italy and The Netherlands impose tighter restrictions over over the coming days of Christmas, in this podcast we ask - should Christmas gatherings be cancelled? In this ...
12.14.2020 Inside a vaccine trial The last few weeks we’ve been feverish in our coverage of vaccines - the evidence base for them is, how they’ve been evaluated and licensed, and who’s going to get them first. But what we’ve not covered much is what ...
12.11.2020 Talk evidence covid-19 update - poor public messaging, and vaccine approval data The vaccines are being rolled out - but approval is still on an emergency basis, and the evidence underpinning those decisions is only just becoming available for scrutiny. In this podcast we talk to Baruch Fischhoff, professor at Carnegie Mellon ...
12.08.2020 Coronavirus second wave - the vaccine's here, but the pandemic isn't over As the first people outside of a trial have started receiving Pfizer's sars-cov-2 vaccine, including Matt, but that's not the end of the story for the pandemic, there are still logistics of rollout, plus treating those who have already contracted ...
12.04.2020 Lockdown lessons from an Antarctic winter Anne Hicks, is an emergency medicine consultant in Plymouth, and for 16 years was the medical director for the British Antarctic Survey (she stepped down last year). The British Antarctic Survey operates all through the antarctic winter - where for ...
12.02.2020 Corona virus second wave - Fears for tiers As the first vaccine for corona virus is approved, and England joins the other nations of the UK outside of full lockdown, we are all entering tiers of restrictions - variable across the country, which will continue until that vaccine ...
12.01.2020 Calum Semple - the efficacy of mass testing in Liverpool The government has decided to pursue a strategy of mass-testing in Liverpool, in a pilot to see what effect that has on containment of corona virus. A lot of criticism has been levelled at the scheme, from the sensitivity of ...
11.26.2020 Why the government is being sued over PPE contracts The BMJ is a champion of openness and transparency in research, in clinical practice and in health policy. However, if you’ve kept and eye on the journals recently, you’ll have seen that governments have been less diligent about keeping an ...
11.24.2020 Coronavirus second wave - recentring patients in our covid-19 response As further promising news emerges of vaccine effectiveness, although still with no data published, and as plans emerge for the return home of university students and limited festive winter celebrations. But as we talked about in the last podcast, there ...
11.21.2020 Talk evidence covid-19 update - uncertainty in treatment, uncertainty in prevention Uncertainty abounds - even as we get better data on treatments, with the big RCTs beginning to report, and new trials on masks, the evidence remains uncertain, in both the statistical realm (confidence intervals crossing 0) and in what to ...
11.20.2020 Wellbeing - What we've learned from treating doctors Clare Gerada and Zaid Al-Najjar have been treating doctors for a while now, through the NHS Practitioner Programme. In that time they have noticed some themes in the issues that bring doctors to them, from isolation to stress. In this ...
11.17.2020 Coronavirus second wave - vaccines, how ready is the needle to hit the arm? Covid-19 continues its grip on the Northern Hemisphere alongside news of a vaccine trial showing real success at first glance. In this second wave update, we explore the latest issues with healthcare professionals from primary care, secondary care, and public ...
11.13.2020 How well did hospitals perform for their staff during covid? In the first wave of covid-19, hospitals started to reconfigure space and services, to provide rest areas and food for staff, to help them cope with the surge in patients. Michael West, professor professor of work and organisational psychology at ...
11.11.2020 Coronavirus second wave - viral transmission and a vaccine announcement Covid-19 continues its grip on the Northern Hemisphere alongside news of a vaccine trial showing real success at first glance. In this second wave update, we explore the latest issues with healthcare professionals from primary care, secondary care, and public ...
11.05.2020 A lump in the throat with Nick Hamilton, Deonne Dersch-Mills and Bonnie Kaplan A lump in the throat is a classic GP presentation, but one that often causes a lot of worry. Many people are struggling with high levels of anxiety anyway at the moment, and this may manifest physical symptoms, such as ...
11.03.2020 Coronavirus second wave - Making the lockdown work As the second spike in covid-19 cases grows, we want to take stock of what's happening in the NHS. In these second wave updates, clinicians from primary care, secondary care, and public health, discuss what is happening in their field, ...
10.30.2020 Talk evidence covid-19 update - talking risk, remdesivir, and relevant research In this talk evidence covid-19 update, we’re taking on risk - how do you figure out your individual risk of dying from the disease? Try QCovid, but remember that it’s figuring out your risk back in April. When it comes ...
10.29.2020 Chris Whitty on the challenge of winter, lockdown, and following the science Chris Whitty probably needs no introduction to our UK audience - he's the chief medical advisor to the UK government, has played a pivotal role in shaping the country's response to Covid-19. He rarely does interviews - so in this ...
10.27.2020 Coronavirus second wave - what the modelling say about slowing transmission As the world sees an upsurge in infections, this "second wave" feels different to the first - we have a much better understanding of the biology of the virus, in hospitals, guidelines for treatment have been rapidly developed... and the ...
10.22.2020 Deep Breath In - EUPD with Leisha Davies, Soumitra Burman-Roy and Marie Stella McClure Personality disorder is often referred to as the “Cinderella” diagnosis of mental health. Around 1 in 20 people is estimated to have a personality disorder, and it is a neglected and under-resourced area of our healthcare system. In this week’s ...
10.21.2020 Second wave updates - How it's affecting practice now As the second spike in covid-19 cases grows, we want to take stock of what's happening in the NHS. In these second wave updates, clinicians from primary care, secondary care, and public health, discuss what is happening in their field, ...
10.20.2020 Wellbeing - Dreading the second wave The "second wave" of covid is hitting the UK, and clinicians are anticipating a spike in demand in the NHS. The inevitability of that is weighing on NHS staff's minds. In this podcast, Cormac Doyle, a retired senior army officer, ...
10.16.2020 Economics for Drs - what you need to know to understand UBI and a jobs guarantee As the economic fall out of covid-19 starts to bite, attention is turning to how the state can support everyone - especially if the pandemic turns into a depression. Universal basic income, and a jobs guarantee are two of the ...
10.08.2020 Coughing kids with Tim Spector and Edward Snelson Persistent coughing in children is always a challenge, both for parents trying to describe and measure the cough, and for doctors making a diagnosis. In the current climate, this is all the more difficult, seeing as a continual cough is ...
10.05.2020 Talk Evidence covid-19 update - antigen testing and developing non drug evidence In this Talk Evidence covid-19 update, Jon Deeks, professor of biostatistics at the University of Birmingham gives us an update on testing technology. Will the point of care tests make a different to big live events, and how research and ...
10.02.2020 A way for healthcare to become net-zero for carbon David Pencheon, Renee Salas and Ed Maibach join us to talk about how healthcare can, and should, take leadership on climate change. With a few exceptions, the healthcare industry lags behind in efforts to reduce carbon emissions - in this ...
09.24.2020 'Flu vaccine season - with Nikki Turner and Jeff Kwong With the annual flu season looming, GPs are anticipating a frenzy of vaccinations, perhaps more so than ever this year. As so many 'flu and respiratory viruses circulate every year, and as the 'flu vaccine is for one strain of ...
09.23.2020 Talk evidence covid-19 update - covid in kids, and the winter cold season This episode was recorded on 18 September - just before the news came out about the new lockdown measures. We’ll hear Carl and Helen’s thoughts, but we also want to hear a broad range of views - so get in ...
09.21.2020 Nudge it Nudging seemed to be all the rage a few years ago - a way of changing individual behaviours to help people make better choices, about their diet, exercise and other habits. A lot of hype ensued, the UK government under ...
09.18.2020 Anthony Fauci - on changing science, long-covid, and political intrusion into health agencies Dr Anthony Fauci needs no introduction, as head of the NIAID for almost four decades, and the U.S. government's leading advisor on infectious diseases, and leader in the country's response to Covid-19. In this interview with The BMJ, Dr Fauci ...
09.10.2020 Talking about obesity with Stephanie deGiorgio and Naveed Sattar Fatphobia has been described as society’s last ‘ism’. Whilst our understanding of weight and health has changed over time, there is still a stigma towards people who are overweight or obese, and an assumption that they must be unhealthy, and ...
09.05.2020 Wellbeing - Mask shaming The social norms that guide our behaviour in the world aren’t often quick to change - but the imperative to wear a mask in public has rapidly taken hold, establish by law, but policed by the public. Mask shaming is ...
08.28.2020 Talk Evidence Covid-19 Update - Lockdown, a spoonful of honey, and weight loss There are have been local lockdowns in the UK, in places such as Oldham, Birmingham, Manchester – but what is the criteria for making that decision? In the non-Covid world: does honey alleviate symptoms in upper-respiratory tract infections? When does ...
08.28.2020 Time For A Pill Check With Anne McGregor And Tara Stein Contraceptive pill check-up appointments used to be simple and straightforward for GPs, and frequently felt like a welcome reprieve from more complex consultations. However, there’s often more to them these days, especially given the rise in tailored regimens, with more ...
08.21.2020 Wellbeing – The joy of socks In Australia, a staggering 25% of doctors have had thoughts of suicide in the past 12 months, a recent survey said. Mental health problems are higher in medicine than any other job – and yet healthcare professionals are still stigmatised ...
08.20.2020 What Do We Know About Long Covid Trisha Greenhalgh, professor of primary care health sciences at the University of Oxford has been a powerhouse of covid-19 evidence synthesis. She pulled together advice on doing remote consultations, on wearing masks to prevent spread, and a host of other ...

Older episodes

The BMJ Podcast

What's The BMJ Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The BMJ Podcast episodes:

The BMJ interview: Fixing America’s covid response in the Biden era

Talk Evidence - Lateral flow tests update, not the best public health approach

The BMJ Interview - Andrew Pollard on the Oxford/Astra Zeneca vaccine

Wellbeing - where to turn for emotional support during the pandemic

Food aid - helping providers support the health of their users

Coronavirus second wave - The UK's fourth lockdown

Listening is the first part of research

A (non-systematic) evidence review of 2020

The Deep Breath talking wellbeing evidence round-up of the year.

Talking Christmas evidence - how Christmas research is chosen

Wellbeing - Human factors, and Christmas Logistics

Food insecurity in the 6th largest economy

The soundscape of a hospital

Rob Poynton wants you to pause

Coronavirus second wave - Should we cancel Christmas?

Inside a vaccine trial

Talk evidence covid-19 update - poor public messaging, and vaccine approval data

Coronavirus second wave - the vaccine's here, but the pandemic isn't over

Lockdown lessons from an Antarctic winter

Corona virus second wave - Fears for tiers

Calum Semple - the efficacy of mass testing in Liverpool

Why the government is being sued over PPE contracts

Coronavirus second wave - recentring patients in our covid-19 response

Talk evidence covid-19 update - uncertainty in treatment, uncertainty in prevention

Wellbeing - What we've learned from treating doctors

Coronavirus second wave - vaccines, how ready is the needle to hit the arm?

How well did hospitals perform for their staff during covid?

Coronavirus second wave - viral transmission and a vaccine announcement

A lump in the throat with Nick Hamilton, Deonne Dersch-Mills and Bonnie Kaplan

Coronavirus second wave - Making the lockdown work

Talk evidence covid-19 update - talking risk, remdesivir, and relevant research

Chris Whitty on the challenge of winter, lockdown, and following the science

Coronavirus second wave - what the modelling say about slowing transmission

Deep Breath In - EUPD with Leisha Davies, Soumitra Burman-Roy and Marie Stella McClure

Second wave updates - How it's affecting practice now

Wellbeing - Dreading the second wave

Economics for Drs - what you need to know to understand UBI and a jobs guarantee

Coughing kids with Tim Spector and Edward Snelson

Talk Evidence covid-19 update - antigen testing and developing non drug evidence

A way for healthcare to become net-zero for carbon

'Flu vaccine season - with Nikki Turner and Jeff Kwong

Talk evidence covid-19 update - covid in kids, and the winter cold season

Nudge it

Anthony Fauci - on changing science, long-covid, and political intrusion into health agencies

Talking about obesity with Stephanie deGiorgio and Naveed Sattar

Wellbeing - Mask shaming

Talk Evidence Covid-19 Update - Lockdown, a spoonful of honey, and weight loss

Time For A Pill Check With Anne McGregor And Tara Stein

Wellbeing – The joy of socks

What Do We Know About Long Covid

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