bmj.com: BMJ - Helping doctors make better decisions

Comment

Can we feed the world?

Before he set off to address the UN-sponsored food summit in Rome, Olivier De Schutter, the UN�s new special rapporteur on the right to food, spoke to the BMJ about the current crisis and what to do about it.

Students

The M word

When Student BMJ editor Hugh Ip told his medical school colleagues he had chosen health management as a intercalated BSc, one asked: "Why don't you do something more useful?" Should management training be a compulsory part of medical school curricula? Have your say on the Student BMJ poll.

Blogs

Would you review a paper by your ex-husband?

Conflicts of interests can be tricky to disentangle, says Liz Wager after learning that the UK government put the tax revenue from tobacco before the nation's health in the 1950s. Everybody's got competing interests, she concludes in her blog. And Anna Donald delivers on a promise to explain why cancer is humbling. Have your say on BMJ blogs.

Research

Adherence to Mediterranean diet and risk of developing diabetes

This prospective cohort study shows that high adherence to a diet rich in olive oil, fruit and vegetables, and little meat was associated with an 83% relative risk reduction for developing type 2 diabetes.

Careers

Violent patients

One in three doctors is attacked at work every year, yet few of these will have been trained on how to handle the situation. General practitioners, doctors working in accident and emergency departments, psychiatrists, and doctors in training are the most at risk.

Poll

Statins

Is it feasible for GPs to put all 40-75 year olds on statins based on cardiovascular risk, ethnicity, and family history? Read the summary of NICE guidance: Risk assessment and lipid modification for primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, and have your say on the poll.

Research

Patients' attitudes to the summary care record (SCR) and HealthSpace: qualitative study

Despite an extensive information programme in early adopter sites, the public remains unclear about current policy on shared electronic records, though most people view these as a positive development. The "implied consent" model for creating and accessing a person's SCR should be revisited, perhaps in favour of "consent to view" at the point of access. SCR lets NHS staff access a patient�s medical record summary via the internet. Patients can view their own SCR online via HealthSpace.

Comment

Access to NHS dentistry

Has reduced access to NHS dentistry caused an increase in dental abscesses, asks this Analysis article. The number of people admitted to hospital with abscesses has doubled in the past ten years, according to data from 1998/9 to 2005/6. An accompanying editorial says the government recognises that better communication is needed to explain the true situation about being able to access an NHS dentist.

Comment

NHS at 60

In the first of six articles marking the NHS's anniversary, BMJ Deputy Editor Tony Delamothe looks at how "the socialist dream came to be dreamt in the first place" and recounts some of the bitter arguments about funding and sponsorship. Over the next five weeks he examines how the service's founding principles have fared since 1948.

Comment

Stopping clinical trials early

Should we be worried about an apparent rise in the number of clinical trials now being stopped early because the results are so good? Margaret McCartney asks how convincing should results be before trials are halted - and what the implications are for patients.