FEATURE ARTICLES

Ultrasound needle guidance improves both the safety and efficacy of nerve blocks and local anaesthesia delivery. The Clinical Services Journal looks at the varied roles of hand-carried ultrasound in pain management, from post-operative recovery to chronic pain and palliative care.

When Yeovil District Hospital needed to upgrade its Sterile Services Department (SSD), to increase accessibility from the operating theatres and day surgeries, an innovative solution to the hospital’s problems of space constraints was provided.

The Clinical Services Journal reports on the findings of the National Heart Failure Audit 2010, which provides comparative data to help improve the quality of service and outcomes for heart failure patients.

The British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) will be hosting its Annual Meeting at the International Convention Centre, Birmingham from 14-17 March 2011. The event is expected to attract over 2,500 delegates from around the world, including research scientists, clinicians, nurses, patients and students.

Point-of-care testing is finding increased application across the breadth of modern medicine. Recently, research has demonstrated its value in the assessment of chest pain in the accident and emergency department.

Trusts can save vast amounts of money without impacting frontline services and without the need for mass job cuts, argues CHRIS LLOYD, vice president of healthcare at Simpler Consultancy. He looks at how inefficiencies can be identified throughout the NHS.

With input from clinicians and analysts, the Dr Foster Hospital Guide 2010 focused on three important areas – stroke, orthopaedics and urology. The often contentious issue of safety has also been tackled, to report on improvements since the last report and to highlight areas where problems remain. The Clinical Services Journal reports.

Creutzfeldt Jacob Disease has not disappeared. The much feared disease, which is invariably fatal, has not produced an epidemic thus far, but it has not gone away. KATE WOODHEAD RGN DMS reports.

A scheme aimed at speeding up the introduction of innovation in the health service is striving to overcome barriers to adoption of new products. The Clinical Services Journal reports.

KATE WOODHEAD RGN DMS, chairman of Trustees, Friends of African Nursing, discusses the difficulties encountered when implementing the Safe Surgery Saves Lives programme in Africa and the benefits that it can bring to patients in the region.

GUY HIRST, an expert in human factors training, says that further improvements in surgical results depend on professional leadership, technical refinement and the application of scientific evidence about human performance.

Point-of-care haematology is helping the accident and emergency (A&E) department at Watford General Hospital to meet turnaround targets and provide rapid and appropriate patient care.

An investigation into the care received by elderly patients, who died in hospital within 30 days of undergoing surgery, has found that only one-third received good care – prompting claims that the health service is currently failing this vulnerable group of patients. The Clinical Services Journal reports.

Manchester was the setting for a meeting, hosted by Roche, to discuss the introduction of new-generation, highly sensitive troponin assays. JEANETTE MARCHANT reports on an event that also compared and contrasted German and UK practice.

Advances in transfusion medicine are contributing to more evidence-based patient care across many clinical and surgical specialties, as The Clinical Services Journal discovered at a recent symposium held at the headquarters of the Royal College of Pathologists.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) has one of the highest death rates for any healthcare-associated infection, claiming around 6,000 lives in the UK alone, and can cause severe complications in surviving patients. KEITH TURNER, Cambridge Design Partnership, discusses the problems associated with current ventilation systems and looks at how humidification could be improved.

The 3M AfPP Academy, which focuses on the development of non-technical skills, was established with the aim of improving standards of patient care and safety. The latest training course, added to the portfolio, will help delegates increase their “personal power” and to influence change. LOUISE FRAMPTON reports.

SUSAN PEARSON investigates an award-winning medical imaging instrument that takes a new approach to implementation of the photoacoustic effect.

Dr TOM SMITH, chief executive of the British Society of Gastroenterology, discusses the campaigning priorities for the BSG in 2011.

How can you tell whether an outbreak of Pseudomonas aeruginosa is due to cross contamination between patients and staff or to the contamination of a hospital’s systemic water supply? How can you protect the most vulnerable patients from infection from pathogenic organisms lurking in hospitals?