Evaluation of an interprofessional practice placement in a UK in-patient palliative care unit.

This paper reports on undergraduate students' evaluation of a new hospice-based interprofessional practice placement (IPP) that took place in the voluntary sector from 2008 to 2009. Ward-based interprofessional training has been successfully demonstrated in a range of clinical environments. However, the multidisciplinary setting within a hospice in-patient unit offered a new opportunity for interprofessional learning.

Dose-sensitive steroid-induced hyperglycaemia.

Steroids cause significant but under-appreciated and poorly managed glucose intolerance. In this case we describe a patient with steroid-induced hyperglycaemia who obtained a large positive impact on glycaemic control from a small reduction in her steroid dose, sufficient to alleviate the need for insulin. Developments in the treatment of steroid-induced hyperglycaemia may mean that a more active approach needs to be considered when treating steroid-related diabetes in patients whose management is palliative.