FEATURE ARTICLES

Anaemia and MSSA continue to impact outcomes in patients undergoing hip and knee surgeries. A national initiative is currently underway to drive improvement through pre-screening and optimisation of patients. Louise Frampton reports.

A survey has shown that over two-thirds of operating theatres staff are concerned about the effects of surgical smoke on their health.

How will theatre infection prevention strategies need to adapt to a new era, following the pandemic? Kate Woodhead, RGN DMS, considers best practice as elective surgery resumes.

An NHS Trust has reduced cardiac arrests by more than three quarters since it went live with an early warning system. The Trust is now redesigning clinical pathways using the same solution to spot potentially fatal conditions including AKI and sepsis

Being able to streamline local healthcare and reduce unnecessary A&E and hospital admissions for frail and vulnerable patients has never been more relevant in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Indira Natarajan, a consultant stroke physician, highlights the burden of VTE on stroke aftercare and offers an insight into a pilot study evaluating the use of neuromuscular electrostimulation on the hospital’s stroke unit.

Professor Steve Ryder, Chair of the Hepatitis C Coalition, is calling on those involved in the patient pathway to find the estimated 50% of people with chronic hepatitis C who are unaware, as well as those who have been tested but remain untreated.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the number one cause of death globally; more people die annually from CVDs than from any other cause. So, how can the NHS do more to improve outcomes and tackle the risk factors?

There are now around 200 procedures identified as being suitable for day case surgery. However there is still variation between Trusts in terms of day case rates & studies suggest that more patients could be sent home on the same day as their surgery

The Association for Perioperative Practice (AfPP) along with a coalition of patient safety focused organisations are calling for more to be done to prevent surgical fires.

In 2019, mobile medical unit provider EMS Healthcare announced the launch of the UK’s largest mobile decontamination unit, in partnership with Cantel (UK).

With COVID-19 lockdown measures beginning to ease, Gemma Rower discusses how hospitals can maintain a safe operating theatre during the global pandemic – protecting the perioperative team and patients.

Investment in the latest radiology technologies is important to support pioneering treatments, while ageing equipment also exposes patients to higher levels of radiation.

As the steam steriliser is a critical part of decontamination, verification of the machine’s ability to penetrate steam into a load is vital to ensure patient safety.

Kate Woodhead RGN DMS discusses the key principles of enhanced recovery, the current progress in adoption and how the principles are now evolving

As decontamination units and SSDs restart services in the post-COVID era, decontamination consultant, Trevor Garcia, looks at some of the issues impacting on the selection of detergents and disinfectants for use in washer-disinfectors (WDs).

The NHS faces a slow road to recovery and the Government must manage expectations to retain public confidence, the NHS Confederation has warned. A new report outlines key recommendations to help healthcare services recover.

IoT technology could modernise operating theatres, from isolated workspaces to being part of an active collaborative support system.

Pressure ulcers present a huge burden for the NHS and it has led to growing concerns about the incidence, how their management could be affected and what this will mean for patient outcomes. So, how can the health service address this?

Hanna Bielecka argues that chlorine dioxide, at low concentrations, dosed into filtered rinse water, could provide an effective solution to ensure water quality in decontamination processes.