By Catriona Shenton, CST2, Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, UK.
Zoom provided the platform for delivery of oral presentations at the North of England Otolaryngology Society Autumn Meeting, the first virtual meeting for this society. Five pieces of work and a keynote lecture were presented.
The first focused on the psychological aspect of surgery, surveying the prevalence of operating anxiety amongst otolaryngologists. The authors hinted at a small female predominance and a perhaps expected trainee predominance in operating anxiety amongst ENT surgeons, with scope for further study in this previously relatively unexplored area. An audit of postoperative pain in pre-school children, comparing outcomes of coblation intracapsular tonsillectomy versus traditional extracapsular tonsillectomy provided food for thought on a topic which often divides opinion amongst the ENT community.
Two presentations focused on the growing trend for procedures and investigations to move from requiring a general anaesthetic and theatre environment to being performed in a ward or outpatient setting. A study of one-year outcomes from a novel UK office-based endoscopic nasal polypectomy service in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne concluded that such a service is feasible, with the potential for eliminating theatre costs and general anaesthetic risks normally associated with this procedure. A study of Auditory Brainstem Response testing using intranasal dexmedetomidine sedation in children offered a successful alternative to paediatric general anaesthesia in a theatre environment, interestingly suggesting that application of this novel approach in a controlled ward setting could obtain more accurate auditory brainstem response results due to the relatively quieter environment.
John Frewer, President of the North of England Otolaryngology Society, closing the virtual autumn 2020 meeting.
Randa Asswad won the Best Oral Presentation prize for her project on the incidence of laryngotracheal pathology among neuro intensive care patients. She had collected data over a 12-month period, made even more impressive by the fact that she was a medical student at the time.
The keynote speaker for the event was Professor Tim Woolford, who gave an insightful talk on rhinoplasty assessment and managing the unhappy patient, drawing from his own extensive experience from a career spanning over 20 years. Prof Woolford delivered top tips on how best to preoperatively assess and consent rhinoplasty patients and how to adapt the surgical approach for different nasal shapes.
Although the event was shorter than usual due to being rescheduled as a virtual meeting, Zoom provided an excellent alternative platform to the usual face-to-face meeting, with opportunities for attendees to ask questions to presenters and discuss around the presented topics using the chat function. Posters were not presented at the same time this year, with arrangements made for poster presentations to be displayed online in the near future. Competition for Best Poster Prize will be high if the calibre of posters mirrors that of the oral presentations.
Overall, this meeting was well organised and a success, with a varied academic programme, ranging from the somewhat unexplored psychological aspects of surgery to novel adaptations of established procedures in different environments.
Future meeting details
The North of England Otolaryngology Society Spring Meeting is scheduled to take place on 15 March 2021, either virtually or face to face.
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