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Content ArticleThe National COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy outlines Ireland’s high-level plan for safe, effective and efficient vaccination of the population, while safeguarding continued provision of health and social care services. The Strategy was prepared by the High-Level Task Force on COVID-19 Vaccination.
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Content ArticleIn mid-December, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorisation (EUA) to both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. Since then, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) has received numerous voluntary reports of COVID-19 vaccine errors or hazards through the ISMP National Vaccine Errors Reporting Program (VERP), the ISMP National Consumer Medication Errors Reporting Program (C-MERP), and via email correspondence from professional colleagues. This article from ISMP highlights a few of the missteps happening across the nation and internationally, from vaccine dilution errors to look-alike product mix-ups. There is much to be gleaned from these reports, as the same types of errors are likely happening globally, and similar risks exist in most settings. They conclude with safe practice recommendations to help prevent these types of errors in your practice setting.
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Content ArticleAn article from McKinsey & Company looking at the risks and challenges of the COVID-19 vaccination rollout. This article considers the elements of this enormous undertaking, the risks that are inherent, and potential means of further accelerating vaccination.
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Content ArticleThe Faculty of Occupational Medicine (FOM) has published guidance for healthcare professionals to assist them in facilitating the return to work of people who are unable to work due to Long-COVID. Follow the link below or download the guidance as a pdf.
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Content ArticleA conversation with John Wilkes (AstraZeneca), Clifford Berry (Takeda), Amy D. Wilson, Ph.D. (Biogen), and Jim Morris (NSF Health Sciences). This article is the first part of a two-part roundtable Q&A focused on human performance in pharmaceutical operations. Part 1 discusses key drivers for human performance improvement, compares lean manufacturing and human performance programmes, and provides perspectives on human performance in the context of the rapid scale-up and production of COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines. Part 2 reviews human performance in the context of company investigation and CAPA programmes.
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Content ArticleThis report summarises the impacts on babies of COVID-19 and the spring 2020 national lockdown. The report also explores how local systems responded to the challenges presented by COVID-19. It seeks to understand the factors that have shaped the response by services that support babies and their families. Most importantly, the report seeks to ensure that lessons are learnt for the future of service provision for this age group.
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Content ArticleFrontline clinicians working with the National CLEAR Programme for ICU have published ten recommendations that can be adopted in ICU in 48 hours, to help manage the COVID surge. Click on the image or download the attachment as a PDF.
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Content ArticleRegina Hoffman, Executive director of Pennsylvania’s Patient Safety Authority and editor-in-chief of Patient Safety, discusses why we need to shift the focus from "whomever-care" to a "people's care" approach. She hopes after the pandemic that the next chapter brings radical change to how we approach patient safety and says we must start by making patient safety a national priority. This is part of a series of blogs from Regina 'The bigger picture'.
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Content Article'Covid Oximetry @home' describes an enhanced package of care for individuals with confirmed (or suspected) COVID-19 who are at risk for future deterioration. NHS England and Improvement wrote to all CCGs and trusts to encourage the development of local CO@H projects. The 'CO@h' package of care involves the remote monitoring of the patient's condition through providing regular contact with a local health care team who will reassess the individuals symptoms (including oxygen saturation levels). This close monitoring enables the individual to remain at their usual place of residence whilst allowing early signs of deterioration to be identified and escalated quickly and appropriately. This material has been designed primarily for use across the South East AHSN network by colleagues within the Wessex AHSN, Kent Surrey Sussex AHSN and Oxford AHSN regions. Colleagues from regions beyond the South East are also very welcome to make use of this toolkit in setting up their own local approaches to remote monitoring.
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Content ArticleAcute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and respiratory failure are characterised by hypoxemia (i.e., low levels of blood oxygen). Infections such as influenza and COVID-19 can lead to ARDS or respiratory failure. Treatment is through supportive measures. In severe cases, patients receive oxygen through a ventilator and, when appropriate, are placed in a prone position for an extended period. A retrospective review of events submitted to the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Reporting System (PA-PSRS) identified 98 prone position–related events in patients with ARDS, respiratory failure, distress, and pneumonia from 1 January 2010, through 30 June 2020; 30 events were associated with COVID-19. Skin integrity injuries accounted for 83.7% (82 of 98) of the events. The remaining events, 16.3% (16 of 98), involved unplanned extubations, cardiac arrests, displaced lines, enteral feedings, medication errors, a dental issue, and posterior ischemic optic neuropathy.
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Content ArticleIn response to the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, healthcare systems worldwide have stepped up their infection prevention and control efforts in order to reduce the spread of the infection. Behaviours, such as hand hygiene, screening and cohorting of patients, and the appropriate use of antibiotics have long been recommended in surgery, but their implementation has often been patchy. The current crisis presents an opportunity to learn about how to improve infection prevention and control and surveillance (IPCS) behaviours. The improvements made were mainly informal, quick and stemming from the frontline rather than originating from formal organisational structures. This paper from Toccafondi et al. aims to illustrate how adopting a human factors and ergonomics perspective can provide insights into how clinical work systems have been adapted and reconfigured in order to keep patients and staff safe.
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Content ArticleThe global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has taken a dramatic toll on virtually all aspects of life, from the economy, to employment, relationships, public health, and personal health. In the United States, more than 200,000 individuals have died of the coronavirus. As of October, hundreds of thousands of Americans are filing unemployment claims each week. For all of us, the pandemic has become a time marked by uncertainty, fear, and grief. According to a survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 40 percent of US adults reported struggling with mental health or substance use issues. Although much of the general population has admitted to feeling more anxious and depressed during the pandemic, those with substance use and mental health issues face unique challenges.
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Content Article
Vaccination centres: minimising the risks to vulnerable people
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Blogs
Jane Carthey, Human Factors and Patient Safety Specialist, shares her reflections on COVID-19 vaccination centres and the risk they may present for covid transmission. -
Content ArticleIt can be confusing to know what to do when your baby or child is unwell during the coronavirus pandemic. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has developed posters for families living in England, Scotland, Wales (in English and Welsh languages) and Northern Ireland about when and how to get medical help for your child, or for your young baby, or for yourself as a young person.
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Content ArticleHip-fracture patients are vulnerable to the outcomes of COVID-19. Authors of this study, published in The Journal of Hospital Infection, performed a cross-sectional survey to determine measures employed to limit nosocomial spread of COVID-19 in 23 orthopaedic trauma departments in the North-West of England. Nineteen (87%) hospitals admitted patients to a ward prior to a negative swab, and only 9 (39%) patients were barrier nursed. Hip-fracture patients were operated in non-COVID-19-free theatres in 21 (91%) hospitals. Regular screening of doctors working in trauma and elective areas for COVID-19 was undertaken in three (13%) and five (22%) hospitals, respectively. Doctors moved freely between trauma and elective areas in 22 (96%) hospitals.
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Content ArticleA team of scientific experts has joined forces from across the world to help fight the spread of misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines. Together they have created a unique online guide, led by the University of Bristol, to arm people with practical tips combined with the very latest information and evidence to talk reliably about the vaccines, constructively challenge associated myths, and allay fears. With the race on to vaccinate as many people as possible soonest in the wake of a more virulent virus strain, they’re appealing to everyone, from doctors to politicians, teachers to journalists and parents to older generations, to understand the facts, follow the guidance, and spread the word.
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Content ArticleWhile individual countries have gained considerable knowledge and experience of COVID-19 management, an international, comparative perspective is lacking, particularly regarding the measures taken by different countries to tackle the pandemic. This paper from Tartaglia et al. elicits the views of health system staff, tapping into their personal expertise on how the pandemic was initially handled.
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Content ArticleInformation for all women of childbearing age, those currently pregnant or breastfeeding on coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination.
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Content ArticleWith the UK's official COVID-19 death toll exceeding 60 000, and data from the Office for National Statistics indicating excess deaths of more than 70 000, the succession of grim milestones in 2020 has shown little sign of abating, despite optimism around COVID-19 vaccination. Every single COVID-19 death is a family devastated by loss. The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, a group of over 2000 people who have lost a loved one to COVID-19 in the UK, share their stories in this Lancet commentary, and are campaigning for lessons to be learned as quickly as possible to save lives as the pandemic continues and ahead of the wide-scale roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines across the UK. They call for an immediate public inquiry with a rapid review phase.
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Content ArticleRIDDOR puts duties on employers, the self-employed and people in control of work premises (the Responsible Person) to report certain serious workplace accidents, occupational diseases and specified dangerous occurrences (near misses). There is no requirement under RIDDOR (The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013) to report incidents of disease or deaths of members of the public, patients, care home residents or service users from COVID-19. The reporting requirements relating to cases of, or deaths from, COVID-19 under RIDDOR apply only to occupational exposure, that is, as a result of a person’s work.
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Content ArticleThe University of California, Irvine, health sciences researchers have created a machine-learning model to predict the probability that a COVID-19 patient will need a ventilator or ICU care. The tool is free and available online for any healthcare organisation to use. "The goal is to give an earlier alert to clinicians to identify patients who may be vulnerable at the onset," said Daniel S. Chow, an assistant professor in residence in radiological sciences and first author of the study, published in PLOS ONE. The tool predicts whether a patient's condition will worsen within 72 hours. Coupled with decision-making specific to the healthcare setting in which the tool is used, the model uses a patient's medical history to determine who can be sent home and who will need critical care. The study found that at UCI Health, the tool's predictions were accurate about 95% of the time.
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Content ArticleThe COVID-19 pandemic is compromising the nation's health - in the short and long term. It's widening existing inequalities, with some groups hit harder than others. As part of the Health Foundation COVID-19 impact inquiry, we spoke to to three people from across the UK to hear about their experiences of the pandemic. Nathaniel, Bethan and Joe share how COVID-19 and measures to control the virus have affected different aspects of their lives including work, access to health care services and mental health. They also reflect on what they think we can learn from the pandemic, to give everybody the same opportunities for health and wellbeing - now and in the future.
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Content Article
Channel 4: Surviving Covid (26 November 2020)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Four patients lie in comas in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at King's College Hospital in south London in March 2020. Each one has been struck down by COVID-19 during Britain's first surge. This intimate, feature-length observational documentary follows their stories - and their families' stories - over six months. -
Content ArticleUniversity College London (UCL) Hospitals have produced this joint guide with Performing Medicine for using personal protective equipment (PPE) informed by insights from actors used to wearing restrictive costumes. Although healthcare workers wearing PPE have an entirely different purpose and are working in an intensely emotional and demanding context, actors have useful, practical advice to share about challenges such as orientation, communication and movement in challenging clothing and equipment. Performing Medicine has been providing courses for healthcare professionals for over 15 years. They draw on arts-based approaches and methods to teach skills relevant to clinical practice.
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Content ArticleThe National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)-supported RECOVERY trial has found no clinical benefit from the antibiotic azithromycin for hospitalised patients with severe COVID-19.
