The community mental health nurse: a new professional role

This review of recent literature explores the similarities and differences between the work of community psychiatric nurses and their mental handicap counterparts. The comparisons which have been made between groups of nurses are related to the authors own research studies. These included an observations study of one community mental handicap nursing team and a national survey of all such teams in England and Wales. The importance of trade union membership, the place of the Community Psychiatric Nursing Association and the implication of joint training courses are discussed. The emergence of a new professional role that of the 'community mental health nurse' is discussed and the implications which this might have for the future organization of community psychiatric nursing services is outlined.     

Sense of coherence among elderly somatic patients: predictive power regarding future needs of care

The main aim was to study the predictive power of sense of coherence regarding future needs of care among elderly patients evaluated as medically ready for discharge from somatic emergency care. A secondary aim was to study the consistency of sense of coherence over time among patients with this kind of experience. The sample consisted of 53 Swedish patients (mean age 82.8 years, SD = 6.6 years) who had completed their medical treatment at surgical or orthopaedic departments. The predominant diagnosis was lower limb fractures. Sense of coherence was assessed twice, on the day the patient was evaluated as medically ready for discharge and 1 month later. On the second assessment occasion, 28 patients had returned to their homes, 17 were staying at institutions, and eight had died. Patients who returned to their homes reported the strongest sense of coherence while still in hospital. Patients who were staying at institutions scored lowest on the overall sense of coherence scale and on the comprehensibility subscale. Patients who died before the second measurement occasion scored lowest on the meaningfulness subscale. A correlation of 0.51 was noted between the two assessments of sense of coherence, indicating a moderate temporal consistency.     

Causes, management and morbidity of acute hypoglycaemia in adults requiring hospital admission

In the community, acute hypoglycaemia is commonly caused by therapies for diabetes mellitus or the excessive consumption of alcohol. Although most episodes do not require admission to hospital, little information is available on the causes and outcome of those that do. We retrospectively surveyed adult patients admitted to a large urban teaching hospital with acute hypoglycaemia in a 12-month period, identifying 56 admissions of 51 patients. Forty-one had diabetes mellitus, 33 (80%) of whom were receiving treatment with insulin. The others had hypoglycaemia induced by excessive consumption of alcohol or by deliberate self-poisoning with insulin. A history of psychiatric illness and/or chronic alcoholism was common. Neurological manifestations of hypoglycaemia were the principal reason for admission, observed on 50 occasions (89%), and 11 events (20%) had precipitated convulsions. Although many patients (59%) had received treatment for hypoglycaemia before admission, hypoglycaemia recurred in 16% of patients in hospital. Four patients (7%) died following admission, but in only one case was this the direct result of hypoglycaemia. However, within 15 months of the index hypoglycaemia event, a further six patients (11%) had died, mostly of causes unrelated to hypoglycaemia. Patients who require hospital admission for treatment of hypoglycaemia have a high incidence of neurological manifestations, a high rate of mental illness and other medical disorders, and may represent a high-risk subgroup with a poor long-term prognosis.      

Frontoethmoid sinus osteoma as a cause of subperiosteal orbital abscess

A 65-year-old woman presented with severe periorbital pain and swelling of the left eye, with complete ptosis, proptosis, and conjunctival chemosis. The eye was in a hypotropic position, and activity in the left superior rectus was inadequate. A firm, elastic, 2-cm mass was palpated near the superior orbital rim. Computed tomography revealed a subperiosteal abscess (SPA) at the superior portion of the orbit and a large frontoethmoidal sinus osteoma. After the SPA had been surgically drained and the osteoma completely removed, the patient recovered, with resolution of proptosis, ptosis, and motility limitations. Osteomas of the paranasal sinuses are usually asymptomatic and rarely cause SPA and orbital cellulitis. Therefore, osteoma cases must be closely followed to ensure that early diagnosis and treatment of SPA are successful in preventing severe visual loss and rescuing the patient’s vision.