10 acute confusion facts Here we provide 10 facts about acute confusion (also known as delirium or acute confusional state, ACS), distinguishing it from chronic confusion (e.g. dementia). Key Points Acute confusion is an acute, transient, and typically reversible disturbance in attention, cognition, and consciousness Common causes include almost any infection, metabolic disorder, or drug […]
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Medical diagnostic handshake: key part of history and examination Why is shaking the patient’s hand a good diagnostic practice? The hands provide readily accessible information that may not be available through other history/examination, and they offer clues to a patient’s physical and mental health. A good introduction is vital in medicine. And you should begin […]
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Should I bring a friend or relative to a doctors appointment? Yes, it’s a good idea. Bring someone with you to a doctor’s appointment if you can. It’s difficult to take everything in if you are nervous or emotional. If it’s a telephone appointment, you can use the speakerphone function and have a friend or […]
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What can an IAPT help with? Anxiety Depression Life problems. If you are feeling anxious, or depressed, talk to your GP. In England, they can refer you to a NHS counsellor called an Improving Access to Psychological Therapist (IAPT). You can have a course of 6 or more sessions. IAPTs now work within something called […]
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Top tips for getting the most out of a hospital outpatient appointment There are three stages of a hospital appointment, and each one needs careful planning. Here is a handy checklist to help you plan your appointment. Before Symptoms. Write down details of your symptoms, including when they started and what makes them better or worse Questions. Write […]
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Is COVID on the rise? Yes. COVID cases continue to increase as the new highly contagious FLiRT variants spread rapidly across the country. After nearly four months at around the lowest levels for three years, infections have risen in the UK for the fourth week in a row, driven by new variants together with waning immunity […]
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20 diseases named after people (eponyms) In this article, we will describe 20 diseases named after people (eponyms). They are in alphabetical order. 1. Addison’s disease Guy’s Hospital was apparently the place to work in the 19th century if you wanted to have a disease named after you. Thomas Addison, a colleague of Bright and […]
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Introduction to mental illness Mental illnesses are health conditions involving changes in emotion, thinking, behaviour, or personality (or combination of these). Mental illnesses are associated with distress and/or problems functioning in social, work or family activities. How common is mental illness? If you need mental health care, first of all, you are in good company. Mental health problems are very, very […]
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What is the NHS friends and family test? The NHS Friends and Family Test (FFT) enables people who use (or work in) NHS services to provide feedback on their experience of the care. Listening to the views of patients and staff helps identify what is working well, what can be improved and how. It asks for feedback on […]
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Winnie Harlow and her vitiligo Canadian fashion model Winnie Harlow has appeared on two Vogue covers, her skin condition completely undisguised. Vitiligo is an autoimmune skin condition that causes depigmented patches of skin to appear randomly on the body. It happens when the cells responsible for giving your skin its natural colour, melanocytes, are attacked […]
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