Endocrine Abstracts

Aim: To explore the role of paediatric endocrine nurse specialists in supporting information needs of girls with TS and their parents.Methods: A purposive sample of 15 families with daughters aged 9–16 years were recruited from a tertiary paediatric growth clinic to participate in an exploratory qualitative study. 27 semi-structured interviews were recorded. Data were analysed using the framework approach and constant comparative method. Analysis re...

I have been the module leader for the Paediatric Endocrinology: exploring practice module for several years. Amongst those nurses who access or contribute to the course it is clear to see the wealth of knowledge, clinical expertise, enthusiasm for the subject area and professional commitment to delivering high quality nursing care to children, young people (CYP) and their families. Excellent examples of nursing care for CYP are presented in the assignments and every year I app...

Introduction: The age range at diagnosis, complexity of the syndrome and the sensitive and emotional nature of the issues involved in a diagnosis of Turner Syndrome (TS) present specific challenges for health professionals in sharing information with girls and their families. However little is known about the perceived information needs of parents and there has been no study of the views of girls with TS.Methods: A qualitative design was employed to expl...

Background: Management of diabetes in patients with End Stage Renal Failure (ESRF) is complex, requiring intervention from multiple disciplines. The Joint British Diabetes Societies and Renal Association published the first ever guidelines for the management of patients with diabetes undergoing haemodialysis for ESRF in 2017.Aims and objectives: Assess Current Care Pathways of all patients with Diabetes undergoing Haemodialysis in Cork University Hospita...

The management of children and young people (CYP) with diabetes is forever evolving, with tools and management strategies becoming much more intense. Year on year this has led to an overwhelming burden of educating schools when providing training for over 300 patients with type 1, type 2 and rarer types of diabetes. Children spend on average 1,267.5 hours per year in school – it is essential children’s diabetes management is optimised during this time, and health car...

Introduction: Clinical nurse specialists (CNS) practice at an advanced level of nursing. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) competency framework for paediatric endocrine nurses sets out expected levels of practice and academic attainment for ‘competent, experienced and expert’ practitioners. This paper reports the findings of an initial scoping exercise undertaken to explore current roles, academic attainment and aspirations of this group of nurses in order to inform...

Background: Precocious puberty (PP) in girls is most frequently an idiopathic gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH)-dependent PP, being thelarche the typical first sign. It is well established that increased dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS) levels are associated with premature adrenarche and may characterize PP too. However, its relationship with signs of hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis activation and oestrogen exposure is still to be elucidated.<p class="...

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic prevented face-to-face school diabetes training in 2020/2021 at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital. Moving school training online was the only viable option to ensure children with type 1 diabetes could attend school.Objectives: 1. Develop an online school training package with competency assessment for all diabetes devices 2. Audit the number of staff competent and the cost and acceptability of the t...

Endometrial cancer is the most common gynaeological malignancy in the developed world: lifetime exposure to oestrogen is a key risk factor. Oestrogen action is mediated by ligand activated receptors encoded by the ESR1 (ERα) and ESR2 (ERß) genes: ERα plays a key role in regulating endometrial cell proliferation. ERß5, is a truncated variant isoform of ERß formed by alternative splicing of ESR2 that contains a DNA binding doma...

Background: Radioiodine is a safe and effective treatment for Graves’ disease. Iatrogenic hypothyroidism is very common after treatment, but its onset is unpredictable. Even a short episode of hypothyroidism can result in significant morbidity and ideally should be avoided. In our centre a standard dose of radioiodine (400 MBq) is used, but for historical reasons two different protocols are used after radioiodine: Regimen A: regular clinical and biochemical monitoring and...