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Showing results for tags 'Infection control'.
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Content ArticleSlow-lane logistics shouldn’t stymie fast-track science, says head of UK government’s Vaccine Taskforce, Kate Bingham, in this Nature article. Kate was appointed chair of the UK Vaccine Taskforce in May. The main job of this Taskforce is to identify, manufacture and develop the most promising pandemic vaccines and deliver them rapidly to the populations that need them. COVID-19 is an opportunity to create a permanent system for supplying vaccines for future pandemics, quickly and safely; this process must become as routine and reliable as crafting the yearly influenza vaccine, says Kate. Time and again, outstanding science has been slowed down by the ‘boring stuff’ — practicalities. That includes delays in manufacturing scale-up and legal approvals slowing pivotal US trials of one of my UK company’s potentially life-saving drugs, or progress hampered by logistics, regulatory disagreements and inadequate data disclosure. Often, the problem is not the science or the clinical trials, but the infrastructure. We must take pains now to make sure this does not stall future pandemic vaccines.
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Content ArticleThis Take, Treat and Test webinar took place on 10 September 2020, presented by Dr Ron Daniels, Founder, and Executive Director – Clinical – Sepsis Trust UK and Consultant in Critical Care and Anaesthesia, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.
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Content ArticleThe Health and Social Care Committee is calling for urgent action to assess and tackle a backlog of appointments and an unknown patient demand for all health services, specifically across cancer treatments, mental health services, dentistry services, GP services and elective surgery. MPs say a compelling case has been made for the nationwide routine testing of all NHS staff and they are yet to understand why it cannot be introduced.
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Content ArticleIn the UK, people affected by dementia have been hit the hardest by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. From the high death rate in care homes, to the significant cognitive decline for people who live in the community, to the rising mental health challenges for unpaid carers, the pandemic has had a severe impact, while exposing our fragmented social care system for all to see. Alzheimer’s Society is the UK’s leading dementia charity, and in this report they bring together evidence from a wide range of sources to shine a light on the impact of COVID-19 on people who have dementia and those who care for them.
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Content ArticleThe government’s new 'Hands. Face. Space; campaign urges you to continue to wash your hands, cover your face and make space to control infection rates. By following these simple steps, illustrated in this video, you could make a significant difference in reducing the transmission of coronavirus and help protect yourself and your family, friends and colleagues from the virus.
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Content ArticleThis checklist is the first step in identifying and prioritizing areas of action for improving the protection of health and safety of health workers in line with WHO–ILO Global Framework for National Occupational Health Programmes for Health Workers. It is designed to be filled out in discussion with management, responsible officers for occupational health, environmental health, infection prevention and control, human resources and representatives of workers in the health facility. This participatory approach will provide a variety of perspectives and a more comprehensive basis for identifying the existing preventive measures, possible problems and solutions for continuous improvement. Using this checklist to begin this process will give you an overview of areas where you can propose to take action and help you determine what to prioritize. These priorities guide you in planning for improvements.
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Content ArticleThis Independent SAGE report provides its own guidance on the measures needed to avoid another national lockdown. "We are in a crisis. Infections and hospital admissions are rapidly increasing. The testing system has broken down and it will be weeks before it is sorted. If nothing changes, there will come a point soon when the situation is so far out of control that the only possible response will be a second national lockdown and our lives will be completely disrupted once again. No one wants thisto happen. We can avoid it if we take urgent action. We must take action immediately to regain control of the pandemic and drive down infections now. We must implement immediately a comprehensive plan including rebuilding our broken test and trace system. And we must all - government, employers and public alike – take responsibility for our own part in making this plan work." Independent SAGE is a group of scientists who are working together to provide independent scientific advice to the UK government and public on how to minimise deaths and support Britain’s recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.
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Content ArticleApproximately 60-70% of imported respiratory masks are defective and not effective in protecting frontline workers. ECRI offers specialised PPE testing services coupled with customised consultation and recommendations to assist healthcare providers in keeping staff and patients safe. ECRI's N95-Style Mask Testing Program provides assurance on whether masks you have procured or plan to purchase meet industry standards. By testing imported masks, as well as isolation gowns, ECRI is helping healthcare organizations validate products prior to purchase and verify the safety and quality of products already in inventory.
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Content ArticleThis blog from Samrina Bhatti, Manager, and Karen Taylor Director, Deloitte Centre for Health Solutions, celebrates World Patient Safety Day 2020 by exploring how the safety of health workers, is a priority for patient safety.
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Content ArticleBubble PAPR is an innovative PPE respirator designed to keep NHS staff safe while caring for patients during COVID-19. In this video, Brendan McGrath, an NHS Intensive Care Consultant, describes how Manchester University Foundation Trust, Manchester University and Designing Science Ltd came together to re-invent the Powered Air Purifying Respirator for the covid era.
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Content ArticleA research study with 20,000 people found people who read the advice in Germ Defence are less likely to catch viruses. If they do become ill, the illness is likely to be less severe. Germ Defence has been developed by health experts in UK universities.
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Content ArticleAt the beginning of 2020, before the coronavirus (COVID-19) started spreading, many people had no idea they may own a face mask in their lifetime. Today, almost everyone has one. In the Asian countries where people are used to wearing face masks, many took them in their stride. Questions lingered in other parts of the world as some expressed doubts about the value of face masks and coverings in slowing down the coronavirus spread. As face masks become the new normal in many parts of the world, many different types of masks, including home-made cloth masks, surgical masks, and cone style masks, have become more common. To an ordinary person who has little knowledge about masks, it can be challenging to determine the right mask for adequate protection. Shandong Deqi Intelligent Technology Co.,Ltd, a surgical face mask making company in China, in this article answers some of the most common questions about face masks and face protection. With all the fake news and incorrect information spreading around, they aim to separate fact from myth.
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Content ArticleGerm Defence is a website that has been developed by health experts in UK universities to help you find out how to reduce this risk of catching coronavirus or passing it on to others. After a bit of practice the ideas and advice in Germ Defence will become habits and they will help protect you from coronavirus - and other germs in the future.A research study with 20,000 people found:People who read the advice in Germ Defence are less likely to catch virusesIf they do become ill, the illness is likely to be less severe.
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Content ArticleThis letter to the UK Prime Minister and published in the BMJ, was written on behalf of the Long COVID SOS Group. In it, the group call for Boris Johnson to make Long COVID a primary consideration in policy decision making for lifting restrictions.
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Content ArticleIn this opinion piece for the British Medical Journal, David Oliver, consultant in geriatrics and acute general medicine, highlights the high rates of COVID-19 infection that have been acquired in hospital. David looks at an example in the US where rigid infection control measures have been implemented with success, arguing that more needs to be done to challenge and address these worrying statistics here in the UK.
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Content ArticleIn response to the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, healthcare systems worldwide have stepped up their infection prevention and control efforts in order to reduce the spread of the infection. Behaviours, such as hand hygiene, screening and cohorting of patients, and the appropriate use of antibiotics have long been recommended in surgery, but their implementation has often been patchy. The current crisis presents an opportunity to learn about how to improve infection prevention and control and surveillance (IPCS) behaviours. The improvements made were mainly informal, quick and stemming from the frontline rather than originating from formal organisational structures. This paper from Toccafondi et al. aims to illustrate how adopting a human factors and ergonomics perspective can provide insights into how clinical work systems have been adapted and reconfigured in order to keep patients and staff safe.
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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 ArticleHip-fracture patients are vulnerable to the outcomes of COVID-19. Authors of this study, published in The Journal of Hospital Infection, performed a cross-sectional survey to determine measures employed to limit nosocomial spread of COVID-19 in 23 orthopaedic trauma departments in the North-West of England. Nineteen (87%) hospitals admitted patients to a ward prior to a negative swab, and only 9 (39%) patients were barrier nursed. Hip-fracture patients were operated in non-COVID-19-free theatres in 21 (91%) hospitals. Regular screening of doctors working in trauma and elective areas for COVID-19 was undertaken in three (13%) and five (22%) hospitals, respectively. Doctors moved freely between trauma and elective areas in 22 (96%) hospitals.
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In this short video, Associate Professor, Paediatric Podiatrist and Research Lead, Cylie Williams shares practical tips to help people wear their masks safely. Cylie talks about how to shape the mask effectively to different face shapes and how to prevent glasses from steaming up which can cause people to fall. -
Content ArticleSince the UK’s first lockdown in March, the government has had one (perhaps only one) consistent message — protect the NHS, write Alastair McLellan and Fiona Godlee, the editors of the British Medical Journal and Health Service Journal, in a rare joint editorial. They say that the government’s plan to relax coronavirus restrictions for five days between 23 and 27 December is a serious “blunder” that will put more pressure on the NHS and cause thousands of operations to be cancelled.
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Content ArticleManaging infection control is essential to prevent the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) for your setting or service. As care providers, you are likely to be providing essential care and support to people, which will often require close contact. This quick guide from the Social Care Institute for Excellence sets out best practice for care providers to remain safe and prevent COVID-19 from spreading.
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Content ArticleThe All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Coronavirus was set up in July 2020 to conduct a rapid inquiry into the UK Government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. It's purpose is to ensure that lessons are learnt from the UK Government's handling of the coronavirus outbreak to date, and to issue recommendations to the UK Government so that its preparedness and response may be improved in the future. This is the biggest review to date of the UK response to the pandemic. It comes with 71 key findings and 44 recommendations to government. In total, the APPG spoke with 65 witnesses and held 30+ hours worth of public evidence sessions streamed on social media. They received and processed just under 3,000 separate evidence submissions.
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Content Article
COVID-19: managing an obstetric emergency (November 2020)
PatientSafetyLearning Team posted an article in Maternity
The COVID-19 pandemic provides new challenges for the safety of people receiving and providing maternity care. This project, conducted in collaboration with the PROMPT Maternity Foundation and THIS.institute, involved a rapid-response consultation exercise to understand what good looks like for managing obstetric emergencies in women with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. -
Content ArticleThis report sets out the progress and learning from the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in informing advice and recommendations to government and the social care sector. The Social Care Sector COVID-19 Support Taskforce was commissioned in June 2020, with this report seeing the completion of its work in August 2020. The taskforce was set up to oversee the delivery of two packages of support that the government had put in place for the care sector: the Social Care Action Plan and the Care Home Support Plan. In addition, the taskforce was asked to support the government's work on community outbreaks – areas of the country that needed particular help and intervention to deal with higher rates of infection – and advising and supporting local places to consider and respond to reducing the risk of infection in care homes and the wider social care sector. Its further remit was to provide advice on the requirements for the response to COVID-19 in the next few months, ahead of and into winter.
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Content ArticleHealthcare organisations are committed to the safety of the patients receiving care, treatment, and services. Healthcare organisations are also committed to the safety of those who serve those patients – healthcare workers, whether they be nurses, physicians, medical technicians, pharmacists, lab workers, housekeeping staff. This new book from The Joint Commission pulls together a collection of checklists to keep those healthcare workers safe from chemical and physical hazards, infectious agents, workplace violence, ergonomic problems, work-related stress, and more. The checklists are built upon authoritative guidelines from OSHA, NIOSH, CDC, and others and are intended to simplify healthcare worker safety. Most of the checklists are intended for use by health care workers themselves, depending upon their clinical or other responsibilities. Some of the checklists are intended for management to ensure that policies, procedures, and resources are in place to ensure health care worker safety in all areas of the organization. All of the checklists are straightforward and easy to use and understand and cover the key areas of risk for healthcare workers. Each section of checklists is introduced by compelling statistics that show how dangerous working in the health care environment can be, without proper precautions. The checklists provide the procedures or must-do activities to ensure that health care workers are as safe as can be. Sample pages
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