FEATURE ARTICLES

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued guidelines on reducing venous thromboembolism. A number of key recommendations are made that, if implemented, should have a significant effect in reducing mortality and morbidity in patients undergoing surgery.

Opening a new era of immediate diagnosis and therapeutic intervention, confocal endomicroscopy is a ground-breaking and time-saving technology facilitating in vivo microscopy of mucosal tissues and dramatic subsurface imaging during ongoing endoscopy. The Clinical Services Journal reports.

Substantial benefits accrue when high performance pre-operative assessment services are provided. AMANDA BASSETT, executive director, Perigon Healthcare, looks at the way ahead.

Professor Sir ARA DARZI, national advisor on surgery, sets out the changes that have taken place in surgery over the past two decades and argues that the way surgery is organised must change so that patients will benefit from surgical advances.

The success of an e-learning programme for staff involved in the decontamination of surgical instruments is notable. The Clinical Services Journal reports.

Inherent in perioperative nursing care is a requirement to assess and manage infection risks. JOHN BEESLEY examines what this involves.

Dr GRAHAM JACKSON, head of molecular diagnostics at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Prion Unit, presented information on breakthroughs in prion decontamination and detection at the Central Sterilising Club meeting held in Manchester earlier this year.

KATE WOODHEAD RGN DMS, technical editor of The Clinical Services Journal, reviews significant items of healthcare sector news.

A recent study has revealed that by establishing a scheme to remind doctors about the most appropriate antibiotics to prescribe, the number of Clostridium difficile cases can be significantly reduced.

With the publication of a Government document on the future of maternity services in England, critics have been questioning whether measures are going to hinder rather than help the policy for greater choice for women.

A global clinical research programme has been launched to develop an alternative obesity measurement system to the Body Mass Index (BMI). The Clinical Services Journal reports on a study and the technology behind it.

The introduction of e-health and the realisation of its potential clearly require greater momentum, DEBBIE LEE emphasises.

Cancer patients seeking facts about their diagnosis and treatment will soon be able to receive information prescriptions thanks to a new partnership between two of Britain’s leading cancer charities.

As the fight continues to limit the spread of MRSA infections in hospitals, The Clinical Services Journal examines how one games-based learning organisation has produced a novel way of assisting.

Despite the publication of the Government’s TB Action Plan in 2004, the number of reported cases of the infection is still increasing according to a new survey.

In the annual NHS staff survey run by the Healthcare Commission, personnel report that they are less stressed, suffer fewer work-related injuries and see fewer potentially harmful errors, but the results also highlight the levels of violence and abuse that they endure.

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) assays play an important role in screening for prostate disease and in monitoring the effectiveness of treatment. However, current practice risks the under-reporting of potential prostate cancers. Report by MARK STEARMAN, product manager, Beckman Coulter Immunoassay Systems.

JOHN HARRISON MBE MIDSc, director of education of the Institute of Decontamination Sciences, and decontamination manager, Northamptonshire General Hospital NHS Trust, describes issues encountered and dealt with in planning decontamination elements of a new endoscopy unit.

JOHN BEESLEY LLM BA (Hons) RGN NEBOSH, RCN Officer, Yorkshire and Humberside, reports on the Healthcare Commission’s recently published review of gastrointestinal endoscopy services within NHS hospitals in England.

A new set of guidelines designed to help transform the delivery of emergency care for adults has been launched by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement.