The article presents an audit on urgent referrals for suspected head and neck cancer in 2144 patients. Only 8.6% of cases proved positive for head and neck cancer. The Scottish Referral Guidelines were adhered only in 55.1% of cases. Interestingly,...
The perioperative care of patients with head and neck cancer is complex and requires significant preoperative planning and patient education. The issues include analgesia, antibiotics, stoma and wound care, general and chest physiotherapy, thromboprophylaxis and nutrition. This article provides a...
This article emphasises that bullying (distinct from teasing- the former being defined as repeated actions intended as harmful, compared to good-natured interactions enjoyed by everyone) is an issue that can impact significantly on a child or young person’s ability to...
People with communication difficulties have an increased risk of mood and anxiety disorders. This often means that speech and language therapists must actively engage in counselling as part of their intervention. It is not surprising, therefore, that the active components...
This systematic review and meta-analysis discusses the safety of hemithyroidectomy in an outpatient vis-à-vis an inpatient setting. Thyroidectomy has traditionally been performed as an inpatient procedure. Currently, an increasing number of surgeons are performing thyroidectomy in outpatient settings. The main...
The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists report that 20% of speech and language therapy positions are unfilled in the UK. Consequently, there is an urgent need to offer as many training courses as possible to fill these gaps....
Our population is ageing and, with this, the incidence of frailty is increasing. Frailty is defined as increased vulnerability to stressors resulting in adverse outcomes. Stressors can include communication and swallowing difficulties, yet these are poorly recognised. Management of communication...
Inadequate workforce resource is an ongoing difficulty across the health professions. This study proposes a train the trainer model, with the ultimate goal of improving the communication skills of children with autism. The study describes an intervention called naturalistic developmental...
The number of students experiencing mental health difficulties has risen dramatically, sometimes attributed to the widespread intrusion of social media in our lives, increasing social pressures on performance, and recent other societal factors. This article describes a study undertaken with...
As a Macmillan Head and Neck Specialist Nurse, I was very pleased to be asked to review this book, The Laryngectomee Guide, by Itzhak Brook, MD. It is fair to say that for most laryngectomy patients, life does go on...
Placement of voice prosthesis at the time of trachea-oesophageal puncture is well described using 20-French prostheses. There is debate about the optimal size of the prosthesis with work in the 1980s and 1990s supporting larger prostheses. The rationale was that...