OBJECTIVE To report the experience of implementing a 4-hour-rule program. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS A 3-2013 whole-of-hospital clinical service redesign program in a tertiary paediatric hospital in Western Australia, involving all patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2011. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Percentage of patients admitted, discha...

OBJECTIVE This study highlighted the reasons which contributed to longer stay of patients in Emergency Department (ED) who were advised admission. METHODOLOGY This study was conducted from August 4 to 11, 2004G as a retrospective review of the ED cards of patients admitted to inpatients wards of Al-Noor Specialist Hospital, Makkah, Saudi Arabia. The demographic data, doctors & nurses notes wi...

Prescribing errors are the most common type of medical errors and can result in harm particularly in young children. Doctors were enrolled in a programme of written assessment in prescribing skills and individualized feedback. Pharmacists audited the impact. The setting was the paediatric wards and neonatal unit of a District General Hospital. 16 doctors were tested and received feedback. A tot...

Bedside teaching is a valuable instructional method that facilitates the development of history and physical examination skills, the modeling of professional behaviors, and the direct observation of learners. The emergency department (ED) is an ideal environment for the practice of bedside teaching, because its high patient volume, increased acuity of illness, and variety of pathology provide p...

The monitoring of intravenous therapy by nursing staff in medical wards over an 18 hour period was studied. The study focused on the measuring or flow rates, the technique used for unblocking intravenous lines and how recording was managed. Only intravenous therapy which was likely to be in situ for longer than a 24 hour period was studied in randomly selected medical wards. Procedures were car...

PURPOSE Extravasation with intravenous chemotherapy is a common complication of chemotherapy which carries the risk of devastating complications. This study aims to determine the rate of extravasation with intravenous chemotherapy in a major hospital where chemotherapy is delivered in various departments other than the oncology department. PATIENTS AND METHODS All patients who underwent intra...

The overcrowding of Emergency Departments compromises their critical function and the safety of patients and staff. This study asked the patients how the wait in overcrowded conditions impacted on them and the care they received and what they believed the reasons for the overcrowding were. A prospective questionnaire based structured interview study was performed. Over half (57.7%) of patients ...

An anonymous hazard reporting hotline was established for doctors to use on two general medical wards at Weston General Hospital (WGH) in North Somerset in England during an eight day period in July/August 2014. Doctors were encouraged to report hazards and near misses or just start a conversation about a concern. The existing computer based significant event system remained alongside the hotli...