Deep Breath In
84 episodes - English - Latest episode: 4 months ago -Deep Breath In: a podcast for GPs
Tackling primary care’s everyday challenges
Life in primary care can be complex. Deep Breath In explores the highs and lows of being a GP, offering a space to reflect on the grey areas of general practice.
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Episodes
The tyranny of 10 minutes - with Alice Harper, Carol Sinnott and Jess Watson
March 22, 2024 17:35 - 32 minutes - 44.9 MBThe BMJ's long running "10 minute consultation" series is being questioned - can you do everything we suggest in 10 minutes? Can GPs really do any meaningful consultations in 10 minutes? That's the question that our three guests have been asking - and they join Tom Nolan, to discuss what they found. Our guests; Alice Harper is a GP trainee in Bristol and an academic clinical fellow at the University of Bristol Carol Sinnott is a GP in Ireland, and a senior clinical research fellow at ...
Is cancer screening worth it? with Michael Bretthauer
November 17, 2023 16:56 - 40 minutes - 55.6 MBIs cancer screening worth it, and how can GPs have that conversation? This episode of Deep Breath In explores the intricacies of assessing risks and benefits of cancer screening, featuring Michael Bretthauer's insights from a JAMA Internal Medicine study. That meta-analysis combined efficacy of various cancer screening studies - and found most screenings showed minimal gains in extending overall life expectancy, though some slightly reduced cancer-specific mortality. That leaves GPs with ...
Greener GPs
October 27, 2023 16:57 - 47 minutes - 64.9 MBAs news about the climate breakdown hits, it's hard not to feel the stirring of climate anxiety. One way to mitigate that is by taking action, but it's hard to know where to start, and what GPs themselves can do. In this podcast, we hear about 5 ways in which you can start bringing a sustainable outlook to primary care, and engage colleagues and patients in making a difference. Our guests; Tamsin Ellis, director of Greener Practice, and a GP in London Fran Cundill, chair of the south ...
The known unknowns of menopause
September 27, 2023 00:27 - 44 minutes - 50.5 MBThere have been so many conflicting views in the media lately on the management of menopause, and HRT has barely been out of the press at all in the last couple of years. As a result of the myriad uncertainties around menopause, many women are left feeling like they’re having to fend for themselves, and that their concerns are not being heard by their doctors. Taking segments from The BMJ’s webinar in May on known unknowns of menopause, we discuss the controversies around HRT; how we can giv...
Saying no, with Rachel Morris
July 28, 2023 17:16 - 57 minutes - 65.4 MBThere's never enough time in the day to be a GP, but it's still hard to say no to that one patient, or to a colleague who is asking for your help. In this episode of Deep Breath In, we'll hear from Rachel Morris, about why it's so hard to so hard to say no, particularly for doctors. She'll challenge us to think about what the real effects of piling on more work are, and give us some strategies to help us say no in our every day lives. Our Guest; Rachel Morris trained as a GP, before le...
Prostate cancer screening with Andrew Vickers and Sam Merriel
June 30, 2023 16:15 - 45 minutes - 52.5 MBCommon themes for discussion on this podcast include overdiagnosis, approaches to the testing, the ins and outs of explanations, as well as other issues facing GPs who are overburdened, and have limited time and resources to treat patients. A topic which draws all of these themes together is prostate cancer screening. The BMJ recently published a feature which asked whether the UK is ready to roll out a nationwide prostate cancer screening programme, and the linked analysis paper, authored ...
Long covid update with Trish Greenhalgh and Harsha Master
June 09, 2023 16:38 - 52 minutes - 60 MBWhile the pandemic has officially declared over, the ongoing effects of a covid-19 infection are still being felt in the community. In this Deep Breath In, Jenny, Tom, and Navjoyt are joined by two leading experts on long covid. They discuss the changing profile of people being referred to specialist clinics, the way in which different strains may have different long term outcomes, and what can be done to limit the risk of developing long covid. Our guests: Trish Greenhalgh is a forme...
Supporting the sexual wellbeing of older adults - with Sharon Hinchliff and Rebecca Mawson
May 05, 2023 15:00 - 1 hour - 76.5 MBTalking about sexual health may be common-place with younger patients, but the sexual wellbeing of older adults is often neglected in a consultation. However it's important for doctors to be aware of changes to patients sex lives, given the link between intimacy and wellbeing. In this podcast, the team discuss how to create that culture of openness that encourages older adults to share problems they may find embarrassing, what signs may indicate that it's worth initiating a question about s...
Getting the joy back - With Claire Kaye
April 18, 2023 16:20 - 58 minutesThis week, we're going to be returning to a guest we heard from a while ago - Claire Kaye. Claire was a GP before deciding to become a coach, and we found her way of thinking through our wants and needs so useful, we decided to invite her back. This week we're going to be talking about that holding onto that feeling of excitement you had at the beginning of your career, a feeling that's difficult to hold onto, as the pressures on general practice mount. Our guest: Claire Kaye, formerly a...
Antidepressant withdrawal with Tony Kendrick and Mark Horowitz
March 27, 2023 13:38 - 51 minutes - 59.1 MBThe theory that depression is caused by serotonin deficiency has become embedded in our practice over the years, and can be a persuasive explanation of the condition for patients considering starting antidepressants. We talk to Tony Kendrick about the evidence (or lack thereof) to support this hypothesis, and what that means for the efficacy of antidepressants, particularly SSRIs. Later on, we speak to Mark Horowitz to discuss how to come off antidepressants safely, and manage withdrawal symp...
Time needed to treat, with Minna Johansson
March 10, 2023 18:27 - 43 minutes - 59.7 MBHow long would it take GPs to enact all of the guideline recommendations that they might be expected too? Far more GP hours than exist in any healthcare system, but as medicine has turned its attention to primary prevention, and expanded the populations whose health we seek to improve, those guidelines are taking up more and more time. A recent analysis in The BMJ has proposed the concept of “Time Needed to Treat” and implores guideline makers to take account consultation time as a precious,...
Reproductive coercion and narrative medicine with Annabel Sowemimo and John Launer
February 04, 2023 10:17 - 46 minutes - 63.9 MBReproductive coercion may feel like something that we don’t see very often in general practice, but a 2022 poll carried out for BBC Radio 4 of 1,060 UK women between the ages of 18 and 44 found that half of them had experienced some form of reproductive coercion. This week, we speak to returning guest Annabel Sowemimo about the various forms that reproductive coercion can take, and who might be at risk of experiencing it. We discuss how we, as GPs, can identify these patients, and, once we’ve...
Coaching with Claire Kaye
December 31, 2022 16:10 - 53 minutes - 2.05 MBIn general practice, it can often feel like a lot is changing beyond our grasp. On top of this, the pandemic has left many healthcare professionals self-reflecting on their careers and lives, and trying to work out what they really want going forward. This week, we speak to Claire Kaye about her role as a coach for doctors. Claire talks to us about the benefits of coaching, including helping to get rid of internal & external noise, shaping the mindset, and coping better with change. She als...
Patient access to notes with Charlotte Blease, Brian Macmillan and Gail Davidge
December 16, 2022 18:21 - 1 hour - 55.3 MBThe possibility that patients will suddenly have access to their notes has caused some anxiety for GPs in England. The department of health's plans to allow patients to prospectively access their medical record lead to fears about increased workloads, misunderstandings, and safety - and the plans have now been pushed back. In this podcast the Deep Breath In team are joined by the authors of a recent article in The BMJ to explore those fears, hear about the potential benefits, and understand ...
Surrogate endpoints with Huseyin Naci
November 11, 2022 12:28 - 47 minutes - 43.2 MBThis week, we’re joined by Huseyin Naci to discuss the recent press release from Eisai and Biogen announcing the Phase III trial results for lecanemab for use in Alzheimer’s disease, and the FDA’s decision to accept the drug onto its accelerated approval pathway. We talk about the pros and cons of using surrogate endpoints to predict clinical outcomes. How can we strike a better balance in clinical trials between generating high-quality and trustworthy evidence, and the urgent needs of patien...
GP Crisis with Rebecca Rosen
October 20, 2022 21:57 - 55 minutes - 63.2 MBThe GP crisis with Rebecca Rosen This week, we discuss the ongoing GP crisis, an ever-topical subject, in light of recent UK governmental changes. In early September, Thérèse Coffey laid out her plans for the NHS in the House of Commons, but, with general practice struggling so much as it is, is she proposing practical and feasible solutions, or will her initiatives be merely papering over the cracks? We’re joined by Rebecca Rosen to discuss whether or not there’s any real substance behind t...
Physician experience, and gout with Katherine Hall and Alastair Dickson
October 12, 2022 11:22 - 50 minutes - 46.1 MBIn this episode of Deep Breath In, we'll be considering how a physicians personal experience of illness - either themselves, or as a parent or carer, might affect their approach to management of it in a patient. We'll also have an update on the NICE guideline for treatment of Gout - particularly highlighting changes around uses of urate lowering therapy, and how often we should be testing patient's serum urate levels when they're experiencing flare-ups. Our Guests. Katherine Hall is the a...
Musculoskeletal pain and osteoarthritis with Imran Sajid
September 14, 2022 20:45 - 52 minutes - 48.4 MBMusculoskeletal (MSK) pain and osteoarthritis are clinically common in general practice, but with the new draft NICE guideline on osteoarthritis (published in April 2022) recommending a move away from pharmacological treatments and instead promoting self-management, some GPs have been left wondering how best to manage MSK pain going forwards . In this week’s episode, Dr. Imran Sajid talks to us about the importance of educating patients on what arthritis really is – moving away from the term ...
Retention with Pamela Curtis and GP trainees
August 24, 2022 14:19 - 38 minutes - 35.2 MBDespite the Conservation party manifesto for the 2019 general election promising to deliver 6,000 additional full-time equivalent GPs, worryingly, the NHS lost 717 FTE GPs between March 2019 and March 2022, and the Health and Social Care Committee’s July 2022 report on workforce was scathing about the Government’s failure to act decisively on the chronic staff shortages across healthcare in the UK. This week, we speak to more colleagues from the RCGP conference: first, we talk to Pamela Curti...
Continuity with Martin Marshall and Emma Gladwinfield
August 01, 2022 09:27 - 44 minutes - 40.5 MBIn this week’s episode, we share our experiences of attending the recent RCGP Annual Conference, and our thoughts on the topics that were covered in the talks at this year’s event. We talk to RCGP Chair, Martin Marshall, about continuity of care, which he states is one of the defining features of general practice. Evidence has shown that continuity of care is associated with better health outcomes for patients, but how can doctors convince politicians and policymakers of the benefits of it? W...
Adverse drug reactions with Anders Holt and Corine Ekhart
July 11, 2022 09:31 - 42 minutes - 48.9 MBAs more and more pharmaceutical products come onto the market, there are so many potential drug interactions, and adverse reactions, to bear in mind during a consultation in primary care. In this week’s episode, we speak to Anders Holt, the author of a recent research paper looking at co-prescribing nitrates and sildenafil, which is surprisingly common, and adverse events associated with this. We also discuss the neuropsychiatric side effects of montelukast with Corine Ekhart, and talk about ...
Violence against GPs - with Adam Janjua, Marcela Schilderman, and Anita Bignell
June 13, 2022 12:59A recent investigation, by The BMJ, showed a worrying increase in incidence of violence, directed to wards GPs, and reported to the police. In this episode of Deep Breath in, Tom and Jenny are joined by Gareth Iacobucci, assistant news editor for The BMJ who broke the story. They'll hear from a GP affected, and get some advice on preventing violence, and deescalation, from two mental health experts, who deal with the most agitated patients. Our guests: Adam Janjua, a GP in Fleetwood, Lanca...
Violence against GPs with Adam Janjua, Marcela Schilderman, and Anita Bignell
June 13, 2022 12:59 - 52 minutes - 48.1 MBA recent investigation, by The BMJ, showed a worrying increase in incidence of violence, directed to wards GPs, and reported to the police. In this episode of Deep Breath in, Tom and Jenny are joined by Gareth Iacobucci, assistant news editor for The BMJ who broke the story. They'll hear from a GP affected, and get some advice on preventing violence, and deescalation, from two mental health experts, who deal with the most agitated patients. Our guests: Adam Janjua, a GP in Fleetwood, Lanca...
Milk allergies with Nicola Brathwaite
May 30, 2022 09:47 - 47 minutes - 43.2 MBConsultations about suspected cow’s milk protein allergies are quite common in primary care, but these allergies can be a challenge to diagnose, particularly as symptoms can manifest in many different ways, and testing can be complicated. We talk to Dr. Nicola Brathwaite about the diagnosis and management of cow’s milk protein allergies in infants, and our discussion includes how to navigate consultations with parents who may be distressed and fraught with anxiety over their baby’s symptoms, ...
Parosmia with Emily Woodroofe and Claire Hopkins
May 13, 2022 17:25 - 42 minutes - 38.5 MBParosmia – a distorted sense of smell, and a delayed post-covid symptom – affects approximately 50% of people who experienced loss of smell during their initial covid infection, and it is currently attracting a lot of media attention. We hear from Emily Woodroofe, a third year medical student, about what it’s like to have parosmia, before we speak to Professor Claire Hopkins about what GPs need to know about it, and how they can best support their patients who are experiencing what can be a d...
What's in store for general practice in the UK
April 30, 2022 10:08 - 43 minutesWith the focus on covid, and the pressure on hospitals, it may be easy to overlook what’s happening in general practice in the UK - but changes are afoot. Our new health secretary Sajid Javid doesn’t seem to like our long standing GP practice arrangement, NHS England has imposed new weekend working arrangements on the already stretched service, and the workforce pressures continue. In this episode of Deep Breath In, our GP panel of Tom Nolan, Navjoyt Ladher, and Jenny Rasanathan are joined b...
What’s in store for general practice in the UK
April 30, 2022 10:08 - 43 minutes - 39.7 MBWith the focus on covid, and the pressure on hospitals, it may be easy to overlook what’s happening in general practice in the UK - but changes are afoot. Our new health secretary Sajid Javid doesn’t seem to like our long standing GP practice arrangement, NHS England has imposed new weekend working arrangements on the already stretched service, and the workforce pressures continue. In this episode of Deep Breath In, our GP panel of Tom Nolan, Navjoyt Ladher, and Jenny Rasanathan are joined b...
Great Explanations
March 24, 2022 12:01 - 49 minutes - 45.3 MBWe see patients all the time who ,more than any drug or cure, just want an explanation for their symptoms, to understand why they feel the way they do. But giving an explanation isn't necessarily straightforward, we're unsure of the diagnosis, we might worry about how the explanation might be received, or a 10 minute appointment just isn't time to go into all the details. In today's episode, we've enlisted the help of consultation skills expert, Roger Neighbour, and hear how important a gr...
Diagnostic excellence with Hardeep Singh, Denise Connor, and Gurpreet Dhaliwal
March 07, 2022 12:43 - 52 minutes - 2.65 MBDiagnosis is a complex categorisation task driven by mental models that reside in long term memory. Through education and experience, clinicians form scripts that encapsulate their knowledge of specific conditions and develop diagnostic schemas that structure their approach to a specific health problem. This cognitive process also intersects with systems, teamwork, and social factors that can enhance or reduce diagnostic accuracy. In this podcast, we hear about five techniques that can he...
Ramadan with Ammad Mahmood and Sahira Dar
February 18, 2022 15:12 - 44 minutes - 7.01 MBAs 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 qu...
Vaccine mandate's unintended consequences
February 09, 2022 12:24 - 40 minutesThere was a proposed vaccine mandate for NHS staff in the UK (now abandoned) but in other countries mandates continue, but are they without harm, and do we have evidence about how effective they are? In this episode, we'll be discussing how a proposed vaccine mandate would have affected GP practices in the UK, particularly when it comes to the demographics of staff who have not accepted the vaccine. We'll also be discussing direct and indirect evidence which might have helped us assess the...
Vaccine mandate’s unintended consequences
February 09, 2022 12:24 - 40 minutes - 37 MBThere was a proposed vaccine mandate for NHS staff in the UK (now abandoned) but in other countries mandates continue, but are they without harm, and do we have evidence about how effective they are? In this episode, we'll be discussing how a proposed vaccine mandate would have affected GP practices in the UK, particularly when it comes to the demographics of staff who have not accepted the vaccine. We'll also be discussing direct and indirect evidence which might have helped us assess the...
How can a patient sue for their conception?
January 25, 2022 18:16 - 46 minutes - 42.6 MBA recent case against a GP in England has worried the profession - does the fact that a patient, born with a neural tube defect, successfully sued their mother's GP open up the floodgates for litigation? How will that effect the way that you practice? In this episode we're joined by Claire Dyer, The BMJ's legal correspondent, who explains how that case unfolded. We also have a clinical update on childhood constipation, and the authors of a recent article in The BMJ give their tips on gettin...
Christmas 2021 with Inga Usher and Aswin Chari
December 23, 2021 12:57 - 45 minutes - 41.4 MBWith Christmas 2021 only just around the corner, we round off the year by chatting about our ‘Deep Breath In’ highlights, and by sharing some of the great feedback we’ve received from our listeners. We talk to Inga Usher and Aswin Chari, whose study comparing neurosurgeons with aerospace engineers (“It’s not brain surgery” vs. “It’s not rocket science”) was featured in The BMJ’s 2021 Christmas issue. Finally, we end the episode with a quiz on ICU slang (what on earth does ‘closest crocodile t...
Green general practice with Richard Smith and Aarti Bansal
December 08, 2021 10:33 - 42 minutes - 288 KBFollowing the recent COP26 Climate Change Summit, we discuss, in this week’s episode, the announcement that some 50 countries have committed to reach net zero carbon emissions within their healthcare systems by, or before, 2050. We talk about the role that GPs can play in reducing the carbon footprint of their practice, how to tackle climate anxiety, and how integrating greener practices into our healthcare systems aligns with better health benefits for our population as a whole – both now an...
The GP crisis with Gareth Iacobucci and Lucy Martin
November 22, 2021 10:31 - 49 minutes - 45.5 MBPrimary care in the UK is in crisis. General practice was already under huge strain, as a result of the pandemic, high levels of seasonal respiratory viruses, as well as chronic understaffing and underfunding, but recent negative media campaigns against GPs, amidst the health secretary’s plans to publish ‘league tables’ of GP practices, have added to this and have led to increased demoralisation among doctors. In this week’s episode, we discuss the current political climate affecting the NH...
Eating disorders with Simon Chapman, Zoe John and Victoria Adeniji
November 08, 2021 11:40 - 54 minutes - 49.9 MBOver the past 18 months, eating disorder specialists have seen a huge rise in the number of referrals, and experts have said that the pandemic has created “the perfect storm” for eating disorders, especially among children and young people. As GPs, what do we need to know about eating disorders? What red flags should we look out for, and how do we approach this thorny issue with our young patients? In this week’s episode, we talk to Dr. Simon Chapman about spotting the signs of an eating diso...
Obstructive sleep apnoea with Sophie West and Robert Koefman
October 22, 2021 17:47 - 45 minutes - 41.2 MBFatigue is one of the most common presenting symptoms GPs see in a consultation, and it feels like, during the pandemic, more of us than ever have been experiencing excessive tiredness. With our guests this week, Sophie West and Robert Koefman, we discuss the new NICE guidelines on obstructive sleep apnoea/hypopnoea syndrome and obesity hypoventilation syndrome, and how sleep apnoea seems to be both under-diagnosed and over-diagnosed in primary care. We talk about the diagnostic challenges of...
Headaches and team debriefings with Heather Angus-Leppan and Michaela Kolbe
October 08, 2021 17:09 - 45 minutes - 41.3 MBA slightly different spread of this episode of Deep Breath In, Navjoyt Tom and Jenny are discussing two separate topics, headaches and team debriefings. Firstly headaches, the team discuss why so many GPs find headaches to cause the most anxiety in their practice, and get some advice on migrainous headaches from Heather Angus-Leppan, consultant neurologist at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust (also discussed vaccinations and CVST in our covid vaccination episode). Secondly, team de...
Fitting IUDs with Rebekah Fenton
September 24, 2021 17:32 - 55 minutes - 51.2 MBDoctors are taught from medical school about the benefits of IUD, and are often advocates of them to patients. However, recent media attention on the pain that some women suffer when having their IUD's fitted have started conversations about the need for cervical blocks, and more honest counselling of women about the procedure. Rebekah Fenton, adolescent medicine fellow at Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago joins us to talk about how she councils her patients, and why the most important t...
Covid in children with Greg Zimet and Amanda Kvalsvig
September 10, 2021 14:31 - 56 minutes - 52.2 MBAs the scientific community in the UK still debates whether to vaccinate kids under 16, that leaves us as an outlier to the rest of the world where parents are being encouraged to seek the vaccination of the children. In this episode Tom, Jenny and Navjoyt discuss the questions that they're getting in their surgeries, and get some advice on how parents regard vaccinating their children, how to think about transmissibility vs severity when it comes to childrens' risk, and some ways of helping...
The complexity of primary care - with Rani Lill Anjum
August 27, 2021 10:41 - 51 minutes - 47.6 MBThere's a plan from the Royal College of General Practitioners, to stop the profession buckling under the huge pressure applied by the workforce crisis and covid 19. The steps outlined are very practical, but do they really get to the heart of the problem with the way in which primary care is practiced in 2021. In this episode, Tom, Jenny and Navjoyt are joined by Rani Lill Anjum, a philosopher from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences who thinks about causation in healthcare - and wha...
Prediabetes or a borderline HbA1c result - with Sam Finnikin and Seamus O'Mahony
July 30, 2021 13:40 - 56 minutesA borderline hba1c result will initiate a conversation with a patient - but how useful is that "prediabetes" check-in, and can GPs ever adequately describe what the elevated risk of having a risk factor actually means for a patients health? Our guests in this episode are Sam Finnikin, an academic GP from the University of Birmingham, who gives some helpful tips on explaining that risk, and reminds Tom that fear is not a good motivator of behaviour change. Seamus O'Mahony is a retired gastr...
Prediabetes or a borderline HbA1c result - with Sam Finnikin and Seamus O’Mahony
July 30, 2021 13:40 - 56 minutes - 51.8 MBA borderline hba1c result will initiate a conversation with a patient - but how useful is that "prediabetes" check-in, and can GPs ever adequately describe what the elevated risk of having a risk factor actually means for a patients health? Our guests in this episode are Sam Finnikin, an academic GP from the University of Birmingham, who gives some helpful tips on explaining that risk, and reminds Tom that fear is not a good motivator of behaviour change. Seamus O'Mahony is a retired gastr...
Lockdown dementia with Jason Karlawish and Jennifer Watt
July 15, 2021 13:45 - 49 minutes - 45.5 MBThe pandemic had a high mortality toll in care homes, but measures to try and reduce that, through extreme social isolation, has had its own cost. Social interaction, particularly with close family, is more than just a quick hello - evidence shows that mental stimulation can help with cognitive decline, and the lack of that interaction may have hastened progression of dementia in some patients. In this podcast, the team talk about what GPs can do to support patients in care homes, and we fi...
Medicalising the mind with Suzanne O'Sullivan
June 18, 2021 09:47 - 52 minutesOur environment moulds our brains, and alters development, and so there are culture-bound ways that our bodies express distress. In this week’s episode, we discuss the mysterious phenomenon of Sweden’s ‘sleeping beauties’: asylum-seeking children who were affected by resignation syndrome, which led them to become completely inert. We talk about the pros and cons of applying medical labels to people’s symptoms – are we applying labels too easily, and over-medicalising things which could be...
Medicalising the mind with Suzanne O’Sullivan
June 18, 2021 09:47 - 52 minutes - 4 KBOur environment moulds our brains, and alters development, and so there are culture-bound ways that our bodies express distress. In this week’s episode, we discuss the mysterious phenomenon of Sweden’s ‘sleeping beauties’: asylum-seeking children who were affected by resignation syndrome, which led them to become completely inert. We talk about the pros and cons of applying medical labels to people’s symptoms – are we applying labels too easily, and over-medicalising things which could be...
Burnout with Rachel Morris, Cat Chatfield and Abi Rimmer
June 04, 2021 14:41 - 1 hour - 55.3 MBBurnout has become something of a buzzword recently, but has now been officially classified as a syndrome caused by the workplace. Over the course of the pandemic, clinicians have been under more stress than ever, and evidence shows that burned out doctors are more likely to make medical errors. As the pressure being piled onto GPs, and other medical professionals, is only increasing, the adage of ‘put your own oxygen mask on first’ has never been more apt, but many of us feel that we simpl...
Health anxiety with Guy Edwards and Helen & Peter Tyrer
May 20, 2021 17:17 - 55 minutes - 50.6 MBIn general practice, doctors commonly see patients who are experiencing varying degrees of health anxiety, which can be difficult to navigate. GPs often want to offer reassurance, but reassurance can be like a drug to these patients: the more reassurance they receive, the more they need. In this week’s episode, we discuss how new technology which allows patients to check symptoms at home (such as pulse oximeters) may increase anxiety levels, and how our stock phrase “keep an eye on it” may be...
Long Breath - Whitney Robinson on getting out the vaccines
May 07, 2021 16:11 - 37 minutes - 33.9 MBIn this episode, we're bringing you the full interview, a deep breath, with Whitney Robinson, a social epidemiologist and associate professor at UNC Chapel Hill. Whitney gives us her take on how we should be thinking about risk when it comes to covid-19 infection and vaccine rollout. This is a nuanced conversation about the health and economic disparities of covid-19 the consequences of failing to reach the most vulnerable groups, and the importance of tackling this from a community level.