scholarly journals A review of the surgical conversion rate and independent management of spinal extended scope practitioners in a secondary care setting

2016 ◽  
Vol 98 (03) ◽  
pp. 187-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
L Wood ◽  
P Hendrick ◽  
B Boszczyk ◽  
E Dunstan

Introduction Spinal orthopaedic triage aims to reduce unnecessary referrals to surgical consultants, thereby reducing waiting times to be seen by a surgeon and to surgical intervention. This paper presents an evaluation of a spinal orthopaedic triage service in the third largest spinal unit in the UK. Methods A retrospective service evaluation spanning 2012 to 2014 was undertaken by members of the extended scope practitioner (ESP) team to evaluate the ESPs’ ability to manage patient care independently and triage surgical referrals appropriately. Data collected included rates of independent management, referral rates for surgical consideration and conversion to surgery. Patient satisfaction rates were evaluated retrospectively from questionnaires given to 5% of discharged patients. Results A total of 2,651 patients were seen. The vast majority (92%) of all referrals seen by ESPs were managed independently. Only 8% required either a discussion with a surgeon to confirm management or for surgical review. Of the latter, 81% were considered to be suitable surgical referrals. A 99% satisfaction rate was reported by discharged patients. Conclusions ESP services in a specialist spinal service are effective in managing spinal conditions conservatively and identifying surgical candidates appropriately. Further research is needed to confirm ESPs’ diagnostic accuracy, patient outcomes and cost effectiveness.

BDJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 226 (12) ◽  
pp. 963-966 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Giles ◽  
Zahra Rizvi ◽  
Janet A. Gray ◽  
Christopher S. Barker ◽  
R. James Spencer

Thorax ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonios Kourliouros ◽  
Rachel Hogg ◽  
Jenny Mehew ◽  
Mohamed Al-Aloul ◽  
Martin Carby ◽  
...  

BackgroundThe demand for lung transplantation vastly exceeds the availability of donor organs. This translates into long waiting times and high waiting list mortality. We set out to examine factors influencing patient outcomes from the time of listing for lung transplantation in the UK, examining for differences by patient characteristics, lung disease category and transplant centre.MethodsData were obtained from the UK Transplant Registry held by NHS Blood and Transplant for adult lung-only registrations between 1January 2004 and 31 March 2014. Pretransplant and post-transplant outcomes were evaluated against lung disease category, blood group and height.ResultsOf the 2213 patient registrations, COPD comprised 28.4%, pulmonary fibrosis (PF) 26.2%, cystic fibrosis (CF) 25.4% and other lung pathologies 20.1%. The chance of transplantation after listing differed by the combined effect of disease category and centre (p<0.001). At 3 years postregistration, 78% of patients with COPD were transplanted followed by 61% of patients with CF, 59% of other lung pathology patients and 48% of patients with PF, who also had the highest waiting list mortality (37%). The chance of transplantation also differed by height with taller patients having a greater chance of transplant (HR: 1.03, 95% CI: 1.02 to 1.04, p<0.001). Patients with blood group O had the highest waiting mortality at 3 years postregistration compared with all other blood groups (27% vs 20%, p<0.001).ConclusionsThe way donor lungs were allocated in the UK resulted in discrepancies between the risk profile and probability of lung transplantation. A new donor lung allocation scheme was introduced in 2017 to try to address these shortcomings.


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 232-239
Author(s):  
Helen J Veeroo ◽  
Helen C Travess

Objectives: To evaluate referral patterns to secondary care and categorise referrals by complexity level. To assess compliance with commissioning guidelines for cases accepted for treatment in secondary care, comparing complexity to Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN) data. Design: Service evaluation of all referrals during study period recorded prospectively. The standard was set that >85% of cases offered treatment in secondary care should be complexity level 3b. Setting: Seven NHS orthodontic departments within a regional clinical effectiveness group in secondary care in England. Participants: All patients seen as new referrals during the three-month study period. Methods: Data recorded at clinic appointment on data collection proforma including referral information, complexity, IOTN and outcome of the first appointment. Data were collated on a spreadsheet and simple statistics were applied. Results: A total of 493 patients were included in data analysis. Median waiting time for a new patient appointment was 11.0 weeks. For the whole study group, 53.8% were IOTN 5, 30.8% IOTN 4, 9.7% IOTN 3; complexity levels were 54.2% complexity 3b, 37.1% 3a and 6.7% 2. Of the patients, 30.0% were offered treatment in secondary care at their first attendance; of these, 74.3 % were IOTN 5, 93.2% were complexity level 3b. Conclusion: The gold standard has been met in the region as a whole and at each individual unit. There is a large discrepancy between the IOTN score and complexity level in those patients offered orthodontic treatment in secondary care. Routine recording of complexity level is recommended for all patients seen in the secondary care setting.


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Radek Wojcik ◽  
Julia Lowin ◽  
David Vilardell ◽  
Silvia Maeso ◽  
Leonardo Ruiz ◽  
...  

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 96-98
Author(s):  
Brian A Bruckner ◽  
Matthias Loebe

Patients undergoing re-operative cardiac surgical procedures present a great challenge with regard to obtaining hemostasis in the surgical field. Adhesions are ever-present and these patients are often on oral anti-coagulants and platelet inhibitors. As part of a well-planned surgical intervention, a systematic approach to hemostasis should be employed to decrease blood transfusion requirement and improve patient outcomes. Topical hemostatic agents can be a great help to the surgeon in achieving surgical field hemostasis and are increasingly being employed. Our approach, to these difficult patients, includes the systematic and planned use of AristaAH, which is a novel hemostatic agent whose use has proven safe and efficacious in our patient population.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 237437352110114
Author(s):  
Andrew Nyce ◽  
Snehal Gandhi ◽  
Brian Freeze ◽  
Joshua Bosire ◽  
Terry Ricca ◽  
...  

Prolonged waiting times are associated with worse patient experience in patients discharged from the emergency department (ED). However, it is unclear which component of the waiting times is most impactful to the patient experience and the impact on hospitalized patients. We performed a retrospective analysis of ED patients between July 2018 and March 30, 2020. In all, 3278 patients were included: 1477 patients were discharged from the ED, and 1680 were admitted. Discharged patients had a longer door-to-first provider and door-to-doctor time, but a shorter doctor-to-disposition, disposition-to-departure, and total ED time when compared to admitted patients. Some, but not all, components of waiting times were significantly higher in patients with suboptimal experience (<100th percentile). Prolonged door-to-doctor time was significantly associated with worse patient experience in discharged patients and in patients with hospital length of stay ≤4 days. Prolonged ED waiting times were significantly associated with worse patient experience in patients who were discharged from the ED and in inpatients with short length of stay. Door-to-doctor time seems to have the highest impact on the patient’s experience of these 2 groups.


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
P McEwan ◽  
L Hoskin ◽  
K Badora ◽  
D Sugrue ◽  
G James ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), heart failure (HF), resistant hypertension (RHTN) and diabetes are at an increased risk of hyperkalaemia (HK) which can be potentially life-threatening, as a result of cardiac arrhythmias, cardiac arrest leading to sudden death. In these patients, renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors (RAASi), are used to manage several cardiovascular and renal conditions, and are associated with an increased risk of HK. Assessing the burden of HK in real-world clinical practice may concentrate relevant care on those patients most in need, potentially improving patient outcomes and efficiency of the healthcare system. Purpose To assess the burden of HK in a real-world population of UK patients with at least one of: RHTN, Type I or II diabetes, CKD stage 3+, dialysis, HF, or in receipt of a prescription for RAASi. Methods Primary and secondary care data for this retrospective study were obtained from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) and linked Hospital Episode Statistics (HES). Eligible patients were identified using READ codes defining the relevant diagnosis, receipt of indication-specific medication, or, in the case of CKD, an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≤60 ml/min/1.73m2 within the study period (01 January 2008 to 30 June 2018) or in the five-year lookback period (2003–2007). The index date was defined as 01 January 2008 or first diagnosis of an eligible condition or RAASi prescription, whichever occurred latest. HK was defined as K+ ≥5.0 mmol/L; thresholds of ≥5.5 mmol/L and ≥6.0 mmol/L were explored as sensitivity analyses. Incidence rates of HK were calculated with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results The total eligible population across all cohorts was 931,460 patients. RHTN was the most prevalent comorbidity (n=317,135; 34.0%) and dialysis the least prevalent (n=4,415; 0.5%). The majority of the eligible population were prescribed RAASi during follow-up (n=754,523; 81.0%). At a K+ threshold of ≥5.0 mmol/L, the dialysis cohort had the highest rate of HK (501.0 events per 1,000 patient-years), followed by HF (490.9), CKD (410.9), diabetes (355.0), RHTN (261.4) and the RAASi cohort (211.2) (Figure 1). This pattern was still observed at alternative threshold definitions of HK. Conclusion This large real-world study of UK patients demonstrates the burden of hyperkalaemia in high-risk patient populations from the UK. There is a need for effective prevention and treatment of HK, particularly in patients with CKD, dialysis or HF where increased incidence rates are observed which in turn will improve patient outcomes and healthcare resource usage. Figure 1. Rates of HK by condition Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: Private company. Main funding source(s): AstraZeneca


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document