Interprofessional perspectives on faculty-to-faculty incivility from nursing and social work.

Healthcare delivery systems frequently require interprofessional collaboration between members of several health and social care professions. In the United States, two of the largest are nursing and social work. How these two professions address incivility between faculty members is not well understood. This paper describes the results of an examination of Faculty-to-Faculty Incivility (FFI) by both social work and nursing educators. National surveys of U.S. social work faculty (n = 216) and nursing faculty (n = 588) indicate common concerns between the two groups. Nursing and social work educators experience similar rates of behaviors that may be considered FFI, but social workers are more likely to identify these behaviors as uncivil. Data suggest that there are differences between nursing and social work faculty in their beliefs about the causes of FFI, and also in their reported barriers to addressing FFI in the workplace. The discussion highlights concerns that are common between the groups, contextual aspects that differ between the two professions, and ways in which interprofessional collaboration between nurses and social workers in academia and healthcare can help to address this problem among both groups.

Clinical uses of autofluorescence in ophthalmology.

Although it has been around for many years, historically autofluorescence has been difficult to capture. Developments in technology and camera sensors have made the process much easier and there is increasing research exploring autofluorescence patterns and how they can be used. This article explores the clinical uses of this technology in monitoring certain retinal conditions.

An introduction to OCT in retinal disease.

Ocular coherence tomography (OCT) has been available to ophthalmologists for many years and has had a significant impact on the diagnosis and treatment of many eye conditions. This fast and non-invasive way to image the eye has had a considerable effect on ophthalmic photography services. OCT can be used to assess the structure of the cornea, iris, anterior chamber, optic nerve and retina. This article focuses upon its use in retinal conditions and explores how the technique is used to aid treatment and diagnosis.

Adolescents seeking weight management: who is putting their hand up and what are they looking for?

We describe the characteristics of adolescents seeking treatment for obesity via the 'Eat Smart' feasibility study; an intensive 12 week dietitian-led weight management programme with an emphasis on lifestyle change. It was designed to test the feasibility of a structured low-fat diet compared with a semi-structured reduced carbohydrate plan compared with a model of 'standard care'- an unstructured low fat approach. When compared with non-participants, participants were predominantly female and lived in lower socioeconomic areas. When given the choice of dietary approach, 50% elected reduced dietary carbohydrate, 43% structured low fat and 7% chose 'standard care'. Modest weight loss was achieved over 12 weeks, with both the structured low fat and reduced carbohydrate formats. Families showed a strong preference for structured eating plans, in particular seeking assistance with correct portion size. The current standard model of unstructured advice was both unpopular and relatively unsuccessful.