The efficacy of traditional follow-up care is being challenged, as cancer survivors' supportive and psychological needs are often neither identified, nor addressed. This study's aim was to develop a holistic surgical follow-up clinic for oral and oropharyngeal cancer patients were participants completed a disease-specific health-related quality of life tool (UWQOLv4) and item prompt list (Patient Concern Inventory) on a touchscreen computer. Information generated was used to focus the consultation on patient's identified needs and concerns. By means of a prospective non-randomised, pre-test post-test design, this follow-up clinic was evaluated using the patient enablement instrument (PEI) and patient content checklist (PCC). Feasibility was explored from the patient perspective (satisfaction survey) and clinician perspective (qualitative interview). Forty-four consecutive patients were recruited. Findings demonstrating five of the eight topics (overall QOL, emotions, head and neck symptoms, side-effects of treatment, chronic non-specific) on PCC were discussed more frequently, but changes were not statistically significant. The PEI highlighted a trend towards perceived improvement in four of the six items. Using touchscreen computers to aid communication during routine follow-up was reported as both feasible and beneficial by patients and clinicians. Providing a patient-focused follow-up consultation can facilitate the identification of unmet needs, permitting timely and appropriate intervention being initiated.

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Oral hairy leukoplakia (OHL) is a viral infection of the oral mucosa which most dental practitioners will associate with patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The condition can also present in patients who are immunocompromised without HIV infection such as steroid use or organ transplant. This article presents a case of OHL in a patient who was not immunocompromised and which healed spontaneously following biopsy only. While perhaps surprising, this occurrence may not seemingly be rare and is one of which dentists should be aware of as it appears to be age related. With an increasing ageing population, this may become a more frequent presentation and highlights the importance of clinic-pathological correlation when presenting patients with the results of laboratory investigations.

Perioperative processes and adherence to scheduled times are crucial for efficient performance in operating theatres. This systematic review investigated the effects of efficient perioperative systems on the timeliness of upstream and downstream processes in surgical care pathways, looking at how these methods could reduce overall patient waiting times for elective surgery. The authors searched PubMed, EMBASE, SCOPUS, Web of Science and Cochrane databases for articles published after 1 January 2014. Both randomised and non-randomised studies were considered. A total of 7543 publications were screened, of which 20 were eligible for analysis. The studies varied widely in design, scope, reported outcomes and overall quality. Analysis demonstrated that a substantial amount of time could be saved through efficient scheduling and planning of perioperative processes, which could reduce overall patient waiting time for elective surgeries. Further evaluation with higher quality study designs and rigour is recommended for firmer conclusions.