FEATURE ARTICLES

The Serious Hazards of Transfusion (SHOT) report for 2013 provides the latest analysis of adverse events in blood transfusion, as well as key recommendations. A summary of the full report, which is available on the SHOT website, is reproduced below by kind permission.

Achieving the right balance of staffing in hospitals is crucial to ensuring patient safety, as recent reports have highlighted. KATE WOODHEAD RGN DMS provides an insight into the latest guidance.

Will we be celebrating the centenary of antibiotics, in another 14 years, or will we have lost one of our most valuable resources? This was one of the key questions raised at a recent conference addressing ‘one of the greatest threats to human health’. LOUISE FRAMPTON reports.

Failure to understand the importance of managing temperature remains a key patient safety issue that must be addressed. Awareness of this issue was recently raised at an educational day, held in London. LOUISE FRAMPTON reports.

SUZANNE CALLANDER reports on the benefits that the installation of a 3D HD integrated operating theatre is offering to surgical teams and urology patients at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARL).

New research shows that the likelihood of GPs prescribing antibiotics for coughs and colds increased by 40% between 1999 and 2011. The Chief Medical Officer has previously highlighted the need to tackle the problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), but could the introduction of point of care diagnostics provide a solution to over prescribing? LOUISE FRAMPTON reports.

WAYNE SPENCER offers comment on the use of low temperature sterilisation in sterile service departments, and asks whether the technology will be the subject of a revival in the UK as endoscopy techniques advance.

While there is a need for international efforts to tackle the threat posed by antimicrobial resistance, how can clinicians, pharma and governments take positive steps to help avert a crisis? SUSAN PEARSON reports.

At the NHS Confederation annual conference staffing issues, culture change and the need for honesty were high on the agenda. LOUISE FRAMPTON reports

Taking place at Manchester Central (Exhibition and Conference Centre), The British Society of Gastroenterology annual meeting (16-19 June 2014) will tackle a wide range of topical issues in gastroenterology – from improving the availability of 24/7 Acute Upper GI Bleeding (AUGIB) services, to the promotion of better alcohol services.

Various studies are taking place around the UK, looking at how key technologies could help to improve adenoma detection rates, as well as the diagnosis of other conditions such as coeliac disease. The Clinical Services Journal reports.

Professor Dr PETER HEEG and Dr JÜRGEN GAUER report on the findings of a study to evaluate a novel approach to minimise the risk of infectious disease transmission, through high-level disinfection.

Reducing HCAIs: Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance will focus on the serious threat posed by growing resistance to antibiotic treatments.

KATE WOODHEAD RGN DMS is a past chairman of NATN. She offers her personal memories of the Association for Perioperative Practice in its 50th year and takes an opportunity to congratulate all those who have held posts – both paid and voluntary – and who have helped to ensure that the Association continues to move forward.

RICHARD JONES discusses why it is important to look at the lessons that can be learned from the recent changes occurring within the NHS and to understand how these learnings can be implemented.

JULIE QUICK and SUSAN HALL discuss the contribution of non-medically qualified surgical assistants in theatres – highlighting the importance of education, training and support, to strengthen the position of these practitioners

In the coming years, effective procurement, technology utilisation and medical device management will be crucial in ensuring safe, efficient care in challenging, cost-constrained times.

Magnification endoscopy is the future of gastroenterology, according to one of the UK’s consultant surgeons and interventional endoscopists, Mr AMYN HAJI. The King’s College Hospital doctor is one of a small group of specialists in the UK who are trained to use this increasingly popular method of diagnosis.

A recent report from the Royal College of Surgeons has stated that NHS patients may be missing out on ground-breaking new procedures due to a failure to adopt new surgical techniques quickly into everyday clinical practice. The Clinical Services Journal reports.

The World Health Organization recommendations in the Antimicrobial resistance: global report on surveillance 2014 include ‘enhancing infection prevention and control’ and ‘fostering innovation and research and development of new tools’.