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Content Article
An innovative approach to managing behaviour in the operating room (OR) using posters with eye symbols has seen positive results. A team of Australian researchers conducted a successful trial to address offensive and impolite remarks within ORs by implementing ‘eye’ signage in surgical rooms. These posters, placed on the walls of an Adelaide orthopaedic hospital’s operating theatre without explanation, effectively reduced poor behaviour among surgical teams. The lead researcher, Professor Cheri Ostroff from the University of South Australia, attributed this outcome to a sense of being ‘watched’, even though the eyes are not real. The three-month experiment targeted a prevalent culture of bullying and misconduct in surgical settings, a problem pervasive not only in healthcare but across various high-stress industries. Professor Ostroff emphasised that besides affecting staff morale and productivity, rude behaviour also has a detrimental impact on patients, particularly in compromising teamwork and communication during surgery, potentially leading to poorer outcomes. -
Content ArticleHundreds of doctors - led by campaign group Long Covid Doctors for Action - are planning to sue the NHS over claims that inadequate PPE provision has left them with Long Covid. One of those, Dr Nathalie MacDermott, joins Women's Health host Emma Barnett to discuss it. Listen from 2:40
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Content ArticleGreat 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.
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News ArticleA group of doctors with Long Covid are preparing to launch a class action for compensation after contracting SARS-CoV-2 at work. The campaign and advocacy group Long Covid Doctors for Action (LCD4A) has engaged the law firm Bond Turner to bring claims for any physical injuries and financial losses sustained by frontline workers who were not properly protected at work. On 25 January Bond Turner, which specialises in negligence cases, complex litigation, and group actions, launched a call to action inviting doctors and other healthcare workers in England and Wales to make contact if they believe that they contracted covid-19 as a result of occupational exposure.1 Sara Stanger, the firm’s director and head of clinical negligence and serious injury claims, said that the ultimate aim was to achieve “legal accountability and justice for those injured.” She told The BMJ, “I’ve spoken to hundreds of doctors with long covid, and many of them have had their lives derailed. Some have lost their jobs and their homes; they are in financial ruin. Their illnesses have had far reaching consequences in all areas of their lives.” Read full story Source: BMJ, 25 January 2024 Nurses, midwives, and any other healthcare workers who are suffering with Long Covid and which they believe they contracted through their work and who wish to join the action should visit the Bond Turner website here: https://www.bondturner.com/services/covid-group-claim/. Although this action has been initiated by doctors in the first instance, it is not limited to doctors. Further reading on the hub: Questions around Government governance My experience of suspected 'Long COVID' How will NHS staff with Long Covid be supported?
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Content Article
Suicide by female nurses: a brief report (June 2020)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Staff safety
This report, authored by the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health (NCISH), was commissioned by NHS England/NHS Improvement in response to a report by the Office for National Statistics that identified female nurses as having a risk of suicide 23% above the risk in women in other occupations. This was a brief study aimed to establish preliminary data about women who died by suicide while employed as nurses. To do this, NCISH carried out an examination of Office for National Statistics (ONS) data on female nurses who died by suicide during a six-year period (2011-2016) was carried out with a detailed analysis of female nurse suicides using the NCISH database of people who died by suicide within 12 months of mental health service contact, including comparison with other female patients.- Posted
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Content ArticleConnections are critical junctures and points of access along intravenous (IV) lines. Microorganisms may colonise these connections, potentially leading to catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs). For patients, CRBSIs are a significant cause of morbidity and death, and for healthcare facilities these infectious complications lead to unnecessary costs. Safe connections may help reduce the risk of needlestick injuries for healthcare professionals (HCPs) and the occurrence of CRBSIs for patients. In this webinar recording, Nancy Trick, Registered Nurse and Adjunct Instructor at Perdue Global University in West Lafayette, USA, discusses CRBSIs and presents solutions to help prevent them. After watching this webinar, you should be able to: describe open versus closed infusion systems in VAM. briefly discuss the clinical risks of open infusion systems. discuss clinical practice change. consider how evidence-based standards of practice recommend using closed IV access/needleless connectors.
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Content Article
Left-handedness—A handicap for training in surgery? (2010)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Surgery
Left-handedness was historically considered a disability and a social stigma, and teachers would make efforts to suppress it in their students. Little data are available on the impact of left-handedness on surgical training and this report aimed to review available data on this subject. The review revealed 19 studies on the subject of left-handedness and surgical training. Key findings include: Left-handedness produced anxiety in residents and their trainers. There was a lack of mentoring on laterality. Surgical instruments, both conventional and laparoscopic, are not adapted to left-handed use and require ambilaterality training from the resident. There is significant pressure to change hand laterality during training. Left-handedness might present an advantage in operations involving situs inversus or left lower limb operations. -
Content ArticleIn the intricate world of healthcare, where patient safety is paramount, the ability to speak up is a crucial component of a culture of safety. However, the complexities surrounding voicing concerns or challenging the status quo in a healthcare environment can be extremely daunting. Speaking up to those who are respected, who are perceived as more powerful or more influential is not easy. Even asking questions, let alone questioning others can create tension or even risk relationships. We are too often silenced by others or are purposefully silent ourselves because it is the easier thing to do. In this blog, Suzette Woodward discusses the barriers to speaking up and what we can do.
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Content ArticleThis project aimed at understanding and tackling the barriers to sufficient hydration, breaks and refreshment facilities for NHS staff. Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was keen to introduce the Royal College of Nursing's (RCN) rest, rehydrate and refuel initiative, and did so through a project led by one of the chief nurse clinical fellows. First, staff were surveyed to understand the current situation and any barriers they may face. This was followed by a trial on two pilot wards, before roll our of a trust-wide campaign.
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Content ArticleAfter an extreme traumatic event there are things that you can do to help yourself, and your colleagues, to move on. Fiona Day, medical and public health leadership coach and chartered coaching psychologist, Stacey Killick, consultant paediatrician at Glan Clwyd Hospital, and Lucy Easthope, professor in practice at Durham University’s Institute of Hazard, Risk, and Resilience and adviser on disaster recovery give their tips in this BMJ article.
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Content ArticleThis report is divided into two sections. The first section is contextual and reviews literature, both national and international, that provides insights into the experiences of Black and Ethnic Minority (referred to in this report as BME) and internationally recruited nurse (IRNs). The second section focuses specifically on the literature related to health and social care regulatory bodies within the UK, and the reporting of professionals in relation to fitness to practise.
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Content ArticleThis open letter penned by four senior female NHS doctors outlines the issues caused by ongoing misogyny in the medical profession in Wales. They call for real change to ensure that the trainees and medical students of the future do not experience the same harassment, inappropriate comments and bullying from senior colleagues that each of them can recall during their careers. "The four of us have risen to senior leadership positions in our respective specialties. We work in cancer, general practice, psychiatry and HIV medicine. And every single one of us can think of experiences from our own career that at the time we ignored, brushed off, pretended not to hear or not to see–but we saw, we heard, and we still remember."
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News Article
NHS nurses suffering shocking violence from patients, senior nurse warns
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Nurses are being put in increasing danger from shocking levels of violence and aggression by patients, a senior nursing leader has warned. Prof Nicola Ranger, the Royal College of Nursing’s (RCN) director of nursing, said the crisis in the NHS had fuelled bad behaviour by patients frustrated by worsening delays for treatment since the Covid pandemic. Ranger said the situation was contributing to an exodus of nurses from the NHS, amid a vicious cycle of staff shortages and rising violence. This meant that there were often not enough nurses on duty to keep colleagues safe, she added. Calling on the government to make tackling the abuse of nurses a priority, Ranger said there was a sense of despair in the profession about their deteriorating working conditions. “I think the public would be totally shocked if they knew how common it is for nursing staff to be on the receiving end of violence and aggression at work,” said Ranger. “Nurses are put in jeopardy, it’s become all too common for them to be threatened by patients on shift. “We genuinely have got a nursing crisis in the UK that doesn’t seem to be being acknowledged by our government at all. Being spat at, being hit, being punched, can for some nurses just literally be the final straw." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 1 January 2024 -
Content ArticleThe BMA has sent a letter to Amanda Pritchard, Chief Executive of NHS England, highlighting the increasing concerns from their members about the protection of healthcare workers and patients from Covid-19, particularly in light of the rise in cases, hospitalisations and deaths that occurred in September and October.
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Content Article
Kindness in healthcare
Patient_Safety_Learning posted an article in Staff safety
This website is the home for ‘conversation for kindness’, which is a monthly meeting that was set up in the summer of 2020 by a group of colleagues and friends working in healthcare across Sweden, the UK and the USA. The initial purpose of getting together was to have some time together to continue some initial conversations around kindness, and to explore its role at the ‘business end’ of healthcare. -
News ArticleThe Royal College of Nursing has warned of an increase risk of Covid among hospital staff and patients due to the NHS’s failure to follow World Health Organization advice about infection control during a current spike in cases. The most recent figures showed one in 24 people in England and Scotland had Covid on 13 December, up from one in 55 two weeks before. Last week WHO expressed concern about a new subvariant of Omicron, labelled JN.1, after its rapid spread in the Americas, western Pacific and European regions. To tackle the increase, the WHO advised that all health facilities “implement universal masking” and give health workers “respirators and other PPE”. Now the RCN has written to the four chief nursing officers in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland asking why this guidance has not been introduced across the NHS. The letter, seen by the Guardian, points out that existing guidance in the national infection prevention and control manual (NIPCM) does not mandate hospital staff to use masks. It also leaves decisions about respirators to local risk assessors. The RCN says this guidance to UK hospitals is “inconsistent” with WHO advice. The letter by Patricia Marquis, the RCN’s director for England, calls for urgent revision to the NIPCM guidance to ensure the “universal implementation” of masks and respirators for health workers. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 22 December 2023
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Content ArticleThis rapid evidence review and economic analysis makes the business case for investing in the wellbeing of NHS staff. It was written by a team from the University of East Anglia, RAND Europe and the International Public Policy Observatory (IPPO) and includes a narrative review of data on the current state of the mental health and wellbeing of NHS staff. Data shows that nearly half of staff reported feeling unwell as a result of work-related stress in the most recent survey, that sickness absence has increased and that there are high vacancy and turnover rates in some trusts. Research also shows that patient care can be affected by poor healthcare staff wellbeing.
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Content ArticleA second victim is a healthcare worker who is traumatised by an unexpected adverse patient case, therapeutic mistake, or patient-associated injury that has not been anticipated. Often, the second victim experiences direct guilt for the harm caused to the patients. Healthcare organisations are often unaware of the emotional toll that adverse events can have on healthcare providers (HCPs) who can be harmed by the same incidents that harm their patients. This study aims to examine the second victim phenomenon among healthcare providers at Al-Ahsa hospitals, its prevalence, symptoms, associated factors, and support strategies.
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Content ArticleIn this opinion piece for the BMJ, Scarlett McNally looks at the issue of sexual assault and harassment by and against NHS staff. She argues that rather than focusing solely on reporting mechanisms, there needs to be more emphasis on prevention. In order to change the culture in NHS workplaces, all members of the team need to consider how they may contribute to a culture that allows sexual misconduct to happen.
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Content ArticleThis study in The American Journal of Surgery aimed to assess the impact of gender on imposter syndrome among surgical trainees. An online national survey was distributed to surgical subspecialty residents between March and September 2022 which included demographics, validated Clance Imposter Scale and a short questionnaire evaluating depression and anxiety. The study found that Women surgical trainees were found to be more affected by imposter syndrome, particularly frequent and intense imposterism. Risk factors found were being single, having no dependents, working in obstetrics and gynaecology and being a foreign medical graduate. The authors identified a need for residency programs to develop wellness curriculum to address imposter syndrome among all surgical trainees.
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News ArticleA London acute trust is planning to provide staff working in frailty units with body cameras and those in antenatal clinics with additional security, as violence and aggression against them goes ‘through the roof’. Matthew Trainer, chief executive of Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust in north east London, described the measures the trust is planning to take in response to growing staff concerns about their safety. Speaking at a King’s Fund event about making NHS careers more attractive, Mr Trainer said: “We need to understand the impact of violence and aggression against the workforce and that’s going through the roof just now. “Our ultrasound technicians have now asked for help as their antenatal scans are becoming so fraught. We are about to introduce body cameras in our frailty wards to help with the increase in violence and aggression against staff there.” Mr Trainer – who joined BHRUT in 2021 from Oxleas Foundation Trust – said a long-running problem with violence and aggression in emergency departments was spreading to other departments. Mr Trainer stressed the main problem, particularly in frailty units, was not patients’ own behaviour, but that of family and friends visiting them. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 13 December 2023
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Content ArticleJames Titcombe, Melanie Leis, and Peter Howitt delineate the major themes of a roundtable to address challenges in improving patient safety, emphasising the need for data sharing nuances, cultural shifts, optimising limited resources, prioritising workforce plans, and staff well-being.
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Content ArticleThe second annual Safety For All conference was held at the Royal College of Physicians in London on Tuesday 5th December 2023. Over 100 members of the healthcare community attended this event, including occupational health professionals, patient safety experts, frontline staff, patients and academics. The conference was hosted by the Safer Healthcare and Biosafety Network and Patient Safety Learning as part of the Safety For All campaign, supported by B. Braun, BD, Boston Scientific and Stryker. Attendees had the opportunity to hear from two keynote speakers: Lynn Woolsey, UK Deputy Chief Nurse at the Royal College of Nursing and Dr Henrietta Hughes, Patient Safety Commissioner for England. The conference was chaired and facilitated by Dr Rob Galloway, A&E Consultant at Brighton and Sussex Hospital NHS Trust, with a welcome introduction from Dr Ian Bullock, CEO of the Royal College of Physicians. There were a number of panel sessions and presentations throughout the day which are summarised in the attachment below, including on sustainability, antimicrobial resistance and antibiotic underdosing, violence at work, clinical communications, human factors, implementing the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF), and women's health and the menopause.
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News Article
Nearly nine in ten GPs have faced verbal abuse in the last year
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
GPs have warned that the extent of verbal abuse directed at them and their practice staff ‘is increasing’, with the majority reporting that things are worse now than during the height of the Covid pandemic. A UK-wide survey of more than 2,000 doctors – of which 617 were GPs – found that 85% of GPs have reported receiving verbal abuse from patients within the last 12 months. The research conducted by Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland (MDDUS) also found that 15% of GPs reporting verbal abuse said they ‘had to resort to involving the police’ to deal with abusive patient situations over the past year. In the survey, GPs identified key triggers such as ‘lack of access to a face-to-face consultation’ and ‘complaints about their quality of care’ as the factors that could escalate to verbal abuse. One GP who responded to the survey said: "During a consultation with a young adult, they got very irate and demanded I just give them what they came for. "I explained they had to calm down and we would only proceed then at which they called me an ugly, fat, c**t and threatened to smash my face in. That consultation stayed with me for quite a while after that." Another said: ‘A patient smashed the surgery front door (it needed replacing) because he didn’t get what he wanted when he wanted it. "This was very scary for staff and other patients and the police didn’t even come until the next day. I felt alone, defensive and wondered why we bother to try to provide a service when some patients have already decided it isn’t good enough for them." Read full story Source: Pulse, 7 December 2023 -
Content ArticlePatient safety incidents, including medical errors and adverse events, frequently occur in intensive care units, leading to a significant psychological burden on healthcare professionals. This burden results in second victim syndrome, which impacts the psychological and psychosomatic wellbeing of these staff members. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to examine the occurrence of second victim syndrome among intensive care unit healthcare workers, including the types, prevalence, risk factors and recovery time associated with the condition.
