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Surgical specialties

Otolaryngology (ENT) Diploma

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An evidence-led diploma in ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgery: how to make sound decisions in airway emergencies and across the ear, the nose and sinuses, the head and neck and children's ENT, following current UK and European guidance and the US differences that matter.

Twenty-five weekly sessions across five modules take you from the compromised airway and ENT emergencies, through otology, rhinology and head and neck cancer, to tonsils, sleep apnoea, paediatric and facial plastic surgery, taught live by practising specialists you can question.

Course director
To be announced
Format
25 live weekly sessions on Zoom, in 5 modules
Dates
Confirmed when enrolment opens

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Otoscopic view of a healthy right eardrum, pearly grey with the handle of the malleus and a bright cone of light, framed by the pink ear canal.
Image: otoscopic view of a normal eardrum by Michael Hawke MD via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Who it is for

Senior trainees, fellows and early-career consultants in otolaryngology and head and neck surgery, and specialists who manage ear, nose and throat conditions, worldwide.

The programme

25 one-hour sessions in 5 modules, each with its learning objectives. This is the draft programme: the course director reviews and refines it before enrolment opens, so session titles may change.

Module 1 · Sessions 1 to 5The airway and ENT emergencies

  1. 1. The compromised upper airway

    • Recognise the signs of impending upper airway obstruction and escalate before decompensation
    • Plan a joint airway strategy with the anaesthetist, including front-of-neck access as the fallback
    • Choose between nasendoscopy, imaging and transfer to theatre for a patient with stridor
    • Manage acute angioedema and supraglottitis while keeping the airway safe

  2. 2. Tracheostomy and laryngectomy emergencies

    • Differentiate a tracheostomy patient from a laryngectomy patient and adapt emergency oxygenation
    • Manage a blocked or displaced tracheostomy tube using a recognised emergency algorithm
    • Plan safe tube changes and decannulation with the multidisciplinary team
    • Teach ward staff the bedside equipment and information every tracheostomy patient needs

  3. 3. Epistaxis

    • Stabilise a patient with severe epistaxis and identify the bleeding point
    • Select cautery, packing or surgery according to the site and severity of bleeding
    • Manage anticoagulant and antiplatelet treatment with the prescribing team
    • Decide when to proceed to sphenopalatine artery ligation or embolisation

  4. 4. Sore throat, quinsy and deep neck space infection

    • Apply a validated clinical score to decide on antibiotics for acute sore throat
    • Drain a peritonsillar abscess and choose the follow-up care
    • Identify deep neck space infection on clinical and imaging findings and plan drainage
    • Assess airway risk in deep neck infection before transfer or theatre

  5. 5. Foreign bodies, button batteries and ENT trauma

    • Prioritise a suspected button battery in the ear, nose or oesophagus as an emergency for immediate removal
    • Remove ear and nasal foreign bodies safely and recognise when theatre is needed
    • Drain a septal or auricular haematoma to prevent deformity
    • Assess a nasal fracture and plan manipulation within the right time window
Module 2 · Sessions 6 to 10Otology, hearing and balance

  1. 6. Otitis media in children

    • Decide when a child with acute otitis media needs antibiotics or review
    • Recognise acute mastoiditis and intracranial complications and plan urgent management
    • Offer hearing aids or ventilation tubes for otitis media with effusion in line with current guidance
    • Plan hearing and speech follow-up for children with Down's syndrome or cleft palate

  2. 7. The discharging ear: otitis externa, necrotising otitis externa and chronic otitis media

    • Treat acute otitis externa with aural toilet and topical therapy
    • Identify the patient at risk of necrotising otitis externa and arrange imaging and antibiotics
    • Distinguish mucosal from squamous chronic otitis media on examination
    • Plan medical and surgical options for a chronically discharging ear

  3. 8. Cholesteatoma and middle ear surgery

    • Diagnose cholesteatoma from history, otoscopy and imaging
    • Choose between canal wall up and canal wall down surgery for a given ear
    • Plan follow-up with second-look surgery or diffusion-weighted MRI
    • Consent a patient for middle ear surgery covering hearing, taste, balance and facial nerve risk

  4. 9. Hearing loss and tinnitus in adults, including sudden hearing loss

    • Treat sudden sensorineural hearing loss as an emergency and start steroids within the recommended window
    • Select adults with asymmetric hearing loss or tinnitus for MRI of the internal auditory meatus
    • Assess cochlear implant candidacy against current national criteria
    • Plan tinnitus care that combines information, hearing support and psychological therapy

  5. 10. Vertigo and facial nerve palsy

    • Diagnose benign paroxysmal positional vertigo and treat it with a repositioning manoeuvre
    • Distinguish peripheral vestibular causes of acute vertigo from stroke at the bedside
    • Plan stepwise management of Ménière's disease from lifestyle measures to ablative treatment
    • Identify causes of facial nerve palsy that are not Bell's palsy and protect the eye
Module 3 · Sessions 11 to 15Rhinology

  1. 11. Acute rhinosinusitis and its complications

    • Decide when acute sinusitis needs antibiotics using current prescribing guidance
    • Grade orbital complications of sinusitis and decide when to drain
    • Recognise intracranial spread of sinus infection and arrange imaging and neurosurgical review
    • Coordinate shared care with ophthalmology and paediatrics for orbital cellulitis

  2. 12. Chronic rhinosinusitis with and without nasal polyps

    • Diagnose chronic rhinosinusitis using symptoms, endoscopy and imaging criteria
    • Optimise medical treatment before offering surgery
    • Plan endoscopic sinus surgery and its follow-up for nasal polyps
    • Select patients with severe polyp disease for biologic therapy using published criteria

  3. 13. The blocked nose: rhinitis, septum and turbinates

    • Treat allergic rhinitis in line with current international guidance
    • Select patients for allergy testing and immunotherapy referral
    • Counsel a patient on septoplasty versus medical treatment using trial evidence
    • Assess the nasal valve and turbinates as causes of obstruction

  4. 14. Smell loss, unilateral nasal symptoms and sinonasal tumours

    • Assess smell loss with a validated test and offer olfactory training
    • Identify red flags in unilateral nasal symptoms that need urgent imaging and biopsy
    • Investigate suspected cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhoea
    • Refer suspected sinonasal tumours to a skull base multidisciplinary team

  5. 15. Facial pain, headache and the 'sinus' patient

    • Distinguish facial pain caused by sinus disease from migraine and other causes
    • Avoid sinus surgery in patients whose pain has no sinus cause
    • Recognise trigeminal neuralgia and temporomandibular disorders and refer appropriately
    • Explain a non-surgical diagnosis to a patient who expected an operation
Module 4 · Sessions 16 to 20Head and neck

  1. 16. The neck lump and suspected head and neck cancer

    • Identify adults whose neck lump needs urgent investigation for cancer
    • Plan ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration or core biopsy in a one-stop clinic
    • Investigate a neck node with an unknown primary
    • Recognise features that suggest lymphoma and refer to haematology

  2. 17. Head and neck cancer: staging, the multidisciplinary team and treatment choices

    • Stage a head and neck cancer using the current TNM classification
    • Present the treatment options for an oropharyngeal cancer at a multidisciplinary meeting
    • Explain why cisplatin remains the standard partner to radiotherapy in HPV-positive disease
    • Plan surveillance of the neck with PET-CT after chemoradiotherapy

  3. 18. Thyroid and parathyroid surgery for the ENT surgeon

    • Assess a thyroid nodule and decide who needs ultrasound-guided cytology
    • Choose between lobectomy, total thyroidectomy and active surveillance for low-risk thyroid cancer
    • Manage a post-thyroidectomy neck haematoma as an airway emergency
    • Prevent, recognise and treat hypocalcaemia after thyroid and parathyroid surgery

  4. 19. Salivary gland disease

    • Investigate a salivary gland swelling with ultrasound and cytology
    • Choose between conservative care, sialendoscopy and gland excision for salivary stones
    • Counsel a patient for parotidectomy covering facial nerve risk and gustatory sweating
    • Recognise systemic causes of salivary disease that need rheumatology input

  5. 20. Voice and swallowing

    • Decide when hoarseness needs urgent laryngoscopy to exclude cancer
    • Investigate a vocal fold palsy to find its cause
    • Limit proton pump inhibitor treatment for suspected reflux to patients likely to benefit
    • Plan voice therapy or phonosurgery for benign vocal fold lesions
Module 5 · Sessions 21 to 25Children, sleep, facial plastics and professional practice

  1. 21. Tonsillectomy in children and adults

    • Select children and adults for tonsillectomy using frequency and severity criteria
    • Prescribe safe analgesia after tonsillectomy in children
    • Manage primary and secondary post-tonsillectomy haemorrhage
    • Plan day-case tonsillectomy with safe discharge criteria

  2. 22. Obstructive sleep apnoea and snoring

    • Assess a child with sleep-disordered breathing and decide on adenotonsillectomy
    • Interpret a sleep study and grade adult obstructive sleep apnoea
    • Select adults for surgery or hypoglossal nerve stimulation when continuous positive airway pressure is not tolerated
    • Coordinate care with sleep medicine, weight management and dental services

  3. 23. Paediatric ENT: hearing screening, stridor and neck lumps

    • Plan follow-up for a baby who does not pass newborn hearing screening
    • Assess an infant with stridor and decide when airway endoscopy is needed
    • Diagnose congenital neck lumps in children and plan their surgery
    • Recognise safeguarding concerns in children presenting to ENT

  4. 24. Rhinoplasty and facial plastic surgery: selection and safety

    • Assess a patient for functional or cosmetic rhinoplasty, including their expectations
    • Screen for body dysmorphic disorder before cosmetic surgery
    • Consent a patient for rhinoplasty covering realistic outcomes and the chance of revision
    • Manage early and late complications after rhinoplasty

  5. 25. Complex case review and professional practice

    • Apply the course to complex emergency and elective ENT cases in a panel discussion
    • Present a complication at a morbidity and mortality meeting to drive learning
    • Fulfil the professional duty of candour after harm
    • Plan your own development towards a general or subspecialty ENT practice

What the diploma includes

  • 25 live sessions on Zoom, one evening a week, with recordings for the weeks you miss.
  • Practising specialists teaching live, so you can put your questions to them.
  • Weekly MCQs and a final written assessment.
  • A digital certificate carrying your final classification.

Lead or teach the Otolaryngology (ENT) Diploma

We are looking for a course director and faculty from the specialty. Sessions are one hour in the UK evening, live on Zoom, and paid.

Apply to teach