Interventions for preventing oral mucositis in patients with cancer receiving treatment: cytokines and growth factors.

Background: Oral mucositis is a side effect of chemotherapy, head and neck radiotherapy, and targeted therapy, affecting over 75% of high-risk patients. Ulceration can lead to severe pain and difficulty with eating and drinking, which may necessitate opioid analgesics, hospitalisation and supplemental nutrition. These complications may disrupt cancer therapy, which may reduce survival.

Interventions for preventing oral mucositis in patients with cancer receiving treatment: oral cryotherapy.

Background: Oral mucositis is a side effect of chemotherapy, head and neck radiotherapy, and targeted therapy, affecting over 75% of high risk patients. Ulceration can lead to severe pain and difficulty eating and drinking, which may necessitate opioid analgesics, hospitalisation and nasogastric or intravenous nutrition. These complications may lead to interruptions or alterations to cancer therapy, which may reduce survival.

Direct access to midlevel dental providers: an evidence synthesis.

Objectives: Direct access is a term that describes the ability of patients to seek health care from midlevel dental providers (MLDPs) without first seeing a dentist. The objective of this study was to synthesize the evidence for the effects and costs of direct access to MLDPs in a primary dental care environment and assess the attitudes of various stakeholders to this method of care delivery.

Methods: The literature was examined for descriptive, observational, and experimental study designs to examine the evidence for direct access in dentistry.

Interventions for preventing oral mucositis for patients with cancer receiving treatment.

Background: Treatment of cancer is increasingly more effective but is associated with short and long term side effects. Oral side effects remain a major source of illness despite the use of a variety of agents to prevent them. One of these side effects is oral mucositis (mouth ulcers).

Interventions for preventing oral mucositis for patients with cancer receiving treatment.

Background: Treatment of cancer is increasingly more effective but is associated with short and long term side effects. Oral side effects remain a major source of illness despite the use of a variety of agents to prevent them. One of these side effects is oral mucositis (mouth ulcers).

Searching for evidence: where to find clinical trials.

This section presents concise educational articles for practising dentists. The series aims to educate practitioners regarding statistics and methods of conducting and interpreting research.

Nurse education: factors associated with attrition.

Aim: This paper is a report of a study to identify the factors having an impact on student completion rates in a preregistration programme.

Background: Nursing student attrition is an international issue causing concern in many parts of the developed world including Australia, the United States and Europe. In the United Kingdom, nursing student attrition has become a major issue, despite having one of the lowest general university dropout rates in the developed world.