Jump to content

Search the hub

Showing results for tags 'Physical environment'.


More search options

  • Search By Tags

    Start to type the tag you want to use, then select from the list.

  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • All
    • Commissioning, service provision and innovation in health and care
    • Coronavirus (COVID-19)
    • Culture
    • Improving patient safety
    • Investigations, risk management and legal issues
    • Leadership for patient safety
    • Organisations linked to patient safety (UK and beyond)
    • Patient engagement
    • Patient safety in health and care
    • Patient Safety Learning
    • Professionalising patient safety
    • Research, data and insight
    • Miscellaneous

Categories

  • Commissioning, service provision and innovation in health and care
    • Commissioning and funding patient safety
    • Digital health and care service provision
    • Health records and plans
    • Innovation programmes in health and care
    • Climate change/sustainability
  • Coronavirus (COVID-19)
    • Blogs
    • Data, research and statistics
    • Frontline insights during the pandemic
    • Good practice and useful resources
    • Guidance
    • Mental health
    • Exit strategies
    • Patient recovery
    • Questions around Government governance
  • Culture
    • Bullying and fear
    • Good practice
    • Occupational health and safety
    • Safety culture programmes
    • Second victim
    • Speak Up Guardians
    • Staff safety
    • Whistle blowing
  • Improving patient safety
    • Clinical governance and audits
    • Design for safety
    • Disasters averted/near misses
    • Equipment and facilities
    • Error traps
    • Health inequalities
    • Human factors (improving human performance in care delivery)
    • Improving systems of care
    • Implementation of improvements
    • International development and humanitarian
    • Safety stories
    • Stories from the front line
    • Workforce and resources
  • Investigations, risk management and legal issues
    • Investigations and complaints
    • Risk management and legal issues
  • Leadership for patient safety
    • Business case for patient safety
    • Boards
    • Clinical leadership
    • Exec teams
    • Inquiries
    • International reports
    • National/Governmental
    • Patient Safety Commissioner
    • Quality and safety reports
    • Techniques
    • Other
  • Organisations linked to patient safety (UK and beyond)
    • Government and ALB direction and guidance
    • International patient safety
    • Regulators and their regulations
  • Patient engagement
    • Consent and privacy
    • Harmed care patient pathways/post-incident pathways
    • How to engage for patient safety
    • Keeping patients safe
    • Patient-centred care
    • Patient Safety Partners
    • Patient stories
  • Patient safety in health and care
    • Care settings
    • Conditions
    • Diagnosis
    • High risk areas
    • Learning disabilities
    • Medication
    • Mental health
    • Men's health
    • Patient management
    • Social care
    • Transitions of care
    • Women's health
  • Patient Safety Learning
    • Patient Safety Learning campaigns
    • Patient Safety Learning documents
    • 2-minute Tuesdays
    • Patient Safety Learning Annual Conference 2019
    • Patient Safety Learning Annual Conference 2018
    • Patient Safety Learning Awards 2019
    • Patient Safety Learning Interviews
    • Patient Safety Learning webinars
  • Professionalising patient safety
    • Accreditation for patient safety
    • Competency framework
    • Medical students
    • Patient safety standards
    • Training & education
  • Research, data and insight
    • Data and insight
    • Research
  • Miscellaneous

News

  • News

Categories

  • Files

Calendars

  • Community Calendar

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start
    End

Last updated

  • Start
    End

Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End


Group


First name


Last name


Country


Join a private group (if appropriate)


About me


Organisation


Role

Found 90 results
  1. News Article
    An ambulance trust is having to protect its staff from the effects of fumes – including potential cancer risk – as they are spending so long in their vehicles outside hospitals. South Western Ambulance Service Foundation Trust (SWASFT) has carried out a risk assessment of the impact of diesel engine emissions after following concerns from staff, many of whom are spending hours waiting to handover on each shift. The region has faced the worst handover delays to emergency departments in recent years. Ambulance engines normally have to be kept on while waiting, to keep essential equipment running, and sometimes for warmth. But with queues of a dozen or more ambulances at times, staff and patients can be exposed to substantial emissions for long periods. The trust’s risk assessment – which has been seen by HSJ – warns exposure to diesel emissions is associated with eye and upper respiratory tract irritation, while prolonged exposure can lead to coughing, increased sputum production and breathlessness. There is also “epidemiological evidence which indicates that sustained occupational exposure to diesel engine exhaust emissions may result in an increase in the risk of lung cancer”. It gives a risk rating of 20 – one of the highest possible – which, under the trust’s policies, indicates “activities must not proceed” until mitigations are in place. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 27 March 2024
  2. Content Article
    Making hospitals more conducive to high quality sleep might benefit patient experience and wellbeing, and could perhaps even lead to reduced length of stay. Sleep is known to be closely connected to physical and mental health, and yet hospital environments are far from conducive to high quality rest. Noise, light, disturbances for treatment or tests, other patients, staff noise and temperature can all reduce the odds of a good night’s sleep. Overnight observations can also be extremely disruptive. At some trusts, efforts are being made to address this situation. The ultimate aim? Not only to improve the patient experience, but to potentially the speed with which they heal–so reducing the likes of length of stay. Others, meanwhile, are exploring whether supporting better sleep could even reduce the need for hospital admission in the first place.
  3. Content Article
    Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the world’s leading children’s hospitals, receiving 242,694 outpatient visits and 42,112 inpatient visits every year (figures from 2021/22). This paper seeks to provide an overview of the safety systems and processes Great Ormond Street Hospital has in place to keep patients, staff, and healthcare environments safe.
  4. Content Article
    This study in the American Journal of Surgery aimed to understand the impact of operating room temperature and humidity on surgical site infection (SSI). The authors found that large deviations in operating theatre temperature and humidity do not increase the risk of SSI.
  5. News Article
    Liquid bleach does not kill off a hospital superbug that can cause fatal infections, researchers have found. Clostridium difficile, also known as C diff, is a type of bacteria found in the human gut. While it can coexist alongside other bacteria without problem, a disruption to gut flora can allow C diff to flourish, leading to bowel problems including diarrhoea and colitis. Severe infections can kill, with 1,910 people known to have died within 30 days of an infection in England during financial year 2021-2022. Those at greater risk of C diff infections include people aged over 65, those who are in hospital, people with a weakened immune system and people taking antibiotics, with some individuals experiencing repeated infections. According to government guidance, updated in 2019, chlorine-containing cleaning agents with at least 1,000 ppm available chlorine should be used as a disinfectant to tackle C diff. But researchers say it is unlikely be sufficient, with their experiments suggesting that even at high concentrations, sodium hypochlorite – a common type of bleach – is no better than water at doing the job. “With antimicrobial resistance increasing, people need to recognise that overuse of biocides can cause tolerance in certain microbes, and we’re seeing that definitely with chlorine and C diff,” said Dr Tina Joshi, co-author of the research, from the University of Plymouth. While chlorine-based chemicals used to be effective at killing such bacteria, that no longer appears to be the case, she said. “The UK doesn’t seem to have any written new gold standard for C diff disinfection. And I think that needs to change immediately,” she said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 22 November 2023
  6. Content Article
    The climate and ecological crises are both driven by human activities. They each have catastrophic implications for human health and their strong interconnection creates a vicious circle where each is reinforced by the other. A stable natural environment is critical for limiting global warming and achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Conversely, the loss of biodiversity is a major threat to human, animal, and environmental health. In order to mitigate harm and maximise the co-benefits of action, it is important that policies tackle both climate change and biodiversity loss together. This policy report by the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change, describes the impacts of biodiversity loss on land and oceans for human health and puts forward recommendations to reduce biodiversity loss, restore nature, and achieve climate goals for the benefit of health.
  7. Content Article
    PLACE assessments will provide motivation for improvement by providing a clear message, directly from patients, about how the environment or services might be enhanced. The 2023 programme is planned for launch in early September 2023.
  8. Content Article
    Theatres are a high risk area. This poster from the Association for Perioperative Practice and BD illustrates how to plan and practise to manage a surgical fire. Download a pdf of the poster from the attachment below.
  9. Content Article
    Tony Clarke suffered from a chronic inflammatory skin disease, hidradenitis suppurativa. In September 2020, Tony underwent surgery to remove infected tissue on one side of his body. When he entered the operating theatre, Tony’s surgical team first covered part of his body with an alcohol-based solution, to keep the area clean. Then, when the operation began, the surgeons began cutting off the infected tissue using a diathermy pen, a device that targets electrically-induced heat to stop wounds from bleeding. However, shortly into the surgery, disaster struck: heat from the surgical pen had ignited the alcohol on Tony’s body. “But because alcohol burns so hot, no fire was seen,” says Tony, recalling an explanation he later received from the hospital.  “The surgeons were concentrating on the right side of my body. The left side was left burning for about 20 minutes.” For the next four months, Tony travelled back to the hospital every three days, to get his injuries checked and bandages changed. During that time, Tony describes himself as ‘totally disabled.’ In September this year, Tony, as a patient ambassador for prevention of surgical fires, spoke at a conference held in York by the Association for Perioperative Practice (AFPP). There, perioperative practitioners from across the country gathered to listen to Tony’s experience. “I was speaking to lots and lots of different professionals in the medical service and they'd never heard of it [being set on fire during surgery]. It was a rarity for them,” Tony says. Tony’s now working with different health agencies, with the aim of stopping preventable surgical burns entirely.
  10. Event
    Energy-based devices, lasers and diathermy are some of the most commonly used pieces of equipment in operating theatres today. Dangerous emissions can be produced that affect the respiratory systems of everyone in the operating theatre. This study day will look at the occupational hazards of exposure to surgical plume in the operating theatre, as well as the associated risks to the surgical team, patients and visitors. It will also highlight how to assess risk and mitigate against the dangers of surgical plume and how to implement changes. Topics Include: Electrosurgery/diathermy/laser. Anaesthetic airway fires. Laparoscopic surgery aerosolisation. Health and Safety and risk assessment. Surgical plume. Register
  11. Content Article
    Because hospitals exist for a long time and are expensive to build and to operate, it is crucial to use the abundant, available empirical evidence to guide design. “Evidence-based design” has documented how to make hospitals safer and less stressful. This article, published in The Conversation, looks at the challenges involved.
  12. Content Article
    In April 2002, St Joseph’s Community Hospital of West Bend, a member of SynergyHealth, brought together leaders in healthcare and systems engineering to develop a set of safety-driven facility design recommendations and principles that would guide the design of a new hospital facility focused on patient safety. By introducing safety-driven innovations into the facility design process, environmental designers and healthcare leaders will be able to make significant contributions to patient safety. Request permission to view the resource in full via the link below.
  13. Content Article
    Green 4 Health is a new podcast series from Angela Hayes talking about the climate crisis and thinking green. It takes a light-hearted look at what’s going on in healthcare to make our planet greener and sustainable. Watch the latest podcast from the link below.
  14. Content Article
    Do you work in primary care and want to improve patient health while reducing your impact and the impact of your organisation on the environment?  The RCGP, in collaboration with the Greener NHS and other key sustainable healthcare partners, has launched a new RCGP Net Zero hub with eLearning courses and guidance for healthcare professionals, which is free to access for members and non RCGP members (simply create a free online account by scrolling down to the ‘Non-membership access’ section on the registration page). Climate change presents a profound and growing threat to health. All NHS staff, including those working in primary care, have a role to play in helping to reduce emissions at source – for the benefit of their patients, population health, and the environment.
  15. News Article
    Hospitals in England have recorded more than 450 sewage leaks in the last 12 months, data shows, putting patients and staff in danger and prompting warnings that the NHS estate is “falling apart” after a decade of underinvestment. Freedom of information requests to NHS trusts by the Liberal Democrats found alarming examples of sewage leaking on to cancer wards, maternity units and A&E departments. The investigation also uncovered multiple cases of urine and faeces flowing into hospital rooms and on to general wards. Health officials called the revelations shocking. In some instances, sewage leaks made entire hospital departments unsafe for patients and led to staff struggling to work because they felt nauseous and had headaches. Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: “This is a national scandal. Our country’s hospitals are falling apart after years of underinvestment and neglect. Patients should not be treated in these conditions and heroic nurses should not have the indignity of mopping up foul sewage.” “At every turn, our treasured NHS is crumbling, from hospital buildings to dangerous ambulance wait times. The government needs to find urgent funds to fix hospitals overflowing with sewage. Patient and staff safety is a risk if ministers fail to act,” he said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 17 February 2023
  16. Content Article
    Dr Gordon Caldwell shares how he changed his whole approach to ward rounds after seeing spaghetti maps of where a nurse walked during a shift. He cut down walking distance on rounds by creating a mobile office on wheels out of an old electricians trolley. See also: Making the ward a more efficient place: a qualitative evaluation of the impact of the Vista 90 trolley  
  17. News Article
    Record levels of overheating and a sharp rise in flooding at England’s hospitals are putting vulnerable patients at risk, figures show. Analysis of NHS data by the Liberal Democrats found that the number of health trusts reporting overheating in clinical areas had doubled compared with six years ago, and floods had increased by nearly 60% from last year. An overheating incident is logged when an occupied ward or clinical area’s daily maximum temperature exceeds 26C, the temperature at which some patients become unable to cool themselves effectively. The latest government figures show that in the summer of 2022 there were an estimated 2,985 excess deaths due to heatwaves, the highest number on record. Heatwaves also forced a fifth of UK hospitals to cancel operations. The number of serious flooding incidents, where water caused disruption such as by breaching a building or flooding a road, rose from 176 to 279. The climate crisis is expected to increase these risks to hospitals and patients. Helen Buckingham, the director of strategy at the Nuffield Trust, said: “These figures are a cause for real concern about the resilience of the NHS’s estate to the growing threat from extreme weather in the UK. As temperatures have climbed, so too have the number of overheating incidents in NHS hospitals.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 27 November 2023
  18. Content Article
    Air pollution is an issue that affects us all; it is associated with impacts on lung development in children, heart disease, stroke, cancer, exacerbation of asthma, increased mortality and other health issues. This year’s Chief Medical Officer's report lays out the scale of the challenge of reducing air pollution and the substantial progress that has been made. It highlights achievable solutions across different sectors and makes the case that we need to continue to be active in reducing outdoor air pollution.
  19. Content Article
    Operating rooms are major contributors to a hospital’s carbon footprint due to the large volumes of resources consumed and waste produced. The objective of this study from Sullivan et al., published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, was to identify quality improvement initiatives that aimed to reduce environmental impact of the operating room while decreasing costs.
  20. Content Article
    This case study describes the project that won the 'Future-proofing Healthcare 2022' category in the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership's (HQIP's) Clinical Audit Heroes Awards. The Sustainable Respiratory Care Audit team at Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was recognised for its work improving care for individual patients while also reducing the environmental impacts of healthcare. Their nomination detailed how the project provided a structure for the audit of patients’ techniques, preferences and knowledge about inhalers, and the need for a clinical review—interventions that can reduce the carbon footprint of healthcare while improving the quality of care.
  21. Content Article
    Karen Lesley Starling died on 7 February 2020 aged 54 and Anne Edith Martinez died on 17 December 2020 aged 65. Both deceased underwent successful lung transplant procedures at the new Royal Papworth Hospital. However, both women became infected with a hospital acquired infection, namely Mycobacteria abscessus (M. abscessus), and died. M. abscessus is an environmental non-tuberculous mycobacterium (NTM). It can sometimes be found in soil, dust and water, including municipal water supplies. It is usually harmless for healthy people but may cause opportunistic infection in vulnerable individuals. Lung transplant patients and lung defence patients such as Mrs Starling and Mrs Martinez were at particular risk of infection from mycobacteria, including M. abscessus.
  22. News Article
    Doctors are prescribing heating to patients with conditions that get worse in the cold as part of a health trial. The Warm Home Prescription pilot paid to heat the homes of 28 low-income patients to avoid the cost of hospital care if they became more ill. Michelle Davis, who has arthritis and serious pulmonary illness, had her energy bills paid for and said the difference was "mind-blowing". "When the weather turns cold, I tend to seize up," she told the BBC. "It's very painful, my joints ache and my bones are like hot pokers." In 2020 Ms Davis spent most of the winter in bed, trying to keep warm and was admitted to hospital with pneumonia and pleurisy. But not in winter 2021. "You're not stuck in bed, you're not going to hospital, my children were able to have a life, they were able to go out and play and get cold," she said. Academics estimate that cold homes cost NHS England £860m a year and that 10,000 people die every year due a cold home. But that research was completed before the current cost of living crisis took hold. This first trial achieved such good results, that it's being expanded to 150 households in NHS Gloucestershire's area, plus about 1,000 in Aberdeen and Teesside. Dr Matt Lipson helped design the pilot programme and feels like this preventative step is a no-brainer for the health service. "If we buy the energy people need but can't afford, they can keep warm at home and stay out of hospital," he said. "That would target support to where it's needed, save money overall and take pressure off the health service." The change in patients was swift: "The NHS were telling us they were seeing a benefit much more quickly than pills and potions," Dr Lipson added. "It was taking days, not weeks and months." Read full story Source: BBC News, 22 November 2022
  23. Content Article
    At the beginning of the pandemic, there was an important question to resolve: is coronavirus “airborne”? If it was, then this meant that the virus could transmit through the air from person to person, even over long distances, in indoor environments. We now know the answer is yes. In the 19th century diseases such as cholera and typhoid taught us the importance of water quality – coronavirus in the 21st century should provide that same realisation on the importance of air quality. Ideally, all indoor environments where people congregate should be fitted with modern, efficient ventilation systems that flush out potentially contaminated air and replace it with fresh, clean air continually. This would prevent the build-up of virus-containing aerosols and reduce the likelihood of transmission of covid-19 and other diseases such as influenza. With energy costs rising, it is vitally important to find methods of preventing virus transmission that are safe, quick to implement and affordable, writes Dr Alice Bunn in this HSJ article.
  24. Content Article
    We should be! The NHS has declared climate change a health emergency, but are trust leaders and healthcare staff talking and acting on this? In her second blog for the hub, Angela Hayes, Clinical Lead Sustainability at the Christie Foundation Trust, discusses why as healthcare professionals we have a duty to care, to protect and promote public health, and why nurses are ideally placed to deliver this vital climate emergency health message.
×
×
  • Create New...