Disposable rake and reusable bristle type cytology brushes have been compared in 50 patients undergoing fibreoptic bronchoscopy for suspected malignancy. Forty seven patients were eventually found to have carcinoma of the bronchus. A diagnosis of malignancy was made from the specimens taken with one or other brush in 34 patients, from the reusable brush in 28, and from the disposable brush in 3...

BACKGROUND Hospital staff are interested in information on patient satisfaction and patient experience that can help them improve quality of care. Staff perceptions of quality of care have been identified as useful proxies when patient data are not available. This study explores the organizational factors and staff attitudes that influence staff perceptions of the quality of the care they provi...

Antibody cross-reactivity to the influenza A(H3N2) variant virus recently reported in the United States, was investigated in Norwegian sera. Seroprevalence was 40% overall, and 71% in people born between 1977 and 1993. The most susceptible age groups were children and people aged around 50 years. The high immunity in young adults is likely to be due to strong priming infection with similar viru...

The WHO assists Member States in reducing dissemination of health care associated infections. Photo credit: WHOHealth care-associated infections (HAIs) are considered the most frequent adverse events that threaten patient safety around the world. Around 5% to 15% of patients admitted to acute care hospitals in developed countries acquire HAIs at any given time. The risk of acquiring infection i...

problem-based educational input, while eight (53.3%) had provided some type of ward-based educational initiatives. Eleven services (73.3%) reported that they did not have any IT support for recording service activity thereby compromising collation of activity data. In summary, it appears that all services with a general hospital within their catchment area were endeavoring to provide some type ...

OBJECTIVE To describe the use of antimicrobial stewardship policies and to investigate factors associated with implementation in a national sample of acute care hospitals. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. PARTICIPANTS Infection Control Directors from acute care hospitals participating in the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). METHODS An online survey was conducted in the Fall of 201...

BACKGROUND Throughout history, visitation of the hospitalised child has always been restricted. The subject of whether hospitalised children should be visited by other children has been accorded minimal attention. OBJECTIVE To determine the current status of visitation of the hospitalised children and the parents and healthcare providers'views on hospitalised children being visited by other c...