FEATURE ARTICLES

At the recent 3M European Infection Prevention Expert Conference which took place in Germany, Professor JUDITH TANNER gave a presentation about the benefits of pre-operative patient warming in reducing surgical site infection and the financial implications of its adoption.

The 47th AfPP (Association for Perioperative Practice) Congress and Exhibition takes place from 19-21 October at the Bournemouth International Centre.

The Clinical Services Journal reports on the most recent research which could help develop techniques to assist with the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease, a move which would allow people to better plan for the future, and enable potential new treatments to be tested at the earliest stages of the disease, when they are most likely to have an effect.

The use of ultrasound as an intraoperative tool to guide surgeons is an exciting area of development where the technology can offer improvements to patient care, says DANILO TAPPIA.

Following the recent publication of final guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, relating to oesophageal doppler monitoring during major surgery, The Clinical Services Journal reports on the technology and its affect on patient outcome.

SUSAN PEARSON reports on a new method for monitoring Legionella in water systems which can provide accurate results in hours, instead of weeks. It could soon be used for compliance testing for Legionella counts if UKAS accreditation is achieved.

MARK EATON argues that Lean methodologies have an important role to play in tackling the divergence of processes and approaches in the healthcare environment to offer productivity and safety improvements.

The Clinical Services Journal reviews a recent Health Briefing issued by the Audit Commission, which looks at how Primary Care Trusts are spending on low clinical value surgical treatments and how they are making decisions on which procedures warrant the title “low clinical value”.

SUZANNE CALLANDER reports on an automated auditing solution which has supported Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust’s turnaround to become one of the most improved Trusts in relation to healthcare associated infections.

Dr KEL PALMER, clinical director for the CROMES project, discusses the reasons for the introduction of this toolkit which has been produced to offer guidance on the diagnosis and management of upper GI bleeding.

MARK GREENER explores the role of octenidine in helping to deal with HAIs, and argues that effective infection control requires us to think beyond the hospital doors.

KATE WOODHEAD RGN DMS reports on a toolkit designed to make handovers between doctors, nurses and healthcare teams safer for the patient. She believes it will be of considerable value to teams wishing to improve their culture of patient safety.

SUZANNE CALLANDER reports on the winners of this year’s Clinical Engineering Team of the Year, an annual award for medical engineering teams, which aims to encourage the implementation of innovative solutions to the management of medical devices.

The annual report of data collected and recommendations made by the UK’s independent haemovigilance scheme was announced at the SHOT Annual Symposium, early in July, at The Royal Society of Medicine.

The Clinical Services Journal looks at the issues raised by a recent National Audit Office report which identifies a need for Trusts to secure greater value for money when buying and operating high value capital equipment.

The Clinical Services Journal looks into the findings of a report which calls for UK hospitals to adopt a zero tolerance approach to preventable surgical site infections.

The third report of the National Kidney Care Audit for Vascular Access has presented its findings from data for patients starting dialysis between the 1 January and 30 June 2010, providing information on the timely and appropriate surgery for permanent vascular access, based on the recommendations of the standards and quality requirements stated in the National Service Framework (NSF) for Renal Services.

The Clinical Services Journal reports on the first UK test site for a new endoscope management solution that allows users to remotely monitor the decontamination process in real-time.

The final report of the National Sentinel Stroke Audit has shown that care for patients with stroke is still improving in the UK. However, there are still some issues that do need to be addressed. The Clinical Services Journal reports.

COLIN HUNT argues that ATP bioluminescence has an important role to play in helping to cost-effectively verify that environmental surfaces are sufficiently clean in the healthcare environment.