Impact on physical therapy and audiology students of an interprofessional case-based learning experience in education of vestibular disorders.

Vestibular disorders are quite common and can cause significant disability. Diagnosis and treatment of these disorders is very complex, requiring multidisciplinary input including physical therapy (PT) and audiology (AUD). The purpose of this research was to determine if an interprofessional educational experience between the PT and AUD students will increases the students' confidence in their knowledge of the role of the other discipline, circumstances which would require referral to the other discipline, and communication with individuals from the other discipline. PT and AUD students were divided into small groups and worked through an unfolding case. A paper-and-pencil survey was utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of the experience. Mann-Whitney U-tests demonstrated no significant difference between the confidence levels of PT and AUD students pre-test and post-test. Wilcoxon signed ranks tests demonstrated statistically significant gains in confidence levels on all items from pre-test to posttest. The authors attribute these gains to interprofessional collaboration, case-based learning, and discipline- specific facilitation. In the future, this exercise would benefit from additional disciplines. The outcomes strengthen the research that interprofessional education and case-based learning are effective methods of education. This should lead to increased communication in clinical settings and ultimately improved patient outcomes.

Pediatric Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas: a retrospective analysis at the Children's Hospital of New Orleans.

Lymphomas constitute 10-12% of childhood cancers and are the third most common childhood malignancy. A retrospective analysis of thirty-six patients from the tumor registry of Children's Hospital of New Orleans was conducted during the period from 1995-2000. Patients were divided based on patient and tumor characteristics with recurrence and survival data compared to the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) data of the National Cancer Institute. There were 18 patients (51%) with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL) and 17 (49%) with Hodgkin's disease (HD). Our sample had a similar distribution compared to the national population cohort except for different gender distribution in our HD patients. Also, most of our patients (63%) presented with advanced disease (Stages III and IV). Seventeen percent had recurrence of disease and 80% achieved remission, of which two patients developed secondary leukemia. Overall mortality was 17%. The survival in patients with HD was 94% which is comparable if not slightly superior to the national data. In patients with NHL, survival was 72% which was marginally lower than the national results (80%), most likely due to more advanced disease. Increased awareness in the pediatric community of the signs and symptoms of childhood lymphoma should result in earlier diagnosis and improved survival.