Clinical otolaryngology : official journal of ENT-UK ; official journal of Netherlands Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology & Cervico-Facial Surgery
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Suboptimal standards in tracheostomy care have been highlighted as a growing concern in view of the increasing demands for intensive care services. Our objective is to assess the impact of our model for tracheostomy care on patients with short-term tracheostomies (<4 months in situ) following their discharge from the intensive care unit. The model has three components: The St Mary's tracheostomy care bundle checklist, a dedicated tracheostomy multidisciplinary team and an educational programme. ⋯ A multidisciplinary care model significantly expedited the decannulation process and reduced the overall time that a tracheostomy was in situ. The intervention was associated with a reduction in clinical incidents and shorter intensive care unit admissions, which can be associated with significant monetary savings.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Post-operative pain following coblation or monopolar electrocautery tonsillectomy in children: a prospective, single-blinded, randomised comparison.
To compare post-operative pain following tonsillectomy by either coblation or monopolar electrocautery in children. ⋯ Coblation tonsillectomy may reduce post-operative pain and the time until resumption of a regular diet compared to electrocautery tonsillectomy.
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To assess a cohort of patients who underwent adenotonsillectomy for obstructive sleep apnoea, 4 years after surgery for evidence of continued and long-term improvement in quality of life. We also sought to compare our results to Child Health Questionnaire scores obtained from our previous study. We also compared our data with a healthy UK children population from normative data available. ⋯ Quality-of-life data are an important measure when deciding on a specific clinical intervention. In the short term, quality-of-life measures have been shown to improve after adenotonsillectomy for obstructive sleep apnoea. Our study demonstrates that the benefits of surgery are still persistent and the children continue to improve in the long term.