The Northumbria Healthcare Research Repository contains published research by staff working for Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. The repository is managed by the Library and Knowledge Services team and jointly owned with the Innovation, Research and Development Department.
For further information or to submit an article, please contact repository@northumbria-healthcare.nhs.uk
Recent Submissions
Item Sustainability in endoscopic medical congresses and courses: Position Statement from the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and the European Society of Gastroenterology and Endoscopy Nurses and Associates.(2026)Medical conferences and educational courses in gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy are essential for training, quality improvement, and scientific exchange, but they are also associated with a substantial environmental footprint, largely driven by travel-related greenhouse gas emissions and resource consumption. While sustainability in endoscopic practice has gained increasing attention, the environmental impact of endoscopy congresses and courses has remained insufficiently addressed. This document outlines the official position of the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) and the European Society of Gastroenterology and Endoscopy Nurses and Associates (ESGENA). An international multidisciplinary panel of experts conducted a systematic literature review, expert narrative appraisal where evidence was limited, and an iterative Delphi consensus process. The resulting recommendations address key domains of conference organization, including event conception, scientific program design, transportation and participation models, faculty selection, venue and accommodation, catering, waste reduction, training formats, and collaboration with industry partners. Emphasis is placed on promoting virtual and hybrid conference formats, low-emission travel options, sustainable venues and catering, and the systematic measurement and transparent reporting of environmental impact. This ESGE–ESGENA Position Statement provides practical, consensus-based, evidence-informed guidance to support GI endoscopy societies, conference organizers, industry partners, and participants in reducing the environmental impact of endoscopy-related educational activities while preserving their scientific and educational quality.Item Ketamine Therapy for Chronic Pain Provides Added Benefits for Substance Misuse Therapy.(2026)Background: Chronic pain is complicated by comorbid substance misuse. This multifaceted problem increases the risks of polypharmacy, overdose, impaired driving, and avoidable emergency care. Methods: This is an observational study of a convenience sample of twenty adult chronic pain patients who underwent regular monthly intramuscular ketamine for multimodal pain therapy. Ketamine was administered at 0.25 mg/kg per treatment session. Each treatment also involved lidocaine plus magnesium nerve blocks. The cohort was profiled by gender and substance misuse category (benzodiazepine, cocaine, kratom, opioid). Numeric pain score, Severity of Dependence Scale (SDS), and PHQ-9 scores were analyzed. Results: Females comprised 55% (11/20) and males 45% (9/20). Opioids were the most frequent misuse category (45%; 9/20), followed by benzodiazepines (25%; 5/20), cocaine (20%; 4/20), and kratom (10%; 2/20). After repeated treatments, substance misuse improved in all patients, with concordant improvements in mood, pain, and dependence severity. PHQ-9 improved from moderately severe to mild mood disorder, pain improved from severe to moderate, and SDS improved to satisfactory levels. Conclusion: These outcomes indicate that ketamine-based chronic pain therapy is a potential system for integrated substance-misuse therapy within value-based healthcare, highlighting measurable outcomes, risk mitigation, and public safety. Future studies should include larger prospective studies and collaboration with clinical pharmacists and public safety professionals.Item How would Socrates debrief? Five tools using original Socratic dialogue.(2026)Simulation facilitators routinely invoke the ‘Socratic method’ when describing their questioning approach, yet this invocation often lacks philosophical grounding and practical specificity. Whilst Socratic questioning features prominently in debriefing standards, its application has become what scholars describe as "extraordinarily vague", with conflicting interpretations proliferating across the literature. Facilitators need clear guidance for important decisions: when to challenge versus support, when to profess ignorance versus share expertise, when to create discomfort versus maintain psychological safety. This article returns to Plato’s dialogues to construct a contemporary pedagogical framework through close textual analysis. We developed five distinct facilitation orientations drawn from specific passages in the original texts: the Gadfly (challenging assumptions through persistent questioning), the Professed Ignorant (modelling intellectual humility), the Midwife (facilitating emergence of tacit knowledge), the Stingray (inducing productive cognitive dissonance), and the Co-inquirer (fostering collaborative discovery). These orientations function as philosophical stances rather than algorithmic techniques, providing meta-level guidance that complements existing debriefing frameworks. Each orientation addresses different aspects of productive uncertainty, the deliberate cultivation of intellectual discomfort as a catalyst for deeper thinking. When facilitators position themselves as fellow learners, debriefing can shift from teaching learners what to think towards teaching them how to think. Engagement with Socratic principles expands facilitators’ repertoires for creating meaningful learning conversations. These orientations offer simulation educators a philosophically grounded alternative to vague appeals to ‘being Socratic’. They emerge from interpretive choices calibrated specifically to healthcare simulation contexts rather than claims of historical authenticity.Item A black pleural effusion.(2026)Black pleural effusions are rare, and are associated with cancers, pleural infection (namely fungal), and pancreatic leakage. A 78-year-old with known cardiac comorbidities presentedwitha large right pleural effusion, and symptoms of breathlessness and weight loss. A computed tomogram (CT) scan showed a large right multiloculated collection and an aspirate of black pleural fluid had negative cytology and grew Klebsiella pneumoniae. Due to the concern that this might represent a malignancy, a thoracoscopy was planned but the patient had to be admitted for cardiovascular instability, and a chest drain was inserted. The local multidisciplinary team (MDT) ruled that this was not a cancer, and a video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) was performed for infection clearance. The pleura looked bland, but biopsies were taken, an indwelling pleural catheter (IPC) was inserted. Histology showed a pleural adenocarcinoma and systemic anticancer treatment has been started. Pleural fluid analysis could not be done as it was too dark for routine laboratory analysis which is based on transparency to different wavelengths of light. The cytology was negative, which is not uncommon in patients with lung cancer, and the CT scan was reported as no cancer, again, which is not uncommon. Empyema and concurrent lung cancer is rare. Clinical suspicion was high, and clinicians should always pursue tissue biopsy if that is the case.Item A systematic review of qualitative studies exploring how parents affected by intimate partner violence and abuse and their children experience child welfare, health and criminal justice responses.(2026)Background Parental Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse (IPVA) is a complex issue, which requires a sensitive response from a range of services. This review aimed to identify and synthesise qualitative research examining the perceptions and experiences of parents and children affected by IPVA and their interactions or engagement with various child welfare, health and legal systems and services. Methods We conducted a systematic review of the international literature, searching 11 electronic databases from inception to November 2023 and supplemented this with a grey literature search. Studies were included if they provided qualitative accounts from adult and/or child victims/survivors of IPVA and/or adult perpetrators reporting on experiences of child welfare, health, and/or criminal justice intervention. Results A thematic synthesis of 39 individual studies (38 papers and 1 book chapter) which include the perspectives of (n-825) mothers/adult females (n-107) children and (n-58) fathers was undertaken. Three overarching themes were identified: (1) the importance of supporting the family whilst safeguarding the child (2) systems failing of services to hold the perpetrator to account and (3) systems that retraumatize the Family. Conclusions Services should provide a whole-family approach, which responds to the needs both the parent and child victim/survivor, and recognises the parental identity of the perpetrator. Interventions with adult victims/survivors should take a strengths-based approach, whilst holding the perpetrator to account. Particular care is needed when families are involved in family court to avoid re-traumatisation.
Communities in NHCTR
Select a community to browse its collections.