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Showing results for tags 'Medicine - Infectious disease'.
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Content ArticleAre you a patient with an issue not related to the coronavirus, and yet facing new challenges because of it? Understandably the healthcare system is currently focusing its attention on the deadly effects of the coronavirus, so the need to pay attention to patient safety is now more important than ever. We’re asking for patients, carers, family members and friends to share their stories, highlight weaknesses or safety issues that need to be addressed and share solutions that are working.
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Coronavirus: Why it’s so deadly in Italy
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Data, research and statistics
As we study the numbers on the coronavirus cases and the deaths related to COVID-19, a similar question comes up again and again: Why is the coronavirus causing so many more deaths in Italy than in other countries? In this article, published in Medium, Andreas Backhaus, an Economist, discusses the demographics and why they are a warning to other countries. -
Content ArticleIn a blog published in the Guardian, Kathryn Hearn says the UK government’s treatment of the coronavirus outbreak has in effect written off all of us with health issues. The language used by officials describing the spiralling scenarios risks dehumanising us, and makes us feel we no longer matter, Kathryn explains. NHS England’s latest report on the health of the nation acknowledged that 43% of adults – that’s nearly 20 million people – are living with at least one long-term health condition. Although not all of those would be directly in danger from Covid-19, there’s still a major section of our society who will be. You’ll know somebody, for sure. Until Monday’s U-turn, the UK government’s policy was to manage rather than to contain the virus - which would have allowed close to a quarter of a million people to die. Allowing Covid-19 to spread throughout the population in the hope of building some “herd immunity” among the youngest, fittest and healthiest "felt irresponsible at best, and callous at worst".
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Content ArticleIn January 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of a new coronavirus disease to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. WHO stated there is a high risk of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spreading to other countries around the world. In March 2020, WHO made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterised as a pandemic. WHO and public health authorities around the world are acting to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. However, this time of crisis is generating stress in the population. These mental health considerations were developed by the WHO’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Use as messages targeting different groups to support for mental and psychosocial well-being during COVID-19 outbreak.
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Content ArticleSam Cartwright-Hatton and Abby Dunn have put together this useful sheet with tips on how we should talk to our children about COVID-19. The Flourishing Families Clinic is a totally new innovation in the NHS, piloted by Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. It's a specialist clinic, based in adult mental health services, that supports parents seeking treatment for mild to moderate mental health difficulties.
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Content ArticleThis blog was intended to give insights into what it is like working during this crisis on the frontline. I was going to explain what I see day to day, the stress that healthcare workers are under, the situation with personal protective equipment (PPE), the pressure on intensive care unit (ICU) beds and the ward. But unfortunately it's not that simple...
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Content ArticleThis short video by Gold Coast Health Australia demonstrates how to put on and take off personal protective equipment (PPE) when caring for a patient with COVID-19.
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Content ArticleConsultant Mark Gallagher can’t understand why the NHS is not testing its staff for coronavirus. Mark, in a blog published in the Guardian, describes how he is at home with a temperature of 38 and is pretty certain he has Covid-19. But the NHS will not test him for it. Instead, he has paid for a test kit from a private UK clinic and a colleague in China is sending him another. Mark has been in and out of his London hospital every day for the last 28 in a row. In the past couple of weeks he saw maybe 70 people in outpatients.. He cannot understand why the NHS will not test him or other healthcare workers who are put at risk by their work and risk infecting other vulnerable patients in turn, as well as their families. “The policy is that I don’t need to be tested and even the people who have been in contact with me aren’t going to be tested,” he said.
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Content ArticleNHS staff are asking the same questions as everyone else about coronavirus. How deadly is it? How do we protect ourselves? Are the government’s tactics right? And how will the health service cope when – and it is when – it leaves large numbers of people seriously ill, many fighting for their lives? A senior consultant at a leading hospital for respiratory conditions such as pneumonia and cystic fibrosis talks to the Observer about his concerns.
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Content ArticleThis article in the Washington Post simply describes COVID-19, how it spreads and how extensive social distancing helps.
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"I'm losing faith in the leadership": an NHS doctor's story
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Blogs
In this blog published in the Guardian, a doctor on the frontline of the UK coronavirus outbreak talks about how he and others are ‘terrified’ about the lack of protection – and a plan. Working on the infectious diseases ward of a major UK hospital, which has now become the coronavirus ward, or 'red zone', the doctor explains why he is terrified. "I’m seriously considering whether I can keep working as a doctor. I may be OK – I’m young and healthy – but I can’t bear the thought of infecting other patients with a disease that could kill them. And that is the risk, without proper PPE. It’s terrifying; it’s indescribable. This is not seasonal flu. This is a new virus with greater mortality and we know much less about it." -
Content ArticleSurrey Heartlands share their best practice for dissemination.
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Coronavirus: How to protect your mental health
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Mental health
Coronavirus has plunged the world into uncertainty and the constant news about the pandemic can feel relentless. All of this is taking its toll on people's mental health, particularly those already living with conditions like anxiety and OCD. So how can we protect our mental health? This BBC article gives some useful advice. -
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) and prisons (visiting) (last updated 17 March)
Claire Cox posted an article in Guidance
Guidance from the Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service about visiting prisons during the coronavirus outbreak. -
Content ArticleThis is the first edition of guidance on infection prevention and control (IPC) strategies for use when infection with a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is suspected. It has been adapted from WHO’s Infection prevention and control during health care for probable or confirmed cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection, based on current knowledge of the situation in China and other countries where cases were identified and experiences with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV and MERS-CoV.
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Content ArticleThe global impact of COVID-19 has been profound, and the public health threat it represents is the most serious seen in a respiratory virus since the 1918 H1N1 influenza pandemic. Ferguson et al. present the results of epidemiological modelling which has informed policymaking in the UK and other countries in recent weeks. In the absence of a COVID-19 vaccine, they assess the potential role of a number of public health measures – so-called non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) – aimed at reducing contact rates in the population and thereby reducing transmission of the virus. In the results presented Imperial, apply a previously published microsimulation model to two countries: the UK (Great Britain specifically) and the US. They conclude that the effectiveness of any one intervention in isolation is likely to be limited, requiring multiple interventions to be combined to have a substantial impact on transmission.
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NHS Inform: Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Claire Cox posted an article in Guidance
NHS Inform is Scotland's national health information service. They have produced this web page to help inform the public on what do do and how to repsond to the coronavirus crisis. -
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Public Health England: COVID-19 Dashboard
Claire Cox posted an article in Data, research and statistics
This dashboard produced by Public Health England provides daily updates of all cases, recovery rates and deaths of coronavirus in the UK. -
Content ArticleThis document outlines the infection prevention and control advice for healthcare workers involved in receiving, assessing and caring for patients who are a possible or confirmed case of COVID-19. It is based on the best evidence available from previous pandemic and interpandemic periods and focuses on the infection prevention and control aspects of this disease only, recognising that a preparedness plan will consider other counter measures. The infection prevention and control advice in this document is considered good practice in response to this COVID-19 pandemic. NB: The emerging evidence base on COVID-19 is rapidly evolving. Further updates may be made to this guidance as new detail or evidence emerges.
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Content ArticleThis infographic developed by the World Heath Organization, pictures how to put on and take off personal protective equipment safely.
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World Economic Forum: COVID Action Platform
Claire Cox posted an article in Good practice and useful resources
As the International Organisation for Public-Private Cooperation, the World Economic Forum, acting as partner to the World Health Organization, is mobilising all stakeholders to protect lives and livelihoods. The dramatic spread of COVID-19 has disrupted lives, livelihoods, communities and businesses worldwide. All stakeholders, especially global business, must urgently come together to minimise its impact on public health and limit its potential for further disruption to lives and economies around the world. But the sum of many individual actions will not add up to a sufficient response. Only coordinated action by business, combined with global, multi stakeholder cooperation – at exceptional scale and speed – can potentially mitigate the risk and impact of this unprecedented crisis. -
Content ArticleCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the COVID-19 virus, was first detected in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. On 30 January 2020, the WHO Director-General declared that the current outbreak constituted a public health emergency of international concern. This document summarises WHO’s recommendations for the rational use of personal protective equipment (PPE) in healthcare and community settings, as well as during the handling of cargo; in this context, PPE includes gloves, medical masks, goggles or a face shield, and gowns, as well as for specific procedures, respirators (i.e., N95 or FFP2 standard or equivalent) and aprons. This document is intended for those who are involved in distributing and managing PPE, as well as public health authorities and individuals in healthcare and community settings, and it aims to provide information about when PPE use is most appropriate.
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Content ArticleKidney Care UK has been working with medical colleagues and partners on information and advice about COVID-19 specifically for people with kidney disease. Their web page contains guidance for kidney patients and also information on the action that NHS renal services are taking during this outbreak. Further guidance is being developed for those on dialysis; those with a transplant; those with renal diseases who depend on immunosuppressant medication; those with declining kidney function; and those with chronic kidney disease. At the moment your current treatment plans will not change. However, advice is being updated on a daily basis so please do refer back to Kidney Care UK's page as it will be updated in response to any developments.
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Content ArticleThe Internet of Critical Care has collated information on COVID-19 for those working in critical care. The author of the Internet of Critical Care, Josh Farkas, is a pulmonary intensivist working in Vermont.
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Intensive Care Society: Wellbeing resource library
Claire Cox posted an article in Mental health
The Intensive Care Society is delighted to share their wellbeing resource pack developed with Dr Julie Highfield, Clinical Psychologist. The poster series aims to improve our understanding of psychological wellbeing at work, the impact reduced wellbeing can have and what we can do in response, and includes tips for dealing with extraordinary situations such as COVID-19 and everyday working in critical care.
