Endocrine Abstracts

We have come a long way in the UK over the past ten years towards our goal of meeting the educational needs of nurses specialising in adult endocrinology. Endocrine nurses are now able to access annual training updates and attend specific nurse-led sessions at scientific meetings thanks to the ongoing work undertaken by the Society for Endocrinology’s nurse committee.It is therefore time to turn our attention to how we can encourage nurses to want t...

We have come a long way in the last ten years towards meeting the educational needs of nurses specialising in adult endocrinology. Endocrine nurses are now able to access annual training courses (renamed updates in 2010) and attend specific nurse-led sessions at scientific meetings thanks to the ongoing work undertaken by the Society for Endocrinology’s nurse committee. It is therefore time to turn our attention to how we can encourage nurses to want to specialise in endo...

Historically, many endocrine specialist nurses (ESN) worked in ‘isolation’, with little peer support, ‘learning on the job’, there were few external training opportunities and their roles developed according to local expectations and needs.In 1997, a small group of ESN met to establish a support network for themselves and their colleagues. Within a year they had successfully developed links with the Society for Endocrinology (S for E)...

The low incidence of acromegaly makes it difficult for any individual centre to gather prospective data on a large enough series of patients to enable satisfactory epidemiological and other research to take place. In 1998, eight centres agreed to set up a collaborative database with a view to accumulating a major series covering the main treatment centres. The project has now been active for several years and there are currently seventeen participating centres. Any centre that...

We have come a long way in the UK over the past ten years towards our goal of meeting the educational needs of nurses specialising in adult endocrinology. Endocrine nurses are now able to access annual training updates and attend specific nurse-led sessions at scientific meetings thanks to the ongoing work undertaken by the Society for Endocrinology’s nurse committee.It is therefore time to turn our attention to how we can encourage nurses to want t...

Background: Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is an autosomal recessive condition with significant consequences if not correctly diagnosed and treated. We have reviewed the patients with CAH presenting in Northern Ireland between 1976 and 2010.Aims: To determine the age, sex and clinical features at presentation; treatment modalities including perineal surgery in childhood; and long-term outcomes including final height and surgery in adulthood.<p ...

The Pituitary Foundation was founded in 1994 when a group of endocrinologists, GPs and patients identified the need for a support group for patients with pituitary disease. Charitable status followed in 1996. It's core aims are to provide support to patients, their families and carers, to act as a source of reliable information and to increase awareness of the Foundation and pituitary disease within the medical profession and the general public. Membership, services and public...

The UK Acromegaly Register was established in 1997 and holds data on patients with acromegaly from 17 centres in the UK. Of 1466 records, 431 (29%) were diagnosed pre-1984, 580 (40%) between 1984 and 1993 and 455 (31%) between 1994 and 2003.Surgery was and remains the most frequently applied primary treatment for acromegaly: 46% of cases pre-1984, 53% 1994-2003. The proportion treated by surgery alone has risen from 16% to 28% in 1994 to 2003 (P<1x10-...

AIMS: The Pituitary Foundation (a national UK Support Group)undertook a questionnaire of its members to solicit patients' views on their experience of growth hormone replacement (GHR). This resulted in a lay submission to NICE regarding GHR in adults.METHOD: A questionnaire was mailed to members known to be receiving GHR. 78% of these (303) were returned. In addition, a further 86 completed questionnaires were received following a...

Introduction: Across the North West England, following a survey across all Children and Young People’s Diabetes Units, a large number of paediatric diabetes specialist nurses (PDSNs) adjust insulin doses of children and young people with diabetes without a non-medical prescribing qualification (NMP). The majority have no Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in place, which is essential for their indemnity. In the meantime, PDSNs who were waiting to commence the NMP (v300) c...