Internal medicine journal
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Internal medicine journal · Nov 2020
Poor initiation of smoking cessation therapies in hospitalised patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is associated with low levels of formal training among hospital doctors and under-utilisation of nursing-led interventions.
Smoking cessation intervention is a key component in the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). ⋯ Our study highlights the real-life challenges in tackling nicotine dependence in hospitals: under-utilisation of evidence-based pharmacotherapies, limited access to formal training for doctors and poor uptake of nurse-led smoking cessation services. Granting limited prescribing rights for specialised nurses may help hospital clinicians to alleviate gaps in current clinical practice.
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Internal medicine journal · Nov 2020
An audit of ventilation and perfusion SPECT reporting for the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism in a tertiary cardiothoracic centre.
The aim of the study was to identify reporting patterns of ventilation and perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (V/Q SPECT) scans done in our department over 3 months in 2016. Factors impacting on reporting and patient groups that would most benefit from the addition of low-dose computed tomography (CT) to V/Q SPECT were analysed. Among 178 patients, 173 (97.2%) had a definitive (positive/negative) report and 2.8% had an equivocal report. As the majority of the equivocal reports were seen in patients aged ≥70 years, we believe that addition of low-dose CT with V/Q SPECT to this patient group will reduce the non-diagnostic rate.