Hospital at home for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: an integrated hospital and community based generic intermediate care service for prevention and early discharge.

Recent randomized controlled studies have reported success for hospital at home for prevention and early discharge of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients using hospital based respiratory nurse specialists. This observational study reports results using an integrated hospital and community based generic intermediate care service. The length of care, readmission within 60 days and death within 60 days in the early discharge (9.

Oxygen alert cards and controlled oxygen: preventing emergency admissions at risk of hypercapnic acidosis receiving high inspired oxygen concentrations in ambulances and A&E departments.

Background: Appropriate resuscitation of hypoxic patients is fundamental in emergency admissions. To achieve this, it is standard practice of ambulance staff to administer high concentrations of oxygen to patients who may be in respiratory distress. A proportion of patients with chronic respiratory disease will become hypercapnic on this.

Increasing social and psychological information conveyed to General Practitioners after bad news consultations by use of separate letters from the Lung Cancer Nurse Specialist.

Multidisciplinary teams (MDT) now review all cases of lung cancer. These teams include a Lung Cancer Nurse Specialist (LCNS). These Nurses help support the patient and should facilitate communication and liaise with other services.

Telemedicine for multidisciplinary lung cancer meetings.

According to recent UK guidelines on the management of lung cancer, all cases should be reviewed prospectively by a lung cancer multidisciplinary team (MDT) and a thoracic surgeon should be readily available to liaise with the MDT. However, there is a shortage of thoracic surgeons in the UK. Over a one-year period, 28 MDT meetings were held at a district general hospital in Southend, at which 62 patients were presented to a tertiary cardiothoracic centre in London, 80 km away, via ISDN videoconferencing at 384 kbit/s.

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma arising in cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis.

The case report is presented of a patient with longstanding cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis who developed a high grade B cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in an area of fibrosis.