Why not choose intermittent self-catheterisation?

A combination of medical conditions left Paul Carter (not his real name), who is in his mid-fifties, chair/bed bound. He lives in his own home, supported by a full package of carers. Due to a poor gag...

Continence issues in individuals living with multiple sclerosis

Bladder and/or bowel dysfunction in MS can occur at the onset of the disease or any time during its course. It can impact either the bladder or bowel directly, through plaques damaging the areas of...

The global mental health burden of COVID-19 on critical care staff

The authors started by asking the participants a few general questions around their wellbeing and anxieties (Table 2). The feeling of support from the general public was strong, with 74% of...

Service evaluation of the bereavement care delivered in a UK intensive care unit

The main aim was to evaluate the service delivery of the bereavement care that is provided in a 20-bed general ICU. In addition, the study aimed to explore the experience of bereavement care currently...

Can teledermatology meet the needs of the remote and rural population?

In 2018, the Cochrane database of systematic reviews analysed 22 studies with this sole objective: ‘to determine the diagnostic accuracy of teledermatology for the detection of any skin cancer in...

Introducing an ANP-led temporal artery biopsy service for patients with suspected giant cell arteritis

GCA is associated with several potentially insidious symptoms; however, none of them are specific enough (pathognomonic) to the disease to be definitively diagnostic. Typically, patients will present...

Nurse-led service for children with gastrostomies: a 2-year review

The nurse specialist maintained a database of all the PEGs and primary PEG-Js inserted in paediatric patients (<18 years of age) between 4 January 2015 and 17 August 2015. All procedures were...

Using e-health tools and PROMs to support self-management in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

In order to test the concept of using PROMs to support practice and follow up a small-scale service improvement pilot project was designed. The aim of the study was to understand whether empowering...

Adapting a 2-week-wait colorectal service in the pandemic using the quantitative faecal immunochemical test

The management of urinary tract infections in older patients within an urgent care out-of-hours setting

UTI is defined as an infection of the urinary system, involving lower tract, upper tract or both (NICE, 2020a). The pathogens responsible for UTI include Escherichia coli (E. coli), which accounts for...

An ideal pathway when diagnosing type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is an autoimmune disease that occurs when a person's pancreas stops producing insulin, the hormone that controls blood-sugar levels. T1DM develops when the...

Diabetes care in secondary care

One side-effect of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the rise in diabetes-related referrals to diabetes specialist care teams by non-specialists, unfamiliar with inpatient diabetes management, which is a...