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Showing results for tags 'Adult'.
Found 77 results
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Content ArticleThis guideline covers preventing and managing inadvertent hypothermia in people aged 18 and over having surgery. It offers advice on assessing patients’ risk of hypothermia, measuring and monitoring temperature, and devices for keeping patients warm before, during and after surgery.
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Content ArticleThis guidance from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) should be used to help reduce the spread of Covid-19 in adult social care settings. It applies from 4 April 2022 and should be read in conjunction with: the infection prevention and control (IPC) resource for adult social care, which should be used as a basis for any infection prevention and control response the adult social care testing guidance, which details the testing regimes for all staff, as well as any resident and outbreak testing where applicable.
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Content ArticleThis guidance from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) outlines infection prevention and control (IPC) principles for adult social care settings in England, to be used with guidance on managing specific infections. It applies from 4 April 2022. This should be read in conjunction with DHSC's Covid-19 supplement to the infection prevention and control resource for adult social care.
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News ArticleEveryone with type 1 diabetes in England should be offered some form of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology to support their care, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended. Updated draft guidelines published on 31 March recommend that all adults with type 1 diabetes should be offered a choice of either real time or intermittent (flash) CGM through a sensor attached to the skin as part of their ongoing NHS care. NICE also recommends that all young people aged 4 years and over with type 1 diabetes should be offered real time CGM and that some people with type 2 diabetes who use insulin intensive therapy (4 or more injections a day) should have access to Flash. Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ, 31 March 2022 Read NICE guidelines here.
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Content ArticleThis article in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology aimed to calculate the medication costs of potentially inappropriate prescribing for middle-aged adults compare with the cost of consensus-validated, evidence-based, ‘adequate’ alternative prescribing scenarios. It used a Delphi consensus panel and cross-sectional study to examine primary care data of 55,880 patients aged 45-64 years old in South London. The study found that duplicate drug classes was the most costly criterion for both PIP and alternative prescribing. It identified no substantial cost difference between adequate prescribing versus PIP and the authors recommend that future studies investigate the wider health economic costs of alternative prescribing, such as reducing hospital admissions.
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Content ArticleLong Covid Support are keen to hear your experiences of Long Covid service(s) for adults in England. The purpose of this survey is to collect information on the patient experience of healthcare and other support services for Long Covid. Because services differ by nation, this survey is for patients in England only. This survey has been designed and developed by people who have Long Covid. You can do the survey for yourself, or on behalf of a friend or relative who has Long Covid. The survey will take 15 - 30 minutes to complete depending on your answers. You may save the survey and finish it later as long as you use the same device to complete it. Long Covid Support is a not-for-profit organisation, advocating for those impacted by Long Covid.
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Content ArticleSurgery is lifesaving or life-enhancing for millions of patients every year. However, the operation is not in itself an isolated ‘event’: it is part of a process which includes preparation and recovery. Ensuring the quality of the entire perioperative pathway is important to achieving the best possible outcome for every patient. This guidance is intended to be used by primary care, surgeons, anaesthetists, perioperative teams and preoperative assessment (POA) services. It applies to all patients who are being considered for surgery, or are on a waiting list for surgery in the non-emergency setting, irrespective of the magnitude of procedure or the type of anaesthesia contemplated. Its recommendations will support the care of individual patients, the recovery of elective services, and achieving key goals of the NHS Long Term Plan including reducing health inequalities and preventing serious health deterioration.
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News Article
Number of adults with dementia to exceed 150m by 2050, study finds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The number of adults living with dementia worldwide is on course to nearly triple to 153 million by 2050, according to the first study of its kind. Experts described the data as shocking and said it was clear that dementia presented “a major and rapidly growing threat to future health and social care systems” in every community, country and continent. US researchers said the dramatic rise from an estimated 57 million cases in 2019 would be primarily due to population growth and ageing. However, several risk factors for dementia – including obesity, smoking and high blood sugar – would also fuel the increase, they said. Improvements in global education access are projected to reduce global dementia prevalence by 6.2 million cases by 2050. But this will be countered by anticipated trends in obesity, high blood sugar and smoking, which are expected to result in an extra 6.8 million dementia cases. Hilary Evans, the chief executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK, who was not involved in the study, said the figures “lay bare the shocking scale of dementia across the world”. She said: “We need to see concerted global action to avoid this number tripling. Dementia doesn’t just affect individuals, it can devastate whole families and networks of friends and loved ones. The heartbreaking personal cost of dementia goes hand in hand with huge economic and societal impacts, strengthening the case to governments across the world to do more to protect lives now and in the future.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 6 January 2022 -
Content ArticleThis quick guide from Royal College of Occupational Therapists outline the unique role of occupational therapists in supporting adults to manage and recover from Long Covid. They have been written for occupational therapists working in specialist Long Covid services and in other acute, primary, secondary and community settings. The guides will also be useful for service managers and commissioners responsible for planning and delivering specialist Long Covid services, and for parents, carers and families of people affected by Long Covid. See also their guide for children with Long Covid.
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News Article
Mental health crisis referrals leap by almost 75%
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Referrals to mental health crisis services in England have increased by almost 75% ‘post-pandemic’, senior NHS leaders have revealed. Documents submitted to NHS England and Improvement’s November board meeting capture the scale of demand facing the sector, which national director Claire Murdoch described to fellow leaders as “huge”. Bed occupancy rates in adult acute services have remained above the recommended ‘safe’ level of 85% since June 2020, performance reports suggest. Above that threshold, experts warn that patient safety, out of area placements, and surge demand risks are likely to increase. Ms Murdoch wrote in her report to the board that between 180,000 and 200,000 calls per month were being fielded by covid-19 response crisis lines in the first quarter of 2021-22 — more than 6,000 each day. She added that there had been a 74% increase in referrals to crisis services ‘post-pandemic’: ”We’re now seeing huge demand and we’re back to pre-covid levels.” She said some people had not sought help during pandemic peak periods and this was leading to more severe demand." Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 25 November 2021 -
Content ArticleState of Care is the Care Quality Commission's annual assessment of health care and social care in England. The report looks at the trends, shares examples of good and outstanding care, and highlights where care needs to improve. It highlights people's experiences of care, including the impact of the pandemic, health inequalities, the challenges for people with a learning disability, the rising demand for mental health care, workforce stress and burnout, access to services, and the challenges for systems.
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Content Article
In this blog, patient Becky Tatum reflects on two articles in Forbes magazine describing how technology is enabling patient's with multiple chronic conditions who may have been discharged from hospital, to now be provided with aftercare in their own home. Becky looks at the pros and cons of receiving hospital treatment at home from a patient's perspective. -
Content Article
Based on the experiences of hospital trusts that performed well during the early phase of the pandemic, the guidance shares successful innovations and practices which others can utilise and adopt. Drawing on the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme’s data-driven methodology and the wealth of experience of its national clinical leads, the advice covers infection prevention and control, emergency medicine, critical care, anaesthesia, acute and general medicine, respiratory medicine, diabetes care, and geriatric medicine and community care, as well as looking at cross-cutting themes such as trust leadership and management, research and clinical coding. The guide, Clinical practice guide for improving the management of adult COVID-19 patients in secondary care, is reviewed and endorsed by 12 key professional societies. -
Content Article
Guidance for: Prone positioning in adult critical care (2019)
Sam posted an article in Respiratory conditions
Guidance from the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine and Intensive Care Society on prone positioning in adult critical care. It is hoped that the adoption of the guidance set out within this document will help improve safety and reduce complications associated with the prone positioning of mechanically ventilated patients. This document also hopes to standardise the approach to manging a cardiac arrest in the prone position, and has some guidance on prone ventilation in ECMO patients as well as considerations for performing bronchoscopy in the prone position. Assuming adequate staffing and equipment is available, the intervention of prone positioning involves very low costs and provided additional patient complications and long-term injuries to staff do not occur, would almost certainly be a cost-effective intervention. -
News Article
Depression in British adults doubles during pandemic, new data shows
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The number of adults experiencing depression has almost doubled during the pandemic, according to new figures. Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that almost one in five adults (19.2 per cent) were likely to be experiencing some form of depression in June. This had risen from around one in 10 (9.7%) between July 2019 and March 2020, before the imposition of the nationwide lockdown. Dame Til Wykes, a professor of clinical psychology and rehabilitation at King’s College London, warned of a looming “mental health crisis” once the pandemic passes. “This study tells us, yet again, that we might have a mental health crisis after this pandemic. The social effects of distancing and isolation for some affects their emotional wellbeing. Dr Billy Boland, chairman of the General Adult Faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said the UK’s mental health services would be faced with a “tsunami of referrals” in the coming months. “Isolation, bereavement and financial insecurity are some of the reasons why the nation’s mental health has deteriorated since the start of the pandemic. “The government must speed up the investment to mental health services if we are to treat the growing numbers of people living with depression and other mental illnesses.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 18 August 2020 -
News ArticleFollowing four deaths and more than 300 incidents with steroid replacement therapy involving patients with adrenal insufficiency in the past two years, patients at risk of adrenal crisis will be issued with a steroid emergency card. All adults with primary adrenal insufficiency (AI) will be issued an NHS steroid emergency card to support early recognition and treatment of adrenal crisis, a National Patient Safety Alert has said. The cards will be issued by prescribers — including community pharmacists — from 18 August 2020. AI is an endocrine disorder, such as Addison’s disease, which can lead to adrenal crisis and death if not identified and treated. Omission of steroids in patients with AI, particularly during physiological stress such as an additional illness or surgery, can also lead to an adrenal crisis. The alert has requested that “all organisations that initiate steroid prescriptions should review their processes/policies and their digital systems/software and prompts to ensure that prescribers issue a steroid emergency card to all eligible patients” by 13 May 2021. Read full story Source: The Pharmaceutical Journal, 17 August 2020
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Content ArticleA joint National Patient Safety Alert has been issued by NHS Improvement and NHS England national patient safety team, Royal College of General Practitioners, Royal College of Physicians and Society for Endocrinology, regarding the introduction of a new Steroid Emergency Card to support the early recognition and treatment of adrenal crisis in adults.
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Content ArticleIn this briefing The Health Foundation provides an overview of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social care in England. In part 1 they describe how the pandemic unfolded in the social care sector from March until June 2020, and in part 2 they examine the factors that contributed to the scale and severity of outbreaks in care homes. In part 3 they attempt to quantify the disruption to health and social care access from February until the end of April 2020.
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Content Article
Scottish Patient Safety Programme: Acute Adult
Claire Cox posted an article in Resources for staff
This web page includes the four work streams that Health Improvement Scotland are undertaking. These include: Falls Deteriorating patient Catheter induced infections Pressure ulcers. -
Content Article
Escalation of deteriorating adults
PatientSafetyLearning Team posted an article in Deterioration and sepsis
This short film, produced by Homerton University Hospital, tells you how to manage a deteriorating patient on your ward. Dr Letty Dormandy, Chief Registrar, talks about the importance of early escalation and how to get help quickly. -
Content ArticleThis clinical guidance from the NHS provides information on the care of critically ill adult patients with COVID-19 to practising clinicians at the bedside. The COVID-19 pandemic is placing an extraordinary burden on critical care, which is being met through the creation of surge capacity within and beyond hospital walls. A large number of non-specialist healthcare providers will be supporting critical care specialists to provide care. Staff safety and wellbeing will be crucial in maintaining the resilience of critical care provision. This guide summarises the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 and offers advice on: • antibiotics and corticosteroids • treatment of other conditions in the context of COVID-19. • clinical decision-making when resources may be constrained • management of respiratory failure • management of other organ failure. • continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and non-invasive ventilation (NIV) • early intubation – indications and role.
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Content ArticleThese controversial implants are used by medical professionals to treat stress incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, both of which can occur after childbirth. But there’s a darker side to the mesh story, with many women left in excruciating pain, suffering long-term health problems as a result of being fitted with them. This article in Woman & Home explores the issues around vaginal mesh implants and speaks to women and campaigners.
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Content ArticleThis infographic, by patient Jennifer Gilroy, demonstrates what makes patients feel safe and what contributes to them feeling unsafe in a hospital environment.
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Content ArticleThe creation of a national network of medical examiners (MEs) was recommended in the Shipman inquiry and was alluded to in the Mid-Staffordshire and Morecambe Bay public inquiries. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, Lord O’Shaughnessy, confirmed in October 2017 that a national system of medical examiners will be introduced from April 2019. The ME reforms set out in the 2009 Coroners Act will be implemented nationally in two phases. By April 2019, NHS trusts should set up non-statutory schemes, based upon the national pilots (particularly in Leicester, Sheffield and Gloucester), funded in part from cremation form fees, in preparation for the commencement of a statutory scheme in 2020/21. A National Medical Examiner will be appointed, reporting directly to the National Director of Patient Safety.
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Content Article
NHS's summary of the Mental Capacity Act 2005
Claire Cox posted an article in Best interests and capacity
The Mental Capacity Act (MCA) is designed to protect and empower people who may lack the mental capacity to make their own decisions about their care and treatment. It applies to people aged 16 and over. The NHS provides a summary of the Act.
