FEATURE ARTICLES

Dr. Frank Bakker offers an insight in to best practice in endoscope reprocessing, in the wake of heightened concerns over the potential threat posed by COVID-19 – providing an overview of the latest evidence and guidance.

From the role of vaccinations and gut health in improving outcomes, to new insights into the link between teenage depression and mid-life heart attack, this year’s digital ESC conference highlighted the latest findings on risk factors and prevention.

Paul Bond, Patient Safety and Quality Support Officer for the Association for Perioperative Practice (AfPP), offers an insight into JAG accreditation and its contribution to driving improvement in patient safety and quality.

The Courage of Compassion: Supporting Nurses and Midwives to Deliver High-quality Care, a King’s Fund report, provides an emotive insight into current working conditions and the impact on staff wellbeing.

Ensuring compliance with best practice in decontamination is a top priority for healthcare providers and patient safety is paramount. However, as limited budgets for training have proven to be a challenge, areas of non-compliance can begin to emerge

A team of clinicians at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, in Aylesbury, recently cut the ribbon on a brand-new sterile services department (SSD), which was created in just four months – despite the challenges presented by the pandemic.

Medication costs are rising at a startling rate, there is further scrutiny on controlled substance use, and medication non-adherence is taking a toll on healthcare costs and patient outcomes.

Clinical decision-makers are continuously forced to make tradeoffs. This includes limiting the use of new technologies that could benefit wider patient groups, despite proven clinical efficacy.

From a new generation in smart diagnostics, to e-Triage systems and telemedicine, digitalisation is becoming a reality. Supported by advances in artificial intelligence, we are seeing a revolution in healthcare

Prof. John Tidy and Ms. Uma Krishnamoorthy conducted a webinar, ‘Bringing colposcopy back to a new normal and how to manage the challenges’, to discuss the impact cervical cancer services are facing as a result of the corona virus pandemic.

The EU Falsified Medicines Directive (EU FMD) introduced new requirements for hospitals to verify the authenticity of prescription medicines.

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the stark inequalities that exist in society. Black and Asian ethnic groups, people from deprived areas and the elderly have been disproportionately affected by the virus, with a higher risk of mortality.

RFiD technology has been helping the clinical engineering department at Plymouth NHS Trust effectively manage medical devices during the pandemic. Now the Trust plans to roll out the technology to other areas, including sterile services.

With demand increasing and capacity limited, how can private service providers, suppliers and partners support the nation’s public health system at this time?

East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust has improved safety for neonatal patients and transformed workflows, by implementing an Sp02 dashboard.

In the UK, there were approximately 900,000 obesity related hospital admissions from 2018 to 2019. Mary Muir provides a comprehensive guide to the safe management and transportation of plus sized patients throughout their care pathway

UK hospitals have come a long way in improving endoscope reprocessing over the past 20 years, but could AIdrive further improvements in the future? Ronald and Arno Wassenburg believe that data will be the key to improving patient safety.

Surgery in patients diagnosed with COVID-19 infection carries significant mortality and morbidity but the appropriate waiting period before surgical intervention after recovering from COVID-19 is not known.

Good, progressive SSI pathways have helped protect patients and reduce the risk of SSIs. Rachel Harding offers an insight into the implementation of an effective protocol for skin preparation, which has helped improve patient outcomes.

Clare Bailey, from the Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT) describes how the use of point of care testing for a range of indications has led to faster diagnoses and improved patient experience at Queen’s hospital