A retrospective study of return to work following surgery.

Background: Sickness absence following surgery accounts for significant periods of sickness absence from employment. The duration of absence following two surgical procedures: benign abdominal hysterectomy (BAH) and Birmingham hip resurfacing (BHR) was explored.

Aim: To identify what advice patients who had undergone BAH or BHR surgery were given regarding their likely sickness absence duration and to compare this with their reported absence duration.

Advice given to patients about return to work and driving following surgery.

Background: The post-operative advice given to patients by health care practitioners regarding return to work and return to driving may have an impact upon their absence duration. The only guidance that is readily available to assist health care practitioners give this advice is provided by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).

Aims: To identify what advice local consultant surgeons, occupational physicians and general practitioners give to patients about return to work and driving, following benign abdominal hysterectomy (BAH) and Birmingham hip resurfacing (BHR).

What do consultant occupational physicians do in the National Health Service? An audit.

Aim: To assess the range of activities undertaken by National Health Service (NHS) consultant occupational physicians, and quantify the proportion of time spent on these so that appropriate guidance and a model job description may be developed by the Association of NHS Occupational Physicians (ANHOPS).

Methods: A questionnaire was developed and sent to all full time consultant occupational health physicians (as recorded on the ANHOPS database).

Results: Sixty-five questionnaires were sent out, of which 38 were returned (59%).

Healthy workplace indicators: costing reasons for sickness absence within the UK National Health Service.

Sandwell Healthcare NHS Trust has been developing a tool for monitoring the reasons and costs of long-term sick leave (> 7 days). The data obtained from this process has been used to modify the type of occupational health and safety services provided for the Trust. Adoption of more standardized tools of this nature throughout the National Health Service (NHS) would help trusts to compare, and where appropriate enhance, the services provided by occupational health.

Audit of immunization policy and practice of health care workers within National Health Service Trusts in England and Wales.

The purpose of this study was to identify the variation in occupational health immunization policies and practice within NHS Trusts throughout England and Wales. Questionnaires were sent to 440 NHS Trusts and 279 were returned (a response rate of 63%). The results were compared with current Department of Health Guidelines.

Variation between experienced observers in the interpretation of accident and emergency radiographs.

Skill mix and role extension initiatives have highlighted the difficulty of establishing quality standards for the accuracy of plain film reporting. An acceptable performance might be one which is indistinguishable from that of a group of experienced consultant radiologists. In order to assess the feasibility of setting such a standard, the variation between experienced observers must first be established.

A comparison of iodixanol with iopamidol in aorto-femoral angiography.

This double-blind, randomized, parallel group clinical investigation in 140 consecutive patients undergoing aorto-femoral arteriography was carried out to compare iodixanol (Visipaque) 270 mgI ml-1 with iopamidol (Iopamiro) 300 mgI ml-1. The aims of the study were to compare adverse events and discomfort, clinical chemistry parameters in blood, haemodynamics and diagnostic information of the angiograms in the two groups. The main parameter for statistical analysis was the visual analogue scale (VAS) score for overall discomfort experienced by the patients during the examination.

Squash.

Squash is a game which demands physical fitness: you should be fit to play squash, not play squash to get fit. GPs may expect to see eye injuries, tennis elbow, ankle injuries and Achilles tendon ruptures. A knowledge of the nature of the game can help in the management of the problem.

Hockey.

Hockey players as a whole do not suffer from the same degree of overuse injuries that many athletes experience. However, they do sustain a large number of contact injuries. A few minutes explanation as to the immediate treatment required may well reduce the number of times the player has to return to the surgery in the future.

Computerized tomography of the sacro-iliac joints in the diagnosis of sacro-iliitis.

The radiological confirmation of sacro-iliitis is essential for the early diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis. Conventional radiography is too insensitive to detect early changes in these joints, and radionuclide scintigraphy is a non-specific, though highly sensitive, technique. This study describes a preliminary survey of the use of computed tomography (CT) of the sacro-iliac joints in the diagnosis of early sacro-iliitis.

Skeletal trauma from chain-saw injuries.

Some of the radiologic features of chain-saw injuries are described. These occurred in an industrial logging community, where the use of such machines is common. The increasing availability of chain saws for domestic use makes it likely that accident and emergency departments will be seeing a wide variety of injuries following accidents with chain saws.

The diagnosis of acute gallbladder disease by technetium-99m-labelled HIDA hepatobiliary scanning.

A series of 105 patients with upper abdominal pain suggestive of biliary colic who had hepatobiliary scans within 48 h of admission to hospital is presented. Fifty of the 65 patients with abnormal scans had operative treatment and gallbladder pathology was found in every case. Fourteen of these patients had hepatobiliary scans which also showed delayed excretion of tracer into the duodenum, and of these, 12 were found to have common bile duct stones and one a stricture of the distal end of the common bile duct.

Soft tissue changes in early rheumatoid arthritis as seen on xeroradiography and non-screen radiographs.

Forty-seven patients with early or newly established rheumatoid arthritis were studied with non-screen radiography and xerography. Estimations of soft tissue swelling, bone erosion and cysts were made by two observers and the results compared between observers and the two types of imaging. The results indicate no significant advantage or disadvantage in xerographic imaging compared with non-screen radiographs in the identification of superficial soft tissue swelling and bone erosions.

Sequential liver and biliary tract scanning with 131I labelled Rose Bengal.

131I labelled Rose Bengal is offered as an aid for estimating the functional state of the liver, gall bladder and patency of the biliary tree. When the tracer is injected intravenously, it is cleared from the blood by the polygonal cells of the liver, excreted into the bowel and discharged into the duodenum. The equipment used was a gamma camera and small digital image processing system with area of interest capability.