Lymph node metastasis in thyroid papillary microcarcinoma: a study of 170 patients.

OBJECTIVE: Papillary microcarcinoma of the thyroid has been described as either a normal variant or a serious malignancy. We describe our experience with papillary microcarcinoma and lymph node metastases. METHOD: A total of 685 consecutive total thyroidectomies with central compartment neck dissection were reviewed for papillary microcarcinoma. Association of central compartment lymph node metastases with age, gender, tumour multifocality, bilaterality and extrathyroidal extension was analysed. RESULTS: Out of 170 papillary microcarcinoma cases, multifocality was found in 72 (42.4 per cent), bilaterality in 49 (28.8 per cent) and extrathyroidal extension in 16 (9.4 per cent). In all, 23 patients (13.5 per cent) had lymph node metastases. There was a significant association (p < 0.05) between extrathyroidal extension (but no other tumour characteristics) and lymph node metastases. CONCLUSION: In all, 13.5 per cent of papillary microcarcinomas in our series showed lymph node metastases. Lymph node metastases were associated with extrathyroidal invasion of the papillary microcarcinoma.

'He did what? Well, that wasn't handed over!' Communicating risk in mental health.

Mental health inpatient units are dynamic, complex environments that provide care for patients with heterogeneous ages, diagnoses and levels of acuity. These environments commonly expose clinicians and patients to many potential risks. Despite extensive research into risk assessment, prediction and management, no study has investigated how risk information is communicated at handover in acute mental health settings. Given the pivotal role handover plays in informing risk management, this evidence gap is significant. This paper reports on a study that investigated the practices of communicating risk at handover in an Australian acute mental health inpatient unit. The aim of this research was to identify the frequency and type of risk information communicated between nursing shifts, and the methods by which this communication was performed. A secondary aim was to identify effective and ineffective risk communication practices. This study involved an observational design method using a 14-item Clinical Audit Tool derived from handover principles outlined by World Health Organization. Five hundred occasions of patient handover were observed. Few risk information items were observed to be communicated in any method. Risk communication practice was inconsistent, and a key recommendation from the study is the use of standardized handover tools that ensures risk information is adequately reported.

Mental health-related risk factors for violence: using the evidence to guide mental health triage decision making.

Mental health clinicians working in emergency crisis assessment teams or mental health triage roles are required to make rapid and accurate risk assessments. The assessment of violence risk at triage is particularly pertinent to the early identification and prevention of patient violence, and to enhancing the safety of clinical staff and the general public. To date, the evidence base for mental health triage violence risk assessment has been minimal. This study aimed to address this evidence gap by identifying best available evidence for mental health-related risk factors for patient-initiated violence. We conducted a systematic review based on the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia's methodology for systematic reviews. A total of 6847 studies were retrieved, of which 326 studies met the study inclusion criteria. Of these studies, 277 met inclusion criteria but failed the quality appraisal process, thus a total of 49 studies were included in the final review. The risk factors that achieved the highest evidence grading were predominantly related to dynamic clinical factors immediately observable in the patient's general appearance, behaviour and speech. These factors included hostility/anger, agitation, thought disturbance, positive symptoms of schizophrenia, suspiciousness and irritability.

Mental health triage: towards a model for nursing practice.

Mental health triage/duty services play a pivotal role in the current framework for mental health service delivery in Victoria and other states of Australia. Australia is not alone in its increasing reliance on mental health triage as a model of psychiatric service provision; at a global level, there appears to be an emerging trend to utilize mental health triage services staffed by nurses as a cost-effective means of providing mental health care to large populations. At present, nurses comprise the greater proportion of the mental health triage workforce in Victoria and, as such, are performing the majority of point-of-entry mental health assessment across the state. Although mental health triage/duty services have been operational for nearly a decade in some regional healthcare sectors of Victoria, there is little local or international research on the topic, and therefore a paucity of established theory to inform and guide mental health triage practice and professional development. The discussion in this paper draws on the findings and recommendations of PhD research into mental health triage nursing in Victoria, to raise discussion on the need to develop theoretical models to inform and guide nursing practice. The paper concludes by presenting a provisional model for mental health triage nursing practice.

Mental health triage nursing: an Australian perspective.

This paper presents the findings of a doctoral research project that involved a state-wide investigation into mental health triage nursing in Victoria, Australia. Mental health triage is a specialized domain of nursing practice that has emerged within the context of wider mental health reform in the State. The overall aim of the study was to produce a comprehensive definition and description of psychiatric triage nursing in Victoria. Methodological triangulation was used in the design of the study to enable the use of both survey (n = 139) and semi-structured interview (n = 21) data collection methods. Mental health triage nursing was found to be a complex, stressful role that involves high levels of responsibility, clinical decision making, and multiple role functions, many of which overlap into areas of practice previously the exclusive domain of medicine, such as assessment, diagnosis, and referral. The paper raises discussion on contemporary professional issues of concern to mental health triage nursing, and concludes with recommendations for the future development of the discipline.

Combined orthodontic-surgical management of residual palato-alveolar cleft defects.

These cases are presented in detail from a series of fifteen cases treated in the described manner, with follow-up orthodontic documentation 2 to 5 years after PMCB grafts. The long-term results in all of the cases were excellent. Late or secondary bony reconstruction of the osseous alveolar and anterior palatal clefts may be accomplished with either an essentially nonviable autogenous graft or an autogenous particulate marrow and cancellous bone graft. The differences essentially are as follows: 1. In the nonviable graft, orthodontic movement of teeth adjacent to the cleft is undertaken at some time prior to the grafting procedure. This is opposed to the use of the autogenous PMCB graft in which active orthodontic treatment may be undertaken within 2 months after the osseous grafting procedure. 2. In the use of nonviable autogenous bone, presurgical orthopedic treatment to expand the arch is usually essential since extensive arch expansion is not usually possible after grafting. With PMCB grafts , postsurgical arch expansion may be routinely undertaken. 3. It is thought that the use of rib, solid one-piece grafts from the ilium, and other types of nonviable graft is warrented only after major growth and development of the premaxillary region has occurred. This is due to lack of ability of such a grafted area to keep pace with the growth of adjacent bone segments. This would mean that secondary grafting with such grafts would be restricted to patients over 15 years of age. This is opposed to the PMCB technique, in which the next procedure may be undertaken at any time from the age of mixed dentition to adulthood but preferably earlier than the age of 7, before the lateral incisor has erupted and been lost through exfoliation into the cleft area. Thus with these two techniques, there is a marked difference in the philosophy of grafting and a marked difference in the overall results. There is, in addition, an altered philosophical effect upon the total maxillofacial cleft palate team, with a marked difference in the type of treatment and prognosis which can be offered in terms of social rehabilitation of the patient. While the team approcah to the treatment of the cleft palate patient has done much to advance rehabilitation in terms of social and psychological problem areas, speech correction, and soft-palate and cosmetic lip restoration, much needs to be done to rehabilitate the patient completely from a dental standpoint. We believe that the prognosis of dental rehabilitation without appropraite bone-grafting procedures of the alvolar and prepalatal cleft is unfavorable. The use of the PMCB procedure in conjunction with orthondotic therapy opens new avenues to the total rehabilitation of the patient with an anterior maxillary cleft.