Louise Hudman

Louise Hudman is a GP locum and regularly summarises clinical guidelines, most of which now include an NASGP AppraisalAid e-Learning template, so you'll receive a pdf and Word document of your reflected learning.

NASGP e-Learning appraisalaid template

e-Learning | COPD – antibiotic prescribing in an acute exacerbation

June 18th, 2019

This is a new guideline from NICE on when to prescribe antibiotics in an acute exacerbation. It was published in Dec 18. It should be read alongside their updated guideline on COPD. The most interesti...

e-Learning | COPD diagnosis and management

June 18th, 2019

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This is an updated guideline from NICE on the diagnosis and management of COPD, published in Dec 18. It's a pretty mammoth guideline, first written in 2004. There is a useful flow chart on management....

e-Learning | Management of Polycythaemia Vera

June 6th, 2019

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This is an updated guideline on the diagnosis and management of polycythaemia vera (PV) from the British Society for Haematology. It was published in Nov 18. PV is the same as polycythaemia rubra vera...

Intrauterine ball – a new copper intrauterine device

May 24th, 2019

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This is a 'New Product Review' from the FSRH on the intrauterine ball (IUB). It is otherwise known by the not so catchy title of SCu300B MIDI. This is a copper intrauterine device. It has copper beads...

e-Learning | Coughs (of the acute kind) and antimicrobial prescribing

May 11th, 2019

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This is a new guideline from NICE on when to prescribe antibiotics for coughs. It only covers those with acute coughs and doesn't include COPD patients (they are covered in a separate guideline). I w...

e-Learning | Ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage

April 24th, 2019

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This is an updated guideline on ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage from NICE (published Apr 19). It was last updated in 2012 when I originally wrote this blog post. The 2019 update doesn't add very muc...

e-Learning | Alcohol exposure prenatally and its effects on children and young people

April 23rd, 2019

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This is a guideline on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder from SIGN outlining the assessment and management of children who have had prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). It was published in Jan 2019. Prenata...

e-Learning | Lower urinary tract infection (UTI)

April 8th, 2019

NICE released new guidelines in Oct 18 on antimicrobial prescribing in lower urinary tract infection (UTI). Public Health England (PHE) has guidelines on the diagnosis and management of UTI, which wer...

Podcast | I’m a GeriGP

March 19th, 2019

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NASGP member Eva Kalmus describes how she became co-chair of the new GeriGP group of the British Geriatrics Society (BGS), and why being a portfolio GP has never been boring. When I did my GP training...

e-Learning | Renal and ureteric kidney stones

March 18th, 2019

This is a new guideline from NICE on managing renal and ureteric stones, published in Jan 19. I'll give a summary of what is new, then do a more detailed summary below. What is new in this guideline? ...

FSRH | Levosert – a levonorgestrel intrauterine device (LNG-IUS)

February 25th, 2019

×Updated March 2019 This is a new product review from the FSRH. Levosert is an LNG-IUS, which is the same as Mirena. It seems to be as effective as Mirena and to have similar side-effects. It i...

e-Learning | Combined hormonal contraception guidelines from FSRH

February 18th, 2019

This is an update from the FSRH on the use of combined hormonal contraception (CHC). There are a couple of elements in here that are new. I shall list these, then give the check-list of what they thin...

e-Learning | Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

February 1st, 2019

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This is an updated guideline from NICE on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD. The last guideline came out in 2005. I don't think this really changes our management much (i.e. watch and wait for 1 mon...

Bronchial thermoplasty for severe asthma

January 22nd, 2019

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This is a new guideline on bronchial thermoplasty from NICE on bronchial thermoplasty for severe asthma. NICE advise that it can be used.This procedure reduces the smooth muscle mass lining th...

e-Learning | Contraception in the over 40s

December 14th, 2018

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This was an updated guideline from the FSRH on contraception in the over 40s. It came out in Nov 17, but as it is so useful, I thought it worth doing a summary. There were a few things that were new f...

iFuse for chronic sacroiliac pain

December 10th, 2018

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This is a new guideline from NICE advising that iFUSE can be used for treating chronic sacroiliac pain. The guideline was released in Oct 18. It is worth being aware of as we may have patients affecte...

e-Learning | Chronic Heart Failure in adults

November 22nd, 2018

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This is an updated guideline on heart failure from NICE published in September 2018. Most of this is what we are currently doing. They have pulled several different guidelines together to make this mo...

Management of pancreatitis

November 5th, 2018

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This is a new guideline from NICE on pancreatitis from Sep 2018. Most of it is aimed at secondary care, but there are a few things that are useful for us which I've outlined below. Advice to give pati...

Transurethral steam ablation for lower urinary tract symptoms in men

November 3rd, 2018

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This is a new guideline from NICE recommending that transurethral water vapour ablation can be used for treating lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in men. It was published in Aug 18. This procedure ...

Valproate – contraindicated in women of childbearing potential

November 1st, 2018

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You have probably heard about this on the news, or seen it in other forms, but in case you have missed it, I felt it important to do an update. This information came out in Apr 18 from MHRA. Valproate...

e-Learning | Management of dementia

October 18th, 2018

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Join the clinical conversation NASGP's GP-only Facebook GroupThis is a new guideline from NICE on the management of dementia. Most of this is not new, but there were a couple of things I wasn't ...

Prostate artery embolisation for benign prostatic hypertrophy BPH

September 29th, 2018

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This is guideline from NICE advises that prostate artery embolisation can be used as a treatment for lower urinary tract symptoms association with benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH). This came out in ...

Podcast | A viper’s nest: when venom is a man’s best friend

September 15th, 2018

Did you know that captopril was derived from the venom of the deadly Brazilian pit viper? Since it went on the market in 1981 captopril and its successor ACE inhibitors have probably saved many more l...

e-Learning | Bladder Pain Syndrome (Interstitial Cystitis)

August 28th, 2018

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This is a new guideline from RCOG on Bladder Pain Syndrome, which used to be called Interstitial Cystitis, among other things. As this is a new guideline and it is a common problem (affecting up to 6%...

Bisphosphonates, raloxifene and teriparatide for treating osteoporosis

August 24th, 2018

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This summary is based on 3 recent NICE guidelines:Bisphosphonates in people for primary or secondary prevention. Raloxifene for primary prevention. Basically it isn't advised. Raloxifene and teripar...

Hearing loss and ear wax

August 20th, 2018

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This is a new guideline from NICE on managing hearing loss and ear wax, published in June 2018. Exciting? Well, there are a couple of good bits in here, especially given how common a problem this is. ...

Stop smoking intervention

Stop smoking cessation

July 12th, 2018

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This is a new guideline from NICE on stop smoking interventions. If you do nothing else, I would strongly encourage you to do the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training NCSCT e-learning mo...

Heavy menstrual bleeding (menorrhagia)

July 4th, 2018

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NICE published an update to its guideline on heavy menstrual bleeding (menorrhagia) in March 2018. There are a couple of changes:Hysteroscopy is now the first line investigation for most women who n...

Nice Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ADHD guideline

May 31st, 2018

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This is a guideline from NICE on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ADHD. It was written in 2008, then updated in March 2018. The changes are relatively subtle, so I shall outline the changes, t...

Kyleena – a new intrauterine system for contraception

May 17th, 2018

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This is a statement from Jan 18, updated Mar 19, from FSRH giving information about Kyleena, which is a new levonorgestrel (LNG) containing intrauterine system (IUS). What is Kyleena? An IUS. It conta...

Otitis Media – when to use antibiotics

April 26th, 2018

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This is a new guideline from NICE on when to use antibiotics for otitis media (March 2018). It doesn't change common practice, but I found some of the statistics really helpful for explaining why we p...

Peristeen transanal irrigation system for managing bowel dysfunction

April 5th, 2018

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This is a new guideline from NICE on the use of the Peristeen transanal irrigation system for managing bowel dysfunction. Peristeen is otherwise known as Coloplast; patients use it every other day. It...

Pancreatic cancer in adults (when to offer surveillance)

March 23rd, 2018

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This is a new guideline from NICE on pancreatic cancer. Most of this is aimed at specialists, but there was a useful bit on when to consider surveillance in people who are at higher risk. Hopefully mo...

Faltering growth in children

March 15th, 2018

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This is a recent guideline from NICE, which gives advice on managing faltering growth in children. A lot of this is common sense, but as it is a new guideline, I will summarise the bits relevant to us...

Sore throat – when to use antibiotics

February 22nd, 2018

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This is a new guideline from NICE which advises on when to use antibiotics in patients with tonsillitis or sore throat. If you already use a scoring system to help you decide when to prescribe it does...

Diagnosing and managing cystic fibrosis

January 31st, 2018

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This is a new guideline from NICE on diagnosing and managing cystic fibrosis. Most of this guideline will be much more relevant to secondary care, so I'm just covering the list of possible presentatio...

Multiple Sclerosis – Cladribine tablets (Mavenclad)

January 23rd, 2018

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This is a new guideline from NICE on a new treatment for MS. Obviously we won't be prescribing this, but I thought it worth mentioning as we may see patients starting to use it. It is an oral medicati...

Sinusitis treatment down to five days

January 16th, 2018

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This is a NICE guideline from a couple of months ago in the use of antibiotics in sinusitis. I must say that this has changed my practice significantly, so well worth a read, especially the background...

Latest endometriosis NG73 guidelines from NICE

By richie graham (originally posted to Flickr as jensute) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

November 2nd, 2017

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This is a new guideline from NICE on managing endometriosis. I'll do a general summary of this as it is a new guideline. However I don't think it changes very much that we do. There is a good algorith...

Eating Disorders

October 18th, 2017

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This is a new guideline from NICE on managing eating disorders. It is really targeted around anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Much of this is not new, but as we don't see patients with these disorders to...