There are over 37,000 new cases of lung cancer each year in the UK and it is the most common cancer in males and second most common after breast cancer in females. The role of the multidisciplinary team is essential in the management of these patients and it is important for all members of the team to know the signs to look for and actions to take in cases of suspected lung cancer. This article reviews the current methods of diagnosis and treatments available for lung cancer and the role of the primary healthcare professional.
Back to Basics: Mechanisms of allergy
Useful techniques to manage breathlessness
Although breathlessness is a complex symptom, appropriate management in primary
care can be very rewarding, and does not have to rely on complex, hi-tech
interventions. This article discusses the rationale behind the practical interventions
that practitioners in primary care can consider.
Sexual relationships, breathlessness and the respiratory patient
The rising incidence of a range of respiratory disorders means an increasing emphasis
on treatment, management and care. Although some respiratory diseases are acute,
many are chronic, bringing with them a burden of morbidity affecting patients in many
areas of everyday life. One area of concern for patients may be sexual functioning so
somewhere in the process of management and care the practice nurse may need to address the
issues of sexuality (Petty 1986, Kaptein et al. 2008).
Occupational asthma: how to help the wheezy workers
Approximately one in every ten cases of adult-onset asthma is attributable to
occupational exposure. Unless occupation is considered, a diagnosis of occupational
asthma will be missed so it is likely to be underdiagnosed. An average practice with
around 6,000 patients will typically have approximately 600 adult patients with asthma,
of whom 60 may have occupational asthma if we assume 10% of cases are related to
occupational exposure. Can you think of 60 patients with occupational asthma in your practice?
Getting it Right: Asthma Devices in Children
Asthma medications should routinely be delivered by a pressurised metered dose inhaler
(pMDI) and spacer system, with a facemask where necessary, in children under five,
according to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).1
For older children, aged 5-15 years, NICE has advised that a child’s therapeutic needs,
the ability to develop and maintain an effective technique, the suitability of a device for the
child’s and carer’s lifestyles (ie portability and convenience) and the likelihood of good
compliance are the factors that should govern the choice of device.2 Only once these factors
have been taken into account, should choice be made on the basis of cost minimisation.
Cough as a Presenting Symptom in General Practice
Cough is a common presenting symptom in primary care. It has a prevalence of 30% in
the general European population, and in a US National Medical Case Survey in 1991
cough was the commonest presenting complaint. Between 10% and 38% of all new
patient referrals to UK hospital chest clinics are for chronic cough. This article covers
the physiological nature of cough and its role as an essential protective reflex, focuses on the
differential diagnosis of cough in general practice in both adults and children, and discusses the
use of treatment as a diagnostic tool.
Has The UK Smoking Legislation Improved Our Health?
Between March 2006 and July 2007 smokefree legislation was introduced in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England, making virtually all enclosed public places and workplaces smokefree. Building on the experience of several other countries, the laws and regulations were designed to protect the health of workers and others from the negative consequences of breathing secondhand tobacco smoke. This article examines the impact that the legislation has had so far and provides guidelines for encouraging patients to stop smoking.
Editorial
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has moved rapidly up the healthcare agenda over the last few years. It has shifted from being considered as a rather nebulous condition of interest mainly to nephrologists to the front line of chronic disease detection and prevention in primary care as part of integrated management of vascular risk. In fact, the links between cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and diabetes are so close that CKD could also stand for ‘cardiovascular, kidney, diabetes.’
Editorial
Feel the fear and do it anyway.’ That could be the message of this special issue of the British Journal of Primary Care Nursing focusing on chronic kidney disease (CKD). Kidneys can be really confusing for practice nurses, with lots of technical sounding tests and numbers. But the good news is that the step-by-step guides and clear articles in this issue will help you get to grips with this important condition and feel empowered to make a real difference to the health and wellbeing of your patients.
Monitoring Chronic Kidney Disease Practice
The NICE guideline for chronic kidney disease (CKD) was introduced in 2008, with the aim of assisting practitioners both in primary and secondary care in the early identification and management of patients with evidence of kidney disease. However, some debate still exists surrounding the implementation of this guideline in everyday clinical practice. In this article, we sort out
Making Sense of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)
What exactly is chronic kidney disease (CKD), what causes it and how is it diagnosed? In this article we get down to the basics of defining what CKD is, and explore the stages of CKD. We review CKD progression and the assessment and management recommendations for each stage of CKD.
