Endocrine Abstracts

This talk is aimed at nurses who wish to set up nurse-led clinics. Although the focus will be on thyroid clinics the principles could be used for other conditions. Consideration will be given to the practicalities of establishing a new clinic, the process and the clinical expertise required. The Society for Endocrinology Competency Framework for Adult Endocrine Nursing underpins the knowledge and skills required by Endocrine Nurses running their own clinics. <a href="https://w...

Oxford dictionaries define audit as a systematic review or assessment of something.In their 2002 publication NICE1 stated that Clinical audit is a quality improvement process that seeks to improve patient care and outcomes. Aspects of the structure, processes, and outcomes of care are selected and systematically evaluated against explicit criteria. Where indicated, changes are implemented at an individual, team, or service level and f...

Background: We have used group education sessions to instruct patients about steroid sick day rules for over 3 years. The groups were initially run by one Endocrine Nurse Specialist (ENS) so every group followed the same format with the same take home messages. With the development of a second ENS post there became an opportunity to share running the sessions. However, it was vital to ensure patients attending the groups were all given the same teaching regardless of who was r...

Background: Portsmouth endocrine department does not have a dedicated acromegaly clinic. This group of patient are seen in general consultant endocrine clinic and those who need treatment with Somatostatin analogues have their initial injections with our endocrine specialist nurses (ENS). Once on a stable injection dose they are handed over to their practice nurse (PN) for on-going administration. Patients often comment that they like the initial monthly ENS contact at the cen...

Acromegaly is a relatively rare disorder with a prevalence of 40 per million. Diagnostic and management process have evolved with time, however lack of statistical facts/data remained an issue.Aims: 1) To look at the cohort of patients who attend our local Endocrine department with a diagnosis of acromegaly. 2) To determine how many are cured with surgery, how many need adjuvant treatment and how many remain uncontrolled despite all treatment modalities....

Background: Prior to 2014 Portsmouth patients with Turners syndrome (TS) were seen in a variety of endocrine clinics. Screening investigations e.g. cardiac echo, necessitated further appointments. The Turners Syndrome Support Society (TSSS) recommend that ladies should be under the care of a specialist multi-disciplinary TS clinic, equipped to manage the specific medical problems associated with the syndrome.Innovation: Portsmouth Endocrine Department es...

The Competency Framework for Adult Endocrine Nursing was launched at the Society for Endocrinology (SfE) BES conference in March 2013 and was made available to Endocrine nurses and Endocrine centres in the UK. It was also made accessible via the SfE website. Questionnaires were sent out 6 months later to audit its use.Results: 80.4% of nurse respondents had heard of the document and 69.6% had read it. 100% of those who had read it found it easy to use an...

Prior to May 2011, we ran four separate consultant-led endocrine services with six-eight new patient referrals identifiable per week with hyperthyroidism. These were seen ‘ad hoc’ in general endocrine clinics, where their needs were not prioritised compared to other endocrine referrals, resulting in concern around the timeliness of their care.We identified 203 patients under active follow-up (FU) (active=on anti-thyroid medications or within 6 ...

The Society for Endocrinology Nurse Committee provides national, international and local guidance, support and networking for nurses working in Endocrinology. Following review and revalidation of the endocrine nurse certificate, the Nurse Committee looked to explicate adult endocrine nurse competencies. The need for core competencies to standardise role expectations was a concern voiced from nurses and committee members. Up to the introduction of paediatric endocrine nurse com...