A "Diabetes Acute Care Day" for medical students increases their knowledge and confidence of diabetes care: a pilot study.

Background: Evidence suggests that junior doctors lack the confidence and skills to manage acute/inpatient diabetes. We investigated the impact of the introduction of a "Diabetes Acute Care Day" on undergraduate medical students' knowledge and confidence in acute/inpatient diabetes.

Methods: Participants attended four short lectures on the basics of diabetes, diabetic emergencies, inpatient diabetes management and peri-operative/procedure care followed by case-based learning tutorials on diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), hyperosmolar hyperglycaemic state (HHS) and hypoglycaemia using capillary blood glucose charts to interpret and practice subsequent insulin prescription and adjustment.

Vesicocolonic fistulas in diverticulitis.

Diverticulitis is a disease affecting patients in the fifth to sixth decades. The charts of 12 patients with cesicocolonic fistulas secondary to diverticulitis were reviewed. Their presentation was primarily urological with pneumaturia present in 10 of 12 patients and fecaluria present in 5 of 12.