FEATURE ARTICLES

The burden of paperwork and unnecessary requests for information has increased, creating additional non-productive work for healthcare professionals at all levels.

Advancing endoscopy technology is leading to improvements in early cancer detection through superior visualisation. The Clinical Services Journal provides an insight into a new generation of devices, offering high definition imaging, which are helping to reduce procedure and diagnosis times.

Patient satisfaction is now high on the agenda of most healthcare leaders. It is no longer a luxury that can be dispensed with when more pressing initiatives arise. Efforts are underway to drive improvement and ensure services are truly ‘patient focused’. LOUISE FRAMPTON reports.

A significant number of patients will experience some form of healthcare-associated harm during their hospital stay and, in many cases, this harm is caused by unreliable healthcare systems and processes.

In the next few years, biomedical engineers will have a crucial role in helping to redesign the health service to deliver more for less.

SUZANNE CALLANDER reports on the issues of ensuring adequate fluids for vulnerable patients, and looks at some examples of the work being done to ensure that adequate nutrition and hydration become part of routine clinical practice.

Evidence-based clinical decision support resource tools used at the point of care are becoming increasingly popular. SUZANNE CALLANDER reports on one health library’s move to such a system and finds out about the benefits that it has offered at this, and other Trusts.

Rare diseases are often chronic and life-threatening, and have an impact on the lives of patients and their families. Most are also multisystem conditions, affecting different parts of the body. This often results in people with these conditions needing complex care from a range of different health professionals.

Healthcare providers must invest in technology to tackle non-communicable diseases (NCDs), urges Dr ALAN DAVIES MD MRCP, medical director for GE Healthcare, Europe, Middle East and Africa.

The detection of invisible contamination in the near patient environment can help to improve standards of cleanliness by giving an indication of cleaning effectiveness and acting as a tool for training and education of healthcare staff. The Clinical Services Journal reports.

The British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) will be holding its annual meeting at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) in Glasgow, from 24-27 June, giving the sector an opportunity to network and to reflect on the increasingly divergent health policies in the devolved nations within the UK, and the implications for the specialty.

NICE has published draft medical technology guidance on a device designed to help health professionals when there are unexpected intubation difficulties.

Trumpf Medical Systems has entered into the field of robotics and has ambitions to integrate the technology into UK theatres. The new generation of compact robotic surgical assistants could open up new possibilities in laparoscopic surgery, while tackling staffing issues associated with emergency and out-of-hours procedures. LOUISE FRAMPTON reports.

KATE WOODHEAD RGN DMS provides an insight into the latest review of the NHS Constitution, in the wake of the Francis report.

SUZANNE CALLANDER reports on an automated solution that has been developed to offer real-time monitoring, tracking and reporting of compliance rates, based around the principles of WHO’s ‘5 moments for hand hygiene’.

The current model of long-term conditions management in the NHS is not sustainable. WENDY LAWRENCE, CEO, Totally Health, examines why commissioners and patients must behave differently if care pathways for the treatment of chronic disease are to improve – and why integrated, innovative technologies must form part of the solution.

Integrated health services are seen as the answer to delivering high-quality, affordable healthcare – particularly for patients with long-term conditions. But that requires some key building blocks, argues Dr ROB BEARDALL.

SUZANNE CALLANDER reports on a US-based hospital which uses point-of-care Troponin testing as standard in its emergency department to more efficiently diagnose patients with myocardial infarction allowing for treatment to begin in a more timely manner.

In October 2012, the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association and Picker Institute Europe announced the findings from a study researching the views of people with MND about the choices and control when living with a life-shortening illness. Some of those affected wanted the option of assisted dying, as BORIS SEDACCA reports.

Ergonomic equipment design has an important role to play in helping ensure healthcare staff safety, and could help to reduce the instances of work-related illness due to musculo-skeletal disorders. KEN COOKSON, manual handling manager at Aintree University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, provides expert insight into safe patient handling.