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Time to professionalise medical leadership

For a profession proud of its adherence to an evidence base, medicine has been remarkably slow to acknowledge and to act on the evidence which underpins the value of good leadership to patients and the healthcare system. Mr Robert Francis...

What does an Olympic medal and surgery have in common?

Competing against female Eastern Bloc athletes in the 1980s was a thankless task, demanding a mulish tenacity in an often futile cause. Ideal preparation for a career in surgery? My path to medicine was unusual, in that I left school...

The role of the maxillo-facial surgeon in the management of skull base malignancy

Whilst ablative surgery remains the principal treatment option for head and neck malignancy, the skull base is the last frontier. The complex anatomy, supreme functionality of the brain, and varied pathology provokes many a detailed discussion in the multidisciplinary team...

Matthew Clark: full-time otologist, spare-time sculptor

Drilling a temporal bone may seem like torture to some trainee surgeons. To others it is but a stepping stone to something altogether grander... I took Art A-level a year early so as not to interfere with the ‘important subjects’,...

True Cut – a dramatic biopsy from the world of surgery

True Cut is a stage play that asks: “What happens when things go wrong in healthcare?” It brings the hidden world of the operating theatre onto the theatre stage. ENT surgeon, David Alderson, talks about how the play came about....

A parent’s journey: beyond the diagnosis

Tamsin Coates lives in Wallesey, UK and talks about coming to terms with the difficulties and joys of having two deaf children. Here she explains about the early days and the impact of their diagnosis upon the family. Thinking back...

Living with Usher syndrome

“Usher people often still have sharp, clear central vision. It is the corner of their eye that is missing. This is why the Usher person often does not feel or look blind. In the early days they may not even...

A cognitive therapy programme for hearing impairment: reducing avoidance and mental distress

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), a psychotherapeutic treatment method, is most commonly used to treat anxiety and depression. Newly published results from a controlled, clinical study demonstrate that an adapted CBT programme is useful for several common challenges in aural rehabilitation;...

Unexplained dizziness in elderly patients

How do we explain unexplained dizziness in elderly patients? How far should we go with investigations? And most importantly, how should we manage this challenging and expanding group of patients whose balance affects their safety? Richard Ibitoye and Diego Kaski...

Fall prevention in the elderly population

A fall in later life can have a catastrophic impact on a person’s quality of life. Lilian Felipe explains how falls prevention programmes and vestibular rehabilitation can help.