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Volume 2, Number 4 |
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| Skin deep – All Party Parliamentary Group on Skin report |
Berkeley Greenwood, Administrative Secretary, The All Party Parliamentary Group on Skin, London |
The All Party Parliamentary Group on Skin (APPGS) published its second report on training in late July 1998.1 The report makes 20 recommendations for improvements in the overall training of those who come into contact with skin diseases. Particular emphasis was placed on the training of nurses, who are often under-used, but who the APPGS regards as essential to any healthcare team that comes into contact with skin diseases. |
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| Use of topical steroids in childhood eczema |
Steve Gill RGN RSCN Paediatric Dermatology Liaison Nurse, Birmingham Children’s Hospital |
Nurses are playing a greater role in influencing choices of eczema treatment, both in the hospital setting and in the community. These are exciting developments as health visitors, school, practice and clinic nurses are now the main deliverers of care and advice to children with eczema. These roles are now even more important as financial strategies put pressure on specialist dermatology wards to close. |
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| How to … conduct a patch test |
Justine Ratcliffe RGN BA(Hons) Contact Allergy and Occupational Dermatitis Nurse, and Senior Staff Nurse at Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham |
Patch testing is a diagnostic procedure used to establish an acquired type IV allergic reaction to external agents. Justine Ratcliffe RGN BA(Hons) Contact Allergy and Occupational Dermatitis Nurse, and Senior Staff Nurse at Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham, gives a step-by-step guide to testing for skin allergens |
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| Contact sensitivity in patients with venous leg ulcers |
Janice Cameron RGN ONC MPhil FETC Department of Dermatology Oxford Radcliffe Hospital, The Churchill Headington, Oxford |
Venous insufficiency associated with venous hypertension is the most common cause of leg ulcers in the UK.1 A complication in the management of venous leg ulcers is the presence of eczema around the wound. The chronicity of leg ulcers and the presence of venous stasis eczema, together with the occlusive nature of the treatments, are factors considered to be conducive to creating an environment for contact sensitivity (an allergic reaction) to occur.2 |
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