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Showing results for tags 'Pandemic'.
Found 2,344 results
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Content ArticleThis report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) looks at medication safety in NHS trusts, focusing on the role of medication safety officers.
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Content ArticleThis article in Social Science and Medicine examines the role of patients in naming and defining Long Covid. Patients with the condition, many of whom had ‘mild’ illness initially, used different evidence and advocacy to demonstrate a longer, more complex course of illness than was laid out in initial reports from Wuhan.
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Content ArticleThis publication by National Voices, the leading coalition of health and social care charities in England, highlights the factors currently affecting timely access to care for people living with ill health, disability or impairment. It calls for system leaders to prioritise rebuilding timely access to health and care, and to take an approach that considers the whole system and its context and the whole person and their circumstances.
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Content ArticleAccess to healthcare is a basic right, but refugees and people seeking asylum in the UK often face barriers to accessing health services. The Refugee Council has released this collection of guides and films for health professionals, decision-makers and NGOs to address health inequalities experienced by refugees and people seeking asylum.
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Content ArticleThe purpose of this investigation by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) is to help improve patient safety in relation to the management of patients with COVID-19 being treated with non-invasive respiratory support, for example continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), in non-critical care settings. The HSIB investigation reviewed the experience of Terry, who was admitted to hospital with symptoms of COVID-19 and required support with is breathing using CPAP. On the second day after his admission to hospital, Terry was found on the floor next to his bed, having called for assistance. Terry’s CPAP tubing had become disconnected from his mask, meaning that Terry’s breathing was not supported. Staff attempted to resuscitate Terry, however they were unsuccessful, and he died.
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Content Article
Hannah Hylton is a highly specialised respiratory physiotherapist at Barts Health NHS Trust. During the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, she was part of the team that designed the Trust’s after-Covid services, including the Living With Covid Recovery app. In this interview, Hannah explains how the app works and how it is being used by Trusts around the UK to support over 1,500 patients living with Long Covid. -
Content ArticleThis article in the Journal of Patient Safety & Quality Improvement examines the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on patient safety reporting and procedures in 33 healthcare settings in Indonesia. The authors found that: patient safety data was recorded and reported less often during 2020, partly due to fewer hospital attendances. the pandemic has had a significant positive impact on hospital staff's compliance with handwashing policies. surgical procedures were less accurate during 2020, as surgical staff sought to reduce infection risk by missing safety procedures such as the surgical checklist.
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Content ArticleThis is the second part of webinar three in a series designed to help the NHS respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, hosted by the Faculty of Clinical Informatics. It is hosted by Sebastian Alexander, Founding Fellow of the FCI, NHS Digital, Safety, SME Apps Programme, and features presentations on the work of the National Pathology Xchange and The National Pathology Programme.
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Content ArticleThis is the first part of webinar three in a series designed to help the NHS respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, hosted by the Faculty of Clinical Informatics. It is hosted by Sebastian Alexander, Founding Fellow of the FCI, NHS Digital, Safety, SME Apps Programme, and features presentations on the NHS Digital Apps and Wearables Programme and the Kryptowire app assessment.
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Content ArticleThis report by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) outlines 10 indicators that NHS is under unsustainable pressure. It refutes claims by Government ministers that pressures on health and care services are sustainable, stating that disaster for the NHS can only be prevented by addressing workforce shortages.
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Content Article“As someone living with Long Covid…you want somebody to believe what you're going through.” Davine Forde National Voices held their event, Long Covid webinar event: A community-focused response, where they were joined by Davine Forde (Manchester BME Network CIC), Claire Hastie (Long Covid Support), Michael MacLennan (covid:aid) and Sammie Mcfarland (Long Covid Kids) in an enlightening panel discussion, focusing on the depth and breadth of dedication within the Long Covid community space. National Voices colleagues, Rachel Matthews (Head of Experience) and Keymn Whervin (Lived Experience Associate), also joined the event and spoke about the importance of getting people with lived experience in the room and at the heart of decision-making. Their focus on co-production highlighted a fantastic opportunity to harness the resourcefulness within our communities by working with people throughout decision-making processes.
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Content ArticleThis document outlines the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s (RCEM) systemwide plan to improve patient care. The RCEM CARES campaign addresses pressing issues facing emergency departments (EDs) so that staff can deliver safe and timely care for patients. The campaign focuses on five key areas: Crowding, Access, Retention, Experience, and Safety.
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Content ArticleThe COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an unprecedented reduction in the delivery of surgical services worldwide, especially in non-urgent, non-cancer procedures. A prolonged period without operating (or ‘layoff period’) can result in surgeons experiencing skill fade (both technical and non-technical) and a loss of confidence. While senior surgeons in the UK may be General Medical Council (GMC) validated and capable of performing a procedure, a loss of ‘currency’ may increase the risk of error and intraoperative patient harm, particularly if unexpected or adverse events are encountered. Dual surgeon operating may mitigate risks to patient safety as surgeons regain currency while returning to non-urgent operating and may also be beneficial after the greatly reduced activity observed during the COVID-19 pandemic for low-volume complex operations. In addition, it could be a useful tool for annual appraisal, sharing updated surgical techniques and helping team cohesion. This paper explores lessons from aviation, a leading industry in human factors principles, for regaining surgical skills currency. We discuss real and perceived barriers to dual surgeon operating including finance, training, substantial patient waiting lists, and intraoperative power dynamics.
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Content ArticleFinding solutions to long covid will require new ways of thinking across clinical services and research, says in this BMJ Opinion article.
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Content ArticleThe National Audit of Dementia (NAD) collected feedback between June and July 2020 to examine how the pandemic has affected hospital care for people with dementia. This report presents the findings from surveys completed by patients, their carers and hospital dementia leads.
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Content ArticleThe Ipsos Global Health Service Monitor is an annual study that explores the biggest health challenges facing people today and how well-equipped people think their country’s healthcare services are to tackle them. It ran the survey in 30 countries between 30 August and 3 September 2021. The survey found that public perceptions of healthcare services have not been adversely affected by the pandemic, according to our 30-country survey. Britons are generally happy with the quality of healthcare but are acutely aware of the challenges facing healthcare services.
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Content ArticleAs a growing number of hospitals pressed for resources due to the COVID-19 surge suspend elective surgeries, some healthcare professionals want the public to know exactly how important an "elective" procedure can be. The term "elective surgery" does not describe the acuity of the medical condition or necessity of the procedure. Rather, the use of "elective" distinguishes these surgeries that are scheduled in advance from emergency surgeries, such as trauma cases. As Americans learn of elective surgeries once again being postponed, physicians are taking to the web to debunk what can be a misnomer.
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Content ArticleThis study in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics assesses the impact of the early Covid-19 pandemic on incident learning through evaluation of events reported to the Radiation Oncology Incident Learning System® (RO-ILS) in the USA. The authors conclude that reporting to RO-ILS declined during the early Covid-19 pandemic, especially in hotspot areas, suggesting that resources and time were diverted away from incident reporting to address other critical needs. However, three of the five top reporting practices that stopped reporting during early Covid have since reported events after the analysis timeframe, suggesting the decline may be temporary.
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Content ArticleHealthcare workers have had the longest and most direct exposure to COVID-19 and consequently may suffer from poor mental health. Quintana-Domeque et al. conducted one of the first repeated multi-country analysis of the mental wellbeing of medical doctors at two timepoints during the COVID-19 pandemic to understand the prevalence of anxiety and depression, as well as associated risk factors. Rates of anxiety and depression were highest in Italy (24.6% and 20.1%, June 2020), second highest in Catalonia (15.9% and 17.4%, June 2020), and lowest in the UK (11.7% and 13.7%, June 2020). Across all countries, higher risk of anxiety and depression symptoms were found among women, individuals below 60 years old, those feeling vulnerable/exposed at work, and those reporting normal/below-normal health.
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Content ArticleQuotes from US doctors on the impact the pandemic has had on their hospitals and the care they are providing.
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Content ArticleOzSAGE has created this infographic for creating safer indoor air for workspaces. It should be used with masks as a complete strategy. OzSAGE is a multi-disciplinary network of Australian experts from a broad range of sectors relevant to the well-being of the Australian population during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Content ArticleThe purpose of this investigation by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) is to help improve patient safety in relation to the care of patients who have NHS-funded surgery in an independent hospital. This was initiated in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, where because of increased pressure on the NHS, independent hospitals have been providing more care for NHS patients, including urgent elective surgical care and delivery of cancer pathways. The HSIB investigation reviewed the experience of a patient with a diagnosis of bowel cancer, who was booked to undergo laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery to remove part of his bowel in in an independent hospital. Following surgery, the patient made slow progress and on day eight following surgery he started to deteriorate rapidly. He was transferred to the local NHS hospital for investigation and further surgery. He died later the same day as a result of sepsis following a complication of his recent surgery.
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Content ArticleIn this blog for The BMJ Opinion, John Middleton argues that the Government must act now, or be faced with much tougher decisions and less popular choices as the winter kicks in. He describes the increasing rates of Covid-19 in the UK and the need for action to avoid a healthcare crisis this winter, highlighting that the NHS and the BMA have both called for urgent action to protect the NHS. He urges the Government to take a multi-faceted approach and use the 'Swiss Cheese' model to combat the spread of coronavirus, rather than focusing on single measures. Living with the virus involves changes to normal life, but they are a small price to pay to save lives, protect people from the long term effects of Covid and prevent the evolution of new virus strains.
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Content ArticleThis animation by the Rockefeller Foundation explains how the 'Swiss Cheese' model can be applied to containing the spread of COVID-19. Combining different methods of infection control such as wearing face masks, social distancing and vaccination, creates a more solid and resilient barrier to transmission.
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Content ArticleMany prisoners still struggle to access hospital services despite their significant health care needs, and early data suggests the pandemic has worsened access further. This report by the Nuffield Trust considers new evidence relating to pre-existing health conditions before prison, the use of remote consultation, different ethnic groups' use of health services and the early impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
