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Showing results for tags 'Staff safety'.
Found 994 results
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Content ArticlePort-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, has seen waves of clashes between armed groups. The violence has driven a stark need for emergency trauma care and surgery, and cut people off from the everyday healthcare services they need. Nurse Amadeus von der Oelsnitz explains how the Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence help teams provide vital healthcare in a city torn apart by insecurity.
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News Article
Nurses bitten and screens smashed - life in A&E
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Busy, noisy, highly stressful - and sometimes violent. This is the reality of A&E as the NHS gears up for what will be an incredibly difficult winter. That much is clear from the experience of staff and patients at Royal Berkshire Hospital's emergency department. Like all units, it is struggling to see patients quickly - more than a third of patients wait more than four hours. The stress and frustration means tempers can easily boil over. Receptionist Tahj Chrichlow says it can get so busy patients end up "packed like sardines". "Sometimes people can be not as nice to us as we like," he adds, explaining how earlier this week the window of the reception office had been smashed by one angry person. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine is warning delays are putting patients at risk. Vice president Dr Ian Higginson says hospitals are "full to bursting". "When our hospitals are full, we can't get patients out of our emergency departments. "That means emergency departments become overcrowded and we see patients waiting for long periods on uncomfortable trollies in corridors or other rubbish places." Dr Higginson says his colleagues are "very worried" and unable to deliver the care they would like to give to patients. Read full story Source: BBC News, 8 December 2022 -
Content ArticleThis blog is written by David Osborn, a health and safety consultant, reflecting on the blog written by Anna Carey regarding her guilt about not being able to return to work because of her Long Covid.
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Event
Psychological safety - Dr Matt Hill
Patient Safety Learning posted an event in Community Calendar
Email rduh.qit@nhs,net to book a place. -
Content ArticleThis article looks at the potential to use the continuous flow model to tackle unprecedented levels of overcrowding in emergency departments. The continuous flow model, also known as full capacity protocols, was first introduced in North America in the late 1990s. It mandates that a set number of patients are moved at set times from the emergency department to inpatient wards, regardless of whether a bed is available. This might mean putting an extra patient in a bay or two patients in a side room or boarding them in hospital corridors. In turn, this encourages wards to discharge existing patients, allows ambulances to offload new patients in the space created in the emergency department, and relieves pressure on the whole system. This article looks at the fact that evidence to support the continuous flow model is scarce, although positive, and that there are a number of important factors to consider before implementing the model, to ensure that it does not result in increased patient harm.
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Content ArticleQuestions have been raised as to whether medical masks offer similar protection against Covid-19 compared with N95 respirators. This study in The Annals of Internal Medicine aimed to determine whether medical masks are noninferior to N95 respirators in preventing Covid-19 in healthcare workers providing routine care. The authors of the study conducted a multicentre, randomised, noninferiority trial at 29 healthcare facilities in Canada, Israel, Pakistan and Egypt. The study found that among healthcare workers who provided routine care to patients with Covid-19, the overall estimates rule out a doubling in hazard of PCR–confirmed Covid-19 for medical masks when compared with N95 respirators.
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News ArticleThe NHS should “urgently investigate” after Byline Times uncovered “disturbing” figures showing that more than 4,000 patients, visitors and NHS staff were raped or sexually assaulted in hospitals over the past four years, the Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary has said. An investigation by Byline Times has unearthed that 4,100 patients, visitors and NHS staff were raped (1,364) or sexually assaulted (at least 2,744) in a hospital setting between January 2019 and September 2022–with 633 raped or assaulted while on a hospital ward. At least three of the incidents were against a female child aged under 13. Data from 31 police forces in England and Wales based on reported rapes and assaults revealed the scale of sexual violence within hospital settings, with victims including patients and staff members. Labour’s Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said, “Hospitals ought to be safe places for patients and staff, but these disturbing findings show that is not the case for far too many people. The NHS should urgently investigate why these disgusting crimes are allowed to happen and on such a widespread scale.” Read more Source: Byline Times, 5 December 2022
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Content ArticleIn this HSJ article, Gemma Dakin and George Croft from the Health Innovation Network share their reflections on the HSJ Patient Safety Congress. They highlight key themes that emerged including the need to listen to patients, service users, and carers stories, and encourage their involvement to bring about a cultural change. They argue that humanity will be central to making progress in quality improvement and patient safety.
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Content ArticleBehind the outcry about waiting times lies the anxiety that our cherished GP system will, in the words of one Gloucester doctor, ‘soon reach a threshold where there is a collapse’. We witness life on the frontline in this Guardian article.
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Content ArticleThis editorial by Barbara Fain, Chief Executive of the Betsy Lehman Center in Massachusetts, highlights the need to focus on system safety and moving away from a culture of individual blame, in order to improve patient safety. Referring to the case of nurse RaDonda Vaught who was convicted of negligent homicide for a medication error at a Tennessee hospital, Barbara looks at research that demonstrates that people generally believe the best way to reduce the likelihood of medical errors is by choosing the right doctor, and argues that this cultural belief played into Vaught's conviction. She highlights the need to use evidence-based strategies to communicate with healthcare professionals and the public about the wider picture of patient safety and systems thinking.
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Content Article
This is part of our series of Patient Safety Spotlight interviews, where we talk to people working for patient safety about their role and what motivates them. Sharon talks to us about why manual handling needs to be more than tick-box training, and describes its significance for patient safety. -
Content ArticleThe King’s Fund and Engage Britain commissioned Bill Morgan, a former Conservative special adviser, to explore what can get in the way of ministers taking meaningful, long-term action to address NHS workforce shortages. In this report, he focuses on the role of politicians in workforce planning and delivery. The report sets out the scale of the workforce crisis and the impact that it has. It also considers the political reasons around why it has been so hard to fix and considers three factors that could contribute to tackling the current shortages: Transparency in workforce forecasts The establishment of an independent workforce-planning organisation Accepting the NHS’s historical reliance on recruitment from outside the UK as explicit future policy and planning accordingly
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Content ArticleThis systematic review in the International Journal of Health Planning and Management aimed to examine and analyse the existing literature that examines the impact of strike action on patient morbidity—all patient outcomes apart from death. 15 studies were included in the review. and articles included a variety of outcomes from hypertension control to rates of chlamydia. Strikes ranged from 13 to 118 days, with a mean strike length of 56 days. The authors found that the majority of studies reported that strike action had a neutral or mixed impact on patient morbidity. One study reported positive outcomes and three studies reported negative outcomes, however in both cases, the impact that the strike had was marginal.
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Content ArticleIn this blog, journalist David Hencke shares his views on the ruling of Judge Anne Martin in the case of NHS whistleblower Dr Chris Day. He argues that Judge Martin was determined to find in favour of Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, glossing over the disclosure of the deliberate destruction of 90,000 emails and the use of false evidence by the Trust. She discredited the evidence of Dr Day’s witnesses, including the present Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt and two senior medical experts, on the basis that they were biased.
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Content ArticleIn this article, Kamran Abbasi, editor in chief of the BMJ outlines the need for reform to the General Medical Council (GMC), which is responsible for regulating doctors in the United Kingdom. He talks about how the GMC received a significant backlash from doctors after its handling of the case of Manjula Arora, a GP who was disciplined for a word she used when asking her employer for a laptop. However, he highlights that the GMC's issues started long before this case, with racial bias, discrimination and an adversarial culture present over the last 30 years. Kamran also outlines measures that should be taken to ensure organisational change and accountability for the GMC.
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Content ArticleMoral injury is a specific kind of trauma that can happen when when people face situations that deeply violate their conscience or threaten their core values. This blog for Scientific American looks at the experience of ER doctor Torree McGowan when the Delta wave of Covid-19 hit the central Oregon region where she works. It examines the impact that moral injury has had on her mental health and her relationship with patients. The author looks at how Covid-19 hugely increased the incidence of moral injury as people in frontline roles faced ethically wrenching dilemmas every day. The growing realisation that moral injury is a separate diagnosis to other conditions such as PTSD and depression is resulting in a wider range of treatments and trauma therapies. Many of these treatments encourage people to face moral conflicts head-on rather than blotting them out or explaining them away, and they emphasize the importance of community support in long-term recovery.
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Content ArticleThis article for Vogue explores the experience of a midwife working in an overstretched maternity unit in England. Melissa Newman, who has been a midwife for nearly six years, highlights the impact of staff shortages on midwives—she describes how she does not have time to eat, avoids drinking because she will not have time to go to the toilet, and sometimes works fifteen hours without any break. She calls on the Government for more funding to fix the crisis facing NHS maternity services, and the NHS more widely.
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Content ArticleThe Patient Safety Database (PSD), previously called the Anesthesia Safety Network, is committed in the delivery of better perioperative care. Its primary goal is to make visible the lack of reliability of healthcare and the absolute necessity to build a new system for improving patient safety. This year, PSD has also been involved in the development of the SafeTeam Academy, an e-learning training platform associated with the Patient Safety Database, which offers video immersive courses using the power of cinema to train healthcare professionals. This is the latest newsletter from PSD, featuring a wide range of content by safety experts across Europe.
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Content ArticleIn this blog, Judy Walker, Senior Business Consultant at iTS Leadership, describes an After Action Review (AAR) that took place at a large London hospital following the first wave of Covid-19. As part of the AAR, Emergency Department porter Aaron described his experience of the first Covid 19 surge—wheeling large numbers of patients who had died through an empty hospital. Judy describes the value of staff listening to different perspectives as a way to reflect on their own experiences and understand the impact events have on different individuals. She highlights the importance of listening to the process of learning for individuals and teams.
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News Article
Trust moves away from ‘disturbing’ agency doctor model
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A major acute trust says it plans to move away from its significant use of agency doctors from overseas, who have been reported to be working on terms and conditions far below their NHS-employed counterparts. East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust has a contract with the NES Healthcare agency to supply 47 “resident medical officers (RMO)” across its three main sites to cover trauma and orthopaedics, medical and surgical rotas. HSJ has been told of concerns that RMO's are reporting substantial overworking, and poor terms and conditions, although some of these claims are disputed by NES. East Kent chief medical officer Rebecca Martin has told HSJ: “The well-being of all our colleagues is one of our top priorities and we are working with the agency about how they cover the rota safely". “We are committed to providing a safe workplace environment, where RMOs feel comfortable communicating their feedback and we review working patterns to ensure adequate rest periods between shifts. We are actively working to use substantive staff to fill vacancies, and have already been able to offer some of those positions to current RMOs.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 22 November 2022 -
Content ArticleThe Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) is an independent scientific advisory body that looks at industrial injuries benefit and how it is administered. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the IIAC has been reviewing and assessing the increasing scientific evidence on the occupational risks of Covid-19. This report builds on an IIAC interim Position Paper published in February 2021 and considers more recent data on the occupational impacts of Covid-19, particularly around the longer term health problems and disability caused by the virus. IIAC found the most convincing and consistent evidence was for health and social care workers in certain occupational settings, who present with five serious pathological complications following Covid-19 that have been shown to cause persistent impairment and loss of function in some workers.
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Content Article
Covid Airborne Protection Alliance Latest News
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Coronavirus (COVID-19)
The Covid Airborne Protection Alliance – formerly the AGP Alliance – (Chaired by BAPEN's Dr Barry Jones) is calling on Governments and health services in all four nations of the UK to review and update its guidance regarding personal protective equipment (PPE) for all health and social care staff as a matter of urgency. Stay up to date with their latest news. -
Content Article
PACE communication tool
Patient_Safety_Learning posted an article in Staff safety
Supporting staff to speak up is essential to patient safety. The PACE communication tool is designed to help anyone in a team challenge an action or behaviour they feel is inappropriate. You can read more about PACE (probe, alert, challenge, emergency) and other communication tools on the Victorian Trauma System website via the link below. -
Content ArticleThis BMJ Practice Pointer discusses how we can support our colleagues with their mental health.
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Content ArticleAfter a prolonged battle with the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers now face the next crisis that has been brewing even longer: staff shortages and an increasingly exhausted workforce. In early 2022, almost one in two (47%) healthcare professionals reported feeling burned out, up from 42% last year. Many consider leaving the field, adding to the worries of employers who see growing demand for care without enough hands at the bedside to cater for their patients. Can AI be part of the solution by helping healthcare professionals reclaim the joy in their work? An article by Philips.
