British Society of Gastroenterology guidelines for the management of iron deficiency anaemia in adults.

Iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) is a major cause of morbidity and burden of disease worldwide. It can generally be diagnosed by blood testing and remedied by iron replacement therapy (IRT) using the oral or intravenous route. The many causes of iron deficiency include poor dietary intake and malabsorption of dietary iron, as well as a number of significant gastrointestinal (GI) pathologies. Because blood is iron-rich it can result from chronic blood loss, and this is a common mechanism underlying the development of IDA-for example, as a consequence of menstrual or GI blood loss.Approximately a third of men and postmenopausal women presenting with IDA have an underlying pathological abnormality, most commonly in the GI tract. Therefore optimal management of IDA requires IRT in combination with appropriate investigation to establish the underlying cause. Unexplained IDA in all at-risk individuals is an accepted indication for fast-track secondary care referral in the UK because GI malignancies can present in this way, often in the absence of specific symptoms. Bidirectional GI endoscopy is the standard diagnostic approach to examination of the upper and lower GI tract, though radiological scanning is an alternative in some situations for assessing the large bowel. In recurrent or refractory IDA, wireless capsule endoscopy plays an important role in assessment of the small bowel.IDA may present in primary care or across a range of specialties in secondary care, and because of this and the insidious nature of the condition it has not always been optimally managed despite the considerable burden of disease- with investigation sometimes being inappropriate, incorrectly timed or incomplete, and the role of IRT for symptom relief neglected. It is therefore important that contemporary guidelines for the management of IDA are available to all clinicians. This document is a revision of previous British Society of Gastroenterology guidelines, updated in the light of subsequent evidence and developments.

Developing an IV Ketamine Clinic for Treatment-Resistant Depression: a Primer.

The efficacy of subanesthetic intravenous ketamine for treatment resistant depression (TRD) has spurred a growth of clinics nationwide that provide this service. Ketamine is an FDA-approved drug as an anesthetic but remains unapproved for psychiatric indications, and this status raises a number of short- and long-term safety and efficacy concerns that need to be addressed when implementing and developing this type of clinic. Using a framework of systems, provider, and patient domains, we provide a review of the key challenges in providing ketamine infusions and suggest potential approaches. Under systems issues, we highlight broad stakeholder engagement involving cross-departmental and multidisciplinary considerations, business case development, and delineation of administrative standard operating procedures. In the provider domain, we highlight specific roles for different treatment team members as well as suggested training requirements. In the patient domain, we identify a variety of standard operating procedures involving initial patient assessment parameters, ketamine dosing and administration guidelines, and safety monitoring procedures. Together, this review provides key considerations for developing a ketamine clinic for depression, in an effort to meet the pressing demand for this novel treatment option while helping to ensure its safe implementation.

Reversal of 'the dying' diagnosis.

A 75-year-old woman was admitted with sepsis and treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics until examination of her lower limbs noted necrotising wounds. Surgical intervention was advised by the plastic surgeons; however, she was deemed unsuitable for intensive care. She underwent incision and drainage of the necrotic area and biopsies were taken. She deteriorated clinically and the decision was made for best supportive care and was therefore transferred to the inpatient palliative care unit for end-of-life care. However, she stabilised, and based on culture sensitivities, antibiotics were restarted. It was also noted that the patient had a 3-month history of loose stools, which had not been addressed previously. The biopsies were suggestive of pyoderma gangrenosum, prompting a dermatology review, and prednisolone and doxycycline were started. The wounds and her loose stools improved, and with ongoing rehabilitation, she made a full recovery. Referral to gastroenterology was made.

The road to the Inequalities in Health Alliance.

In late 2020, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) established the Inequalities in Health Alliance (IHA) to campaign for a cross-government strategy to reduce health inequalities. In this article, RCP president Prof Andrew Goddard charts the evolution of the IHA and explains what comes next.

The UK physician workforce: one-third at increased risk of death from COVID-19.

INTRODUCTION: 21% of NHS staff are from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds yet account for a disproportionately high number of medical-staff deaths from COVID-19. Using data from the published OpenSAFELY Collaborative, we analysed consultant physicians to determine those at increased risk of COVID-19 related death. METHODS: Data from 13,500 consultant physicians collected by the Royal College of Physicians were analysed to determine those at an increased risk of death from COVID-19, assuming no comorbidities. RESULTS: The data reveal a picture in which a third of consultant physicians have a hazard ratio (HR) >1 for dying from COVID-19; one in five have HR >2; one in 11, HR >3; and one in 40, HR >4. Of concern are the risks to male physicians aged ≥60 with HR >3.8. Sub-specialties including cardiology, endocrine and diabetes, gastroenterology, haematology, neurology and rheumatology have a greater risk profile due to high proportion of men, physicians of older age, and proportion of BAME individuals. CONCLUSION: A third of consultant physicians have an increased risk of a COVID-19-related death, and one in five have a higher relative risk (HR >2). The risk is mainly driven by age, gender, and ethnicity, the risk is highest in male consultant physicians over 60, especially from BAME backgrounds.

Supporting people who have eating and drinking difficulties.

Eating and drinking are essential for maintenance of nutrition and hydration, but are also important for pleasure and social interactions. The ability to eat and drink hinges on a complex and coordinated system, resulting in significant potential for things to go wrong.The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has published updated guidance on how to support people who have eating and drinking difficulties, particularly towards the end of life.Decisions about nutrition and hydration and when to start, continue or stop treatment are some of the most challenging to make in medical practice. The newly updated guidance aims to support healthcare professionals to work together with patients, their families and carers to make decisions around nutrition and hydration that are in the best interests of the patient. It covers the factors affecting our ability to eat and drink, strategies to support oral nutrition and hydration, techniques of clinically-assisted nutrition and hydration, and the legal and ethical framework to guide decisions about giving and withholding treatment, emphasising the two key concepts of capacity and best interests.This article aims to provide an executive summary of the guidance.

Rostering in a pandemic: Sustainability is key.

In preparation for the peak of the first wave of COVID-19, many healthcare organisations implemented emergency rotas to ensure they were adequately staffed. These rotas - while addressing the acute issues - are in many cases not sustainable. As we move past the peak and services start resuming, many organisations need to reassess their rotas. There are considerable wellbeing benefits to optimal rostering. In this article we discuss how best to achieve this and suggest a number of key principles, including the following: involvement of staff affected by the rota; taking into account individual circumstances; building in flexibility and adequate time for rest; and designing rotas for different grades of staff together to create stable teams.

Therapeutic resolution of focal, predominantly anastomotic Crohn's disease strictures using removable stents: outcomes from a single-center case series in the United Kingdom.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Intestinal and anastomotic strictures in Crohn's disease (CD) produce considerable morbidity. The development of surgery-sparing, endoscopic modalities for stricture resolution is essential. Removable stent therapy is emerging as an efficacious and safe means of stricture resolution. We present outcomes from the largest, single-center series of patients with CD undergoing removable self-expanding metal stent (SEMS) therapy to resolve focal intestinal strictures. METHODS: Patients with symptomatic CD were assessed with magnetic resonance enterography. Short (≤6 cm), fibrostenotic strictures of the terminal ileum or ileocolonic anastomoses were considered by a multidisciplinary team and put forward for stent therapy. Strictures were examined endoscopically and impassable strictures were treated with SEMSs. The Hanaro HRC-20-080-230 partially covered SEMS was used for all patients. Endoscopically inaccessible or inflammatory strictures were excluded. Stent retrieval was scheduled for 7 days after insertion. Therapeutic benefit was assessed with validated inflammatory bowel disease scoring tools. RESULTS: Twenty-one patients underwent 23 stent episodes, with 2 patients requiring repeat therapy in the follow-up period. Most treated strictures were anastomotic (19 of 21); 2 of 21 were de novo. Of those patients attending follow-up, 81% (13 of 16) reported symptom improvement or resolution; 88% (14 of 16) were in clinical remission at follow-up. Across all stent episodes, only 5 adverse events were noted (2 episodes of stent-related discomfort, 3 asymptomatic stent migrations). There were no direct stent-related adverse events such as perforation, impaction, or bleeding. No patient has required stricture-related surgery in the follow-up period (range, 3-50 months). CONCLUSIONS: In this series, removable SEMS therapy for ileal and anastomotic strictures was found to be clinically efficacious. The absence of perforation events and need for stricture-related surgery are noteworthy. These results suggest that the efficacy of stent therapy in this context merits powered, head-to-head investigation with other modalities for stricture resolution.

Stress and its causes in UK gastroenterologists: results of a national survey by the British Society of Gastroenterology.

AIM: Evaluation of stress and its causes in UK gastroenterologists. DESIGN: Questionnaire emailed to all 1932 medical members of the British Society of Gastroenterology. RESULTS: Of 567 respondents (29%), 107 (20%) graded their stress level as 4 or 5 out of 5. Stress levels correlated inversely with self-reported happiness levels (r=-0.60; p<0.001) and with hours slept per night (r=-0.23; p<0.01) and correlated directly with % time off-duty thinking about work (r=0.46; p<0001) and with proportion of nights with broken sleep (r=0.30; p<0.01). Due to stress over the past year, 21% of respondents reported one of the following: consulting their general practitioner (7%), attending occupational health (5%), taking planned time off (7%), taking anxiolytics/antidepressants (6%) and considering suicide (5.5%). These respondents had higher stress and lower happiness levels than the remainder. Stress levels were higher in women and in those working full time but had no other demographic associations.The main causes of stress were excessive clinical work (ranked highest by 47% and most commonly patient-related administration), working conditions beyond control (ranked highest by 15% and most commonly inadequate information technology systems, workspace and secretarial staff) and conflict (ranked highest by 9%). Of eight potential factors, happiness with work showed the closest associations with overall happiness (positive) and overall stress (negative) levels. Talking to someone at work about stress was ranked difficult or impossible by 35%. The highest ranked suggested solutions were relief from some duties and mentoring. CONCLUSIONS: Stress is common and has objective correlates in UK gastroenterologists. The main cause is excessive workload.