Publications by authors named "Hannah Toghill"
Purpose: To explore patient and clinician perceptions of blunt chest trauma management and recovery, when discharged directly home from the Emergency Department (ED).
Methods: This was a qualitative study, completed in a trauma unit in Wales. Blunt chest trauma was defined as an isolated blunt injury to the chest wall, resulting in bruising or rib fractures.
Objective: Frailty develops as a result of age-related decline in many physiological systems and is associated with increased vulnerability to adverse outcomes following thoracic surgery. We prospectively tested our hypothesis that pre-operative pulmonary rehabilitation (Prehab) improves frailty, as suggested by a frailty index > 3 (FI > 3) and fitness, and thereby reduces the risk of post-surgical complications and death in vulnerable elderly lung cancer patients.
Methods: 221 surgical patients, 80 with FI > 3 vs.
Background: Although much is published reporting clinical outcomes in the patients with blunt chest wall trauma who are admitted to hospital from the ED, less is known about the patients' recovery when they are discharged directly without admission. The aim of this study was to investigate the health care utilization outcomes in adult patients with blunt chest wall trauma, discharged directly from ED in a trauma unit in the United Kingdom.
Methods: This was a longitudinal, retrospective, single-center, observational study incorporating analysis of linked datasets, using the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage databank for admissions to a trauma unit in the Wales, between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2020.
Article Synopsis
- Chronic pain and disability are common, long-term effects of blunt chest trauma, and this study aims to evaluate a new early exercise program to help manage these issues.
- The trial will be conducted across five hospitals in the UK, comparing standard physiotherapy to physiotherapy plus an individualized exercise plan, with outcomes measured at three months post-injury.
- The study has received ethical approval and intends to share results through journals and conferences to inform medical practice.
Background: Anatomical lung resection offers the best prospect of long-term survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, some patients with significant dyspnoea, impaired performance status (PS), borderline or poor pulmonary function are considered inoperable and instead referred for radiotherapy, chemotherapy or palliative care. The aims of the study were to determine whether pre-operative pulmonary physiotherapy (Prehab), by improving clinical parameters, (i) makes patients suitable for surgery who were considered inoperable on subjective criteria of dyspnoea >3 and PS >2, and objective criteria of diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO) <50%; and (ii) thereby allows them to safely receive curative surgery with reduced morbidity and mortality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The aim was to complete a feasibility study that would test the methods of the main trial, that will investigate whether early thoracic and shoulder girdle exercises reduce chronic pain in patients with blunt chest wall trauma, when compared with normal care.
Methods: A single centre, parallel, feasibility randomised controlled trial was completed at a University Teaching Hospital in Wales between June and September 2019. Adult patients with blunt chest wall trauma, admitted to hospital for greater than 24 hours, with no concurrent, immediately life-threatening injuries, were included.