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Showing results for tags 'Blood / blood products'.
Found 137 results
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Content ArticleBlood pressure (BP) has been measured with a cuff for over a 100 years. Recently, ‘tricorders’ and smartwatches that measure BP without a cuff using pulse transit time (PTT) have become available. These BP measurements are based on the inverse relationship between BP and PTT. PTT can be measured as the timing delay in a QRS complex on an EKG and the onset of a photoplethysmography wave, for example measured from a finger. Since these measurements are relatively more user‐friendly than conventional cuff‐based measurements they may aid in more frequent BP monitoring. Using a guidelines‐based protocol, Bard et al. investigated the accuracy and precision of two popular PTT‐based BP measuring devices: the Everlast TR10 fitness watch (Everlast, New York City, NY) and the BodiMetrics tricorder (BodiMetrics, Manhattan Beach, CA).
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Content ArticleThe ongoing coronavirus outbreak is an understandable concern for all of us and people with a weakened immune system are at a higher risk of experiencing more serious complications from it. This web resource from the charity Anthony Nolan, gives advice on the coronavirus for people who have received or are waiting to receive a stem cell transplant to treat their blood cancer or blood disorder. Anthony Nolan is working alongside other cancer charities, medical experts and the NHS to make sure this advice is updated as the situation develops.
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Content ArticleMaybe your blood pressure has been creeping up over time, or you’re starting treatment for hypertension. So your doctor suggests you buy a home blood pressure monitor to help keep track between office visits. Simple enough, right? But a quick check online reveals hundreds of different models — and even a bunch of apps for your smartphone. How do you even start to sort through all that without, well, spiking your blood pressure? This article highlights six things you need to know.
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News Article
Infected Blood Enquiry: Timetable and factsheet for expert hearings
Clive Flashman posted a news article in News
This is the independent public statutory inquiry into the use of infected blood. The timetable and factsheet to provide information for those attending the hearings in London on 24-28 February have just been published. Go to this link for more information >> https://www.infectedbloodinquiry.org.uk/news -
Content ArticleSHOT is the United Kingdom independent, professionally led haemovigilance scheme. Since 1996 SHOT has been collecting and analysing anonymised information on adverse events and reactions in blood transfusion from all healthcare organisations that are involved in the transfusion of blood and blood components in the United Kingdom. Where risks and problems are identified, SHOT produces recommendations to improve patient safety. The recommendations are put into its annual report which is then circulated to all the relevant organisations including the four UK Blood Services, the Departments of Health in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and all the relevant professional bodies as well as circulating it to all of the reporting hospitals. As haemovigilance is an ongoing exercise, SHOT can also monitor the effect of the implementation of its recommendations.
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News Article
Refusing Scottish help a 'grave error' in blood scandal, letter says
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Hundreds of people with haemophilia in England and Wales could have avoided infection from HIV and hepatitis if officials had accepted help from Scotland, newly released documents suggest. A letter dated January 1990 said Scotland’s blood transfusion service could have supplied the NHS in England and Wales with the blood product factor VIII, but officials rejected the offer repeatedly. Large volumes of factor VIII were imported from the US instead, but it was far more contaminated with the HIV and hepatitis C viruses because US supplies often came from infected prison inmates, sex workers and drug addicts who were paid to give blood but not screened. The death of scores of people with haemophilia and blood transfusion patients and the infection of thousands of others across the UK in the contaminated blood scandal has been described as the worst health disaster to hit the NHS. The latest document was released under the Freedom of Information Act to campaigner Jason Evans, whose father died in 1993 having contracted hepatitis and HIV. In it, Prof John Cash, a former director of the Scottish Blood Transfusion Service, said the decision not to use Scotland's spare capacity to produce Factor VIII for England was "a grave error of judgement". Read full story Source: The Guardian, 3 January 2020 -
Content ArticleIn 2008, the UK National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) made recommendations for safe arterial line management. Following a patient safety incident in their intensive care unit (ICU), Leslie et al. surveyed current practice in arterial line management and determined whether these recommendations had been adopted. They contacted all 241 adult ICUs in the UK; 228 (94.6%) completed the survey. Some NPSA recommendations have been widely implemented – use of sodium chloride 0.9% as flush fluid, two‐person checking of fluids before use – and their practice was consistent. Others have been incompletely implemented and many areas of practice (prescription of fluids, two‐person checking at shift changes, use of opaque pressure bags, arterial sampling technique) were highly variable. More importantly, the use of the wrong fluid as an arterial flush was reported by 30% of respondents for ICU practice, and a further 30% for practice elsewhere in the hospital. This survey provides evidence of continuing risk to patients.
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Content ArticleIn the US, approximately 700 women die annually from pregnancy-related complications.The most frequent cause of severe maternal morbidity and preventable maternal mortality is obstetric haemorrhage — excessive blood loss from giving birth. As a result of this significant patient safety concern, The Joint Commission introduced two new standards, effective 1 July 2020, to address complications in maternal haemorrhage and severe hypertension/ preeclampsia. This Quick Safety provides background information around strategies for the management of maternal haemorrhage that are outlined in new Provision of Care, Treatment, and Services standard.
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Content ArticleThe Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) latest report highlights that mislabelling of blood samples could pose a deadly risk to patients. The reference event in the report is a case where patient details became mixed up on blood samples sent from a maternity unit. In the case of mislabelling on blood transfusion samples, the impact could be devastating. There’s the potential for serious injuries and even death.
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Content ArticlePulmonary embolism resulting from deep vein thrombosis, collectively referred to as venous thromboembolism, is the most common preventable cause of hospital death in the US. Pharmacologic methods to prevent venous thromboembolism are safe, effective, cost-effective, and advocated by authoritative guidelines, yet large prospective studies continue to demonstrate that these preventive methods are significantly underused.
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Content ArticleThis action plan was produced by the Ipswich & East Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group and West Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group following a treatment delay for a patient in intensive care.
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Content ArticleThis guideline from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) covers preventing and controlling healthcare-associated infections in children, young people and adults in primary and community care settings. It provides a blueprint for the infection prevention and control precautions that should be applied by everyone involved in delivering NHS care and treatment.
