Professor Paul Cosford, medical director of Public Health England, continues his occasional series on his experience as a patient with cancer and describes his first meeting with his palliative care team. It is almost a year since I was told I have incurable lung cancer. Bad news, as a non-smoking 55 year old, but in […]
Read More… from Paul Cosford: Meeting my palliative care team
We often talk about our moods in term of colours of the rainbow. Feeling blue, or green with envy? Or has a red mist come down lately? Certain tones, such as red, blue, yellow and green are known to have a psychological effect on us and enhance our feelings of wellbeing, or the opposite. If […]
It is deeply shocking to read the conclusions of Bishop James Jones’s review, that the lives of hundreds of people were cut short by one doctor’s inappropriate use of drugs. We have heard of many instances of poor care over the years, but to deliberately shorten the lives of patients represents the very worst betrayal […]
School nurses are qualified and registered nurses or midwives who have an additional qualification in community public health. They are concerned with students’ physical, mental and emotional health so bridge between education, health and care. They have to manage a huge variety of medical conditions and be flexible around students’ health needs. For example, epilepsy, asthma and diabetes […]
A new study of open leg fractures suggests there is no difference to patient recovery whether high-tech negative pressure wound therapy devices are used, compared to standard wound dressings. The randomised clinical trial was conducted by the University of Warwick Clinical Trials Unit and the University of Oxford across 24 hospitals representing the UK Major […]
At the time of birth 30-40% of a newborn’s total blood volume is still circulating via the umbilical cord and placenta. It is commonly believed that this blood, usually referred to as ‘cord blood’ is not needed by the baby and is in fact ‘extra’ and as such a waste product to be disposed of. However, the […]
A transatlantic exchange programme has seen nursing students from Scotland and America compare their countries’ healthcare systems and university training, as part of a strategic partnership between the cities of Aberdeen and Houston. Two students from Houston Baptist University (HBU) have spent two weeks in May 2018 in the North-east, working alongside their counterparts and […]
When managing long-term pain in the pain clinic, we rely on all our skills as doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists and so on. We use our skills, which are mostly based in mainstream, ‘Western’ disciplines, to best effect, yet sometimes we can feel limited in what our conventional approaches can achieve for our patients. On 25th […]
In the UK currently, there is a distinct lack of male nurses, male childcare experts and male adult social carers. In fact, there is a shortage of men in the social care sector altogether – they are hugely outnumbered by women. UK Government statistics show that a staggering 84% of carers in England are women, and […]
Human hands are vastly more sophisticated than is necessary for survival. Each has 27 bones and is controlled by 35 muscles; a quarter of the motor cortex is devoted to the muscles of the hands. Unlike ape hands, humans have fully opposable thumbs and a full range of fine finger movement, from straight to tightly-curled. […]