International journal of clinical practice
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Int. J. Clin. Pract. · Jan 2002
Comparative StudyReferral patterns to a district general hospital gastroenterology outpatient clinic: implications for the 'two-week target'.
We defined the pattern and appropriateness of GPs' new-patient referrals to a large district general hospital gastroenterology department, and assessed the implications for workload in the context of the recently introduced 'two-week target'. Prospective data were collected on all new referrals over a two-month period and 426 new appointments were included, from which data were available on 390. ⋯ Nineteen per cent of all GP referrals were classified as urgent and 6% of these had a malignancy. Fifty per cent of patients with malignancy were not perceived as meriting an urgent referral by the GP Gastroenterology outpatient facilities are already overstretched and the implementation of the two-week target will add considerable strain to the current resources, with little gain in identifying malignancy.
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Int. J. Clin. Pract. · Jan 2002
Use of a customised endotracheal tube for tracheostomy in the large neck.
Patients with huge necks who require a tracheostomy pose particular problems. This paper describes a technique to customise a standard endotracheal tube to make a long tracheostomy tube. This can be used as a short-term emergency airway. It is recommended because it is cheap, simple, safe and potentially life saving.