Sick-leave duration after elective day case surgery in ENT: Is it affected by the type of employment?

BACKGROUND: Many ENT day-case procedures are performed on otherwise healthy individuals in employment. We hypothesised patients' type of employment may affect the amount of time taken off work following such procedures. We aimed to disprove the hypothesis that there is no difference in time taken off between employees and self-employed individuals. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We prospectively collected data on working adult patients undertaking elective day-case procedures at our department. Collected information included basic patient demographics and type of employment. A telephone call was made to collect data on actual period of time taken off work, 5-6 weeks later. RESULTS: 23% of patients were self-employed, the rest were employees. 92% of self-employed patients received no pay during their time off. This compared with 10% of employed patients receiving no pay. 77% of employed patients received full pay. Although mean time taken off work was less if the patient was self-employed (9.5 days vs 10.63), this was not found to be statistically significant. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrates time off work following day-case ENT procedures places a higher financial burden on self-employed patients. This should inform patient counselling prior to operations. We demonstrated no statistically significant difference in time off work post-surgery between the 2 groups. There was a possible trend towards less time off in self-employed individuals and we speculate that further research with more patients may demonstrate a statistically significant difference in time off work. Perhaps most importantly is for doctors to consider how long an individual needs off after a given procedure, after taking account of their individual patient needs, rather than defaulting to a standard 2-weeks.

Distance and Socieoeconomic Status as Barriers to Cochlear Implantation.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the distance burden for access to cochlear implant (CI)-related services and to assess whether socioeconomic disadvantage or level of education and occupation influenced uptake of CIs. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective case review. SETTING: A CI services provider operating across multiple centers. PATIENTS: All patients undergoing CI surgery in a 2-year period between March 2018 and February 2020. INTERVENTIONS: Diagnosis of hearing loss, CI surgery, and subsequent habilitation and mapping. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Distance traveled by patients to their audiological diagnostic, CI surgery hospital, and habilitation sites; subjects' index of relative socioeconomic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD) and index of education and occupation (IEO). RESULTS: n = 201 children and n = 623 adults. There was a significant difference across IRSAD domains for children (p < 0.0001) and adults (p < 0.0001), and IEO in children (p = 0.015) and adults (p < 0.0001) when tested for equal proportions. The median driving distance from home to the diagnostic audiological site for children was 20 km (mean, 69 km; range, 1-1184 km; upper quartile, 79 km; lower quartile, 8 km). There was no significant difference between the driving distances from home to the CI surgery hospital site, or the mapping/habilitation sites between children and adults. There was no correlation for age at first surgery and either IRSAD/IEO. CONCLUSIONS: The burden of distance for access to CI in Australia is significant for the upper quartile who may not live within the large city centers. Greater consideration needs to be given regarding barriers to CI for those in lower socioeconomic and educational groups to ensure equity of access across different socioeconomic and educational level backgrounds.

Misplaced Cochlear Implant Electrodes Outside the Cochlea: A Literature Review and Presentation of Radiological and Electrophysiological Findings.

HYPOTHESIS: It is possible to detect when misplacement and malposition of the cochlear implant (CI) electrode array has occurred intraoperatively through different investigations. We aim to explore the literature surrounding cochlear implant misplacements and share our personal experience with such cases to formulate a quick-reference guide that may be able to help cochlear implant teams detect misplacements early. BACKGROUND: Misplacement and malposition of a cochlear implant array can lead to poor hearing outcomes. Where misplacements go undetected during the primary surgery, patients may undergo further surgery to replace the implant array into the correct intracochlear position. METHODS: Systematic literature review on cochlear implant misplacements and malpositions and a retrospective review of our program's cases in over 6,000 CI procedures. RESULTS: Twenty-nine cases of CI misplacements are reported in the English literature. Sixteen cases of cochlear implant misplacements are reported from our institution with a rate of 0.28%. A further 12 cases of intracochlear malpositions are presented. The electrophysiological (CI electrically evoked auditory brainstem response, transimpedance matrix) and radiological (X-ray and computed tomography scan) findings from our experience are displayed in a tabulated quick-reference guide to show the possible characteristics of misplaced and malpositioned cochlear implant electrode arrays. CONCLUSION: Both intraoperative electrophysiological and radiological tests can show when the array has been misplaced or if there is an intracochlear malposition, to prompt timely intra-operative reinsertion to yield better outcomes for patients.

Bilateral isolated submandibular gland mumps.

Isolated submandibular swellings pose a diagnostic challenge to the practising otolaryngologist. We report an unusual case of mumps isolated to bilateral submandibular glands. We discuss the case and the literature surrounding this condition and remind clinicians that mumps should be considered as a diagnosis in the presence of submandibular gland swelling in the absence of typical parotid swelling associated with mumps. Early consideration of this differential diagnosis, serological testing and a multidisciplinary approach may help to clinch the diagnosis earlier and prevent spread of the virus.