Volume 6, Number 1, Jan-Feb-Mar 2009

POPULAR
TOPICBACK TO BASICSAspirin or Warfarin for Atrial Fibrillation
Jan Procter-King

DIABETES MANAGEMENTWorking In Partnership With Patients: Developing A Diabetes Pathway With Local Service Users
Sandra Waddingham

This article looks at how a group of patients worked in partnership with North Lancashire Teaching Primary Care Trust (PCT) to produce a patient information leaflet for people newly diagnosed with diabetes (see page 32).The leaflet is intended to act as a guide, giving the new diabetic information and facts to help them,as well as encouraging them to find out more for themselves and enabling them to ask the appropriate questions.

POPULAR
TOPICDID YOU KNOW?Walking your way to good health
Catherine Robertson

What are the health benefits of walking,and how much should we walk and how often? In this article,we review the evidence on the impact of walking on health, the latest recommendations on walking,how to overcome barriers to walking,how to motivate our patients to start walking and how to keep it going.

EDITORIALEditorial
Jan Procter-King

A happy and productive 2009 to all our readers! We hope that as we all face the challenges – and, we hope, joys - that this year will bring, BJPCN can provide the practical and reliable information and advice that you tell us you find so useful.

EVIDENCE IN PRACTICEEvidence in Practice

There are just not enough hours in the day to read all the research journals,even if you wanted to.This section of BJPCN– Evidence in Practice – will keep you on top of relevant research without having to spend hours in the library. Each review gives you a bite-size summary of new research,pulling out key points for primary care and recommending the action that you might consider taking.

HAVE YOU HEARD?Have you Heard?

POPULAR
TOPICPREVENTION IN PRACTICETriglycerides: Making Sense Of The Sometimes Forgotten Lipid Fraction
Dr Jonathan Morrell

The importance of lowering total and LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) in the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is so firmly established that it has,in only a short time, become part of everyday practice for all primary care health professionals.Lipids,of course,come in multiple forms,which include fatty acids,the different forms of cholesterol and triglycerides.Most practitioners have only a sketchy idea of what triglycerides are,what they do and how important they are.Few understand the intricacies of measurement, diagnosis and interpretation,and when – and how – to manage them.The story is complex and involves difficult biochemical and metabolic concepts,so we should begin at the beginning.

THERAPEUTICS REVIEWCardiac Resynchronisation: A New Approach To Managing Chronic Heart Failure
Professor Mike Kirby

About 40% of patients with heart failure die within one year of diagnosis,underlining the need for more effective management.Nearly one-third of patients with heart failure may have an abnormality in the electrical conducting system of the heart.In this article,we review cardiac resynchronisation and its role in managing chronic heart failure.

PATIENT INFORMATIONStarting On Nateglinide Or Repaglinide

POPULAR
TOPICHANDS ONGet Your Socks Off: Diabetic Foot Care In The Community
Brian Karet

All of us delivering care to people with diabetes know that it’s increasingly common, affecting two million people in the UK,according to figures for 2007.It is also expensive,taking up about 10% of NHS costs and 5% of social costs. We also know it’s the commonest cause of non-traumatic lower limb amputations and that’s just one of the reasons that we spend so much time in clinics optimising care and detecting complications.But how well do we understand the impact of foot disease and how organised are we in assessing and treating it?