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Content ArticleSince the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the number of cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the United States has exponentially increased. Identifying and monitoring individuals with COVID-19 and individuals who have been exposed to the disease is critical to prevent transmission. Traditional contact tracing mechanisms are not structured on the scale needed to address this pandemic. As businesses reopen, institutions and agencies not traditionally engaged in disease prevention are being tasked with ensuring public safety. Systems to support organisations facing these new challenges are critically needed. Most currently available symptom trackers use a direct-to-consumer approach and use personal identifiers, which raises privacy concerns. Kassaye et al. developed a monitoring and reporting system for COVID-19 to support institutions conducting monitoring activities without compromising privacy.
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Content ArticleProviders deliver: Resilient and resourceful through COVID-19 is the third report from NHS Providers which celebrate and promote the work of NHS trusts and foundation trusts in improving care for patients and service users. Here is a case study from the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust. It shows: Deployed thermal imaging cameras to identify people with high temperature. Developed effective guidance for staff. Boosted public confidence in safety of hospital.
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News ArticleA pharmacist-led, new digital intervention that improves patient safety when prescribing medication in general practice reduced rates of hazardous prescribing by more than 40%, 12 months after it had been introduced to 43 GP practices in Salford, finds a new study. Due to its success, plans are underway to roll it out across Greater Manchester. Prescribing and medication are one of the biggest causes of patient safety incidents and the third WHO Global Patient Safety Challenge is focussed on Medication without Harm. The SMASH intervention addresses this. It was developed by researchers at the National Institute for Health Research Greater Manchester Patient Safety Translational Research Centre (NIHR GM PSTRC), which is a partnership between The University of Manchester and Salford Royal hospital in collaboration with The University of Nottingham. Pharmacists working in general practice use the SMASH dashboard to identify patients who are exposed to potentially hazardous prescribing. For example, patients with a history of internal bleeding may be prescribed medications such as aspirin which could increase the risk of further internal bleeds without prescribing other treatments to protect them. SMASH identifies this and warns healthcare professionals about it, who can then decide on a possible course of action. The intervention is unique due to its ability to provide near real time feedback to prescribers as it updates every evening. Professor Darren Ashcroft, Research Lead for the Medication Safety theme at the GM PSTRC, said: "We worked with the Safety Informatics theme at the GM PSTRC to develop then test SMASH. It is designed to improve patient safety in general practice by reducing potential problems made when prescribing medication and inadequate blood-test monitoring. It brings together people and data to reduce these common medication safety problems that all too often can cause serious harm." Read full story Source: EurekAlert, 14 October 2020
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Content ArticlePeek et al. evaluated the impact of the pharmacist-led Safety Medication dASHboard (SMASH) intervention on medication safety in primary care. SMASH was developed by researchers at the National Institute for Health Research Greater Manchester Patient Safety Translational Research Centre (NIHR GM PSTRC), which is a partnership between The University of Manchester and Salford Royal hospital in collaboration with The University of Nottingham. Pharmacists working in general practice use the SMASH dashboard to identify patients who are exposed to potentially hazardous prescribing. The study found that the SMASH intervention was associated with reduced rates of potentially hazardous prescribing and inadequate blood-test monitoring in general practices. This reduction was sustained over 12 months after the start of the intervention for prescribing but not for monitoring of medication. There was a marked reduction in the variation in rates of hazardous prescribing between practices.
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Content ArticleProviders deliver: Resilient and resourceful through COVID-19 is the third report from NHS Providers which celebrate and promote the work of NHS trusts and foundation trusts in improving care for patients and service users. Here is a case study from the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. It shows: Development of a trust wide roster for medical staff. Staff engagement – making the case for patient safety. Cultural shift – shared understanding across staff groups.
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Content Article
Alexa, do I have COVID-19? (30 September 2020)
lzipperer posted an article in Other health and care software
This article in Nature explores how voice activation technologies have potential to diagnose coronavirus infections, dementia and depression. Emily Anthes discusses efforts around the globe to reach the highly anticipated potential of this technology in healthcare. -
Content ArticleProviders deliver: Resilient and resourceful through COVID-19 is the third report from NHS Providers which celebrate and promote the work of NHS trusts and foundation trusts in improving care for patients and service users. This report showcases eight examples of great ideas put into action by trusts through the dedication and ingenuity of staff. One of the main themes in the report is the value of staff empowerment, where trust leaders support ideas and approaches developed within their workforce. Other themes such as innovation and collaboration also emerge. The case studies in this report are a timely reminder of the resilience and resourcefulness that has characterised the response of trusts and their staff to the challenges posed by the pandemic.
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Content ArticleWhen an organisation stops innovating, it is only a matter of time before it fails. But what causes a company to cease coming up with new ideas? Over the last 20 years, Timothy Clark, founder and CEO of LeaderFactor, has studied many failed organisations and one of the things he consistently sees is an almost imperceptible erosion of intellectual bravery. Intellectual bravery is a willingness to disagree, dissent, or challenge the status quo in a setting of social risk in which you could be embarrassed, marginalised, or punished in some way. When intellectual bravery disappears, organisations develop patterns of willful blindness. Bureaucracy buries boldness. Efficiency crushes creativity. From there, the status quo calcifies and stagnation sets in. The responsibility for creating a culture of intellectual bravery lies in leadership. As a leader, you set the tone, create the vibe, and define the prevailing norms. Whether or not your company has a culture of intellectual bravery depends on your ability to establish a pattern of rewarded rather than punished vulnerability. Timothy share two examples in this blog.
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Content ArticleA Virtual Clinic was set up at an acute general hospital in the Mid-Essex area with the specific aim to co-ordinate the care of adults diagnosed with intellectual disabilities (ID) coupled with two or more long term conditions. This is one of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) shared learning case studies. NICE has over 800 examples showing how our guidance and standards can improve local health and social care services.
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Content ArticleAs trusts consider clearing the waiting list, there is an absence of objective approaches to prioritisation. There are 40 million variations of operative type and the NHS elective waiting list may reach more than 10 million. A coronavirus second wave may cause further delays and expansion of the waiting list. This blog from hub topic lead Richard Jones describes a proven approach to prioritising the waiting list built around individualised risk-adjustment for each patient and evolved from the core POSSUM methodology that is widely used for individual risk assessment pre-operatively.
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Content ArticleTrusts and frontline staff are working flat out to restore those services which were necessarily interrupted to cope with the first peak of the pandemic. NHS Providers' Restoring services: NHS activity tracker highlights detailed examples of the innovations trusts and their staff developing to improve capacity, and respond to unmet demand despite the constraints created by COVID-19, and the need to prepare for additional winter pressures.
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Content ArticleAdvances in 3D printing, also called additive manufacturing, are capturing attention in the healthcare field because of their potential to improve treatment for certain medical conditions. A radiologist, for instance, might create an exact replica of a patient’s spine to help plan a surgery; a dentist could scan a broken tooth to make a crown that fits precisely into the patient’s mouth. In both instances, the doctors can use 3D printing to make products that specifically match a patient’s anatomy. The technology is not limited to planning surgeries or producing customised dental restorations such as crowns; 3D printing has enabled the production of customized prosthetic limbs, cranial implants, or orthopedic implants such as hips and knees. At the same time, its potential to change the manufacturing of medical products—particularly high-risk devices such as implants—could affect patient safety, creating new challenges for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight. When 3D printing is used to manufacture a medical product at the point of care, oversight responsibility can become less clear. It is not yet apparent how the agency should adapt its regulatory requirements to ensure that these 3D-printed products are safe and effective for their intended use. The FDA does not directly regulate the practice of medicine, which is overseen primarily by state medical boards. Rather, the agency’s jurisdiction covers medical products. In some clinical scenarios where 3D printing might be used, such as the printing of an anatomical model that is used to plan surgery, or perhaps one day the printing of human tissue for transplantation, the distinction between product and practice is not always easy to discern. This issue brief explains how medical 3D printing is used in health care, how FDA regulates the products that are made, and what regulatory questions the agency faces.
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Event
THIS Space 2020
Patient Safety Learning posted an event in Community Calendar
At THIS Space, we welcome researchers, patients, carers, NHS staff and anyone with an interest in the evidence base for improving the quality and safety of healthcare. THIS Space 2020 event will take place entirely online and create an opportunity for people interested in the study of healthcare improvement to gather, connect, and share ideas remotely. THIS Space aims to: provide a focus for knowledge sharing in healthcare improvement stimulate innovation and fresh thinking help researchers to develop the habits, knowledge, skills, and experiences to support their professional growth connect colleagues from across different disciplines who share a common goal be a means of accelerating the development of the field of the study of healthcare. Plenary sessions: Professor Bob Wachter will explore an international perspective on the legacy of COVID-19 in healthcare improvement and research. Professor Ramani Moonesinghe will discuss the impacts of rapid innovations in healthcare. Dr Victoria Brazil will examine the role of simulation in healthcare improvement studies. Registration -
News Article
Need for tech to reduce medication error and improve patient safety
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Omnicell UK & Ireland, a leading provider of automated healthcare and medication adherence solutions, hosted a health summit on the eve of World Patient Safety Day, to discuss the impact of medication errors on patients and the NHS. The session focussed on the role technology can play in preventing such issues. The summit, this year held via webinar, comes off the backdrop of the Department of Health and Social Care disclosing that in England 237 million mistakes occur every year at some point in the medication process. These errors cause serious issues for patient safety, but also place a significant cost burden on an already stretched NHS. The 2019 Patient Safety Strategy published by NHS England and NHS Improvement also found the NHS failed to save 11,000 lives a year due to safety concerns with the cost of extra treatment needed following incidents being over £1bn. A number of high-profile panel members answered a series of questions from the audience on solutions and best practice to improve patient safety with the aim of debating and sharing ideas on how to meet challenges and the impact of COVID-19. One of the panelists, Patient Safety Learning's Chief Digital Office Clive Flashman, agreed with the other panel members that the NHS had become more collaborative and familiar with technology since Covid: “We’ve seen a definite increase in telehealth and telemeds. Covid has forced cultural blockers that were there before to be removed out of necessity. There has been a growth in robotic pharmacy automation to free up staff time from high volume administration tasks to do more complex work that adds value for patients.” But with the second-wave of COVID-19 still a very real threat he advised: “We don’t want to wait until the next wave to learn a lesson – we need to learn lessons now. Quality Improvement Leads should be focussed on what went right and what went wrong over that period between March and May. They need to be looking at what we can learn from that now and what we can do differently next time. If we don’t do that, we won’t succeed in the second wave where we might fail.” Ed Platt, Automation Director, Omnicell UK & Ireland, added: “Challenges within the NHS throughout Covid has forced them to embrace technology and drive innovation." "It’s important that when things go back to normal, we don’t go back to the same status quo. We need to invest in the right infrastructure in hospitals so unnecessary demands and stress are not put on pharmacy, supply managers and nurses so they are free to focus on patient care not administration tasks." Read full story Source: NHE, 17 September 2020 You can watch the webinar on demand here -
Content ArticleEverybody has a right to good care. Much attention is rightly focused on the occasions when people experience poor quality care, but it is also important to recognise where care is good and to celebrate the services that are getting it right. Some care providers do things well through innovative new ways of working, or by doing the basics well. Others can learn from them and solutions should be shared across the system. This publication from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is purposely focused on celebrating good and outstanding care that CQC's inspectors have seen.
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Content ArticleIn this Episode of the 'This Is Nursing' podcast series, Gavin Portier speaks to Stacey Ward, Capsule Endoscopy Clinical Nurse Specialist from Barnsley Hospital. Capsule Endoscopy is a non invasive way to look inside a patient. Stacey has pioneered a nurse led endoscopy service that she is deeply proud and passionate about. Her vision and drive for the service and improvement to the patient experience and journey is inspiring.
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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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EventVirimask is a full face mask designed to offer the ultimate protection and maximum comfort against 99.99% of micron-sized particles. Commonly used masks, such as the N95 are limited in continuous use and are not particularly comfortable, or hygienic in longer-term wear. Virimask is designed to last each user a lifetime and uses replaceable HEPA14 filters which block out viral transmission. Unique advantages include the exceptional ventilation and speech clarity, integrated eye protection and varied size range. In this live webinar, the inventor of Virimask, Professor Noam Gavriely, will give a background on Virimask and the challenges faced during the initial phase along with plans for future development. We will highlight the problems with the lack of PPE available during the COVID-19 outbreak and discuss how Virimask can assist our front line workers during the COVID-19 outbreak and any possible future pandemics. The webinar will include customer testimonials and insight to how the world has reacted to the PPE crisis. We will have live discussion and an opportunity for the audience to ask questions in our live Q&A. Registration
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Content ArticleIn these times where the pressure of track and trace is ramping up around the world in the wake of expectations of a return to normality, Matt Pattison talks with Professor Effy Vayena from ETH Zurich about her work with the Swiss government in ethics, digital and the risks and rewards viewed under an ethical lens in the TEN podcast.
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Content ArticleThe COVID-19 crisis has created a watershed moment for the NHS, demanding a reappraisal of how essential services are delivered to the public. Even prior to COVID-19, the NHS recognised a pressing need to rethink healthcare using user-centred design principles, based on populations, not organisations. With the advent of the pandemic that pressing need has become an operational imperative. Digital capability has been and will continue to be a key part of transformation, but will only work when aligned with reforms in other key enablers such as financial flow, workforce planning and regulation. Many industries have already made the shift to enabling collaboration and innovation through more agile models of delivery by embracing technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT) and/or flexible and secure forms of (multi) cloud storage. Health, on the other hand, until now has introduced new technologies with the objective of improving existing pathways and service delivery models. There is now an opportunity to reimagine healthcare, driving true transformation enabled by digital capabilities.
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Content ArticleJourney behind the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic with Northwell Health, New York’s largest health system. What was it like at the epicenter, inside the health system that cared for more COVID-19 patients than any other in the United States? Leading through a pandemic: The inside story of lhumanity, innovation and lessons during the COVID-19 crisis takes readers inside Northwell Health, New York’s largest health system. From the C-suite to the front lines, the book reports on groundwork that positioned Northwell as uniquely prepared for the pandemic.
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Content ArticleThe COVID-19 pandemic has had one of the biggest effects on work-as-done in healthcare in living memory. So what might we learn about work from the perspectives of frontline workers? Steven Shorrock asked a variety of practitioners to give a short answer – whatever came to mind. The themes that emerge centre around people, their activities, their contexts, and their tools. Many insights concerned the varieties of human work, goal conflicts, design, training, communication, teamwork, social capital, leadership, organisational hierarchy, problem solving and innovation, and – generally – change. Steven Shorrock is an interdisciplinary humanistic, systems and design practitioner interested in human work from multiple perspectives.
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News ArticleA protective device against coronavirus for at-risk doctors is to be provided free to the NHS. The SNAP device for ear, nose and throat surgeons was created after Burton-upon-Trent consultant Amged El-Hawrani died with COVID-19 in March. He was one of the UK's first senior medics to die with the virus, his death showing that they were at serious risk. The device clips over patients' masks to prevent the virus spreading through coughs and sneezes. It was developed by surgeons Ajith George and Chris Coulson, with the help of Aston University, who said nasendoscopy procedures - where a small flexible tube fitted with a camera is inserted into the nose - often made patients cough, splutter and sneeze. It works by clipping on to either side of a normal surgical face mask, creating a hole for an endoscope to be inserted while keeping the patient's nose and mouth completely covered. When it is removed, a one-way valve closes the hole so no virus can escape. "We were concerned about the safety of doctors but also about the risk of missed diagnoses and opportunities for treatment of patients," Mr Coulson, an ENT surgeon working at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, said. "Our aim has been to produce an easy-to-use, cheap device that would allow clinicians to return to routine practice." Read full story Source: BBC News, 16 September 2020
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Content ArticleAn educational session from The Association for Perioperative Practice (AfPP) dedicated to the dangers of noise and distraction in healthcare with a possible solution, Below Ten Thousand. Below Ten Thousand is a language-based safety tool for any clinical arena where 'noise and distraction' is a problem, and where high performance teams need to quickly gain 'situational awareness' and ‘directed focus’ in order to successfully navigate the perils of acute healthcare whilst providing first class interventions.
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Content Article
17 September 2020 marks the second annual World Patient Safety Day. The theme this year is 'Health Worker Safety: A Priority for Patient Safety'. In the run up to this special event, Patient Safety Learning are publishing a series of interviews with staff from across the health and care system to highlight key issues in staff safety and gain a clearer idea of the kind of change that needs to take place to keep staff, and ultimately patients, safe. In this interview, Patient Safety Learning's Content and Engagement Manager, Steph O'Donohue, speaks to Nick Kelly, Co-founder and CEO of the Axela Group, who specialise in health and social care services.
