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How to deliver bad news better

Delivering bad news well takes experience and time. The Ida team recommend the SPIKES protocol; providing structure for relaying bad news, giving confidence to those delivering it, and leaving recipients feeling cared for and informed. It’s among the most distressing...

Acupuncture for tonsillectomy pain in children

The challenge: tonsillectomy pain Tonsillectomy is a uniform surgical insult which results in a 10-day recovery for children. Severe pain can occur which can give rise to poor oral fluid intake, dehydration and potentially the need for intravenous fluid resuscitation....

Malignant lesions and reconstruction of the pinna

External ear reconstruction can be challenging. Baskaran Ranganathan and Amr Abdelhamid describe how careful assessment, planning and surgery following the subunit principles and reconstructive ladder will ultimately lead to good aesthetic outcomes with restored form and function. The external ear,...

Acute otitis externa: what are the important outcomes?

Matthew Smith discusses a project looking at outcomes of acute otitis externa interventions, and how, going forward, the INTEGRATE team are working with patients to develop outcome measures. Acute otitis externa (AOE) is one of the most common conditions of...

Development and review of a blended service in response to COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has required healthcare services globally to show both resilience and ingenuity in redesigning services to meet the ever-changing needs of our patients. We hear about the redevelopment of clinical pathways within an hearing implant service, and the...

Speech mapping and the benefits of using in clinical practice

Fitting hearing aids is not simply a case of one size fits all. Nicole da Rocha discusses the benefits of using speech mapping as a verification tool. The verification of hearing aids has become quintessential for best practice. Using either...

Laryngology: past, present and future

Two laryngological authorities trace the history of laryngology, from ancient Rome to the modern day. The structure of the vocal folds was a matter of conjecture until the renaissance when anatomists such as Andreas Vesalius and Julius Casserius demonstrated the...

Getting It Right First Time in ENT

Andrew Marshall, a Consultant ENT Surgeon at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, visited 126 departments across England before publishing his recent ENT surgery national report for the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme. Here, he explains how identifying unwarranted...

The role of the multidisciplinary team in laryngology and airway – the Charing Cross experience

As the National Centre for Airway Reconstruction, the Charing Cross laryngology MDT provides expert care to patients with airway problems as well as voice and swallowing disorders. In this article, the team explain their raison d’etre and why the MDT...

MDT assessment of children and adults with implantable acoustic devices (IADs)

Abi Asher, Clinical Lead for the IAD programme in Cambridge describes how hearing care professionals work together to make the best recommendation for the patient, in turn helping navigate through the various devices now on offer. Multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) are...