The role of a junior doctor involves preparing for the morning ward round. At a time when there are gaps on rotas and doctors' time is more stretched, this can be a source of significant delay and thus a loss of working time. We therefore looked at ways in which we could make the ward round a more efficient place by introducing specific electronic, printed ward round proformas. We used the aver...

BACKGROUND International studies show that most people prefer to die at home; however, hospitals remain the most common place of death (PoD). This study aims to investigate the patterns in PoD and the associated factors, which are crucial for end-of-life cancer care enhancement. METHOD This retrospective, population-based study analyzed all registered cancer deaths in Qatar between January 1,...

OBJECTIVE Many EDs have difficulty transferring admitted patients to inpatient beds in a timely manner because of access block. We assessed ED patient preferences for waiting location. METHOD Admitted ED patients at Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, Australia were surveyed over a 4 week period. Patients were questioned about their preferences for waiting location (ED cubicle, ED...

Introduction A high nurse-vacancy rate combined with high numbers of applications for junior pharmacist roles resulted in Colchester Hospital University National Health System Foundation Trust trial employing junior pharmacists into traditional nursing posts with the aim of integrating pharmacists into the ward team and enhancing local medicines optimization. The aim of the evaluation was to de...

Introduction Early recognition and prevention of deterioration of ward patients can improve patient outcomes and reduce critical care admissions [1]. In low and middle income countries (LMICs), with often minimal access to critical care therapies, the benefit may be even greater. However training to assist ward nurses develop acute care skills remains limited in such settings. As part of the NI...

Why the ward round? For folks of a certain age the very mention of ward rounds may conjure up the image of Sir Lancelot Spratt barking orders to an entourage of junior staff following in his wake. Whilst we no longer practice in such a hierarchical world, I fear we have neglected the importance of the ward round and with it the importance of the clinical decision making process itself. If you a...

An app developed by a private firm and customised by a hospital trust has been helping senior nurses carry out ward inspections.

The anisotropic BRDF introduced in [Ward 1992] has become widely used in computer graphics, but some important implementation details are less widely known. We discuss how to efficiently evaluate the Ward BRDF. Then we derive the probability density function for its associated Monte Carlo sampling scheme and the correct weights to use with the generated samples. Finally for the isotropic versio...

Blood gas analysis is a time-consuming procedure, taking up to 30 minutes from obtaining a blood sample from the patient to receiving the results. The process can involve as many as three health care professionals: the doctor, nurse and a member of the pathology department. The result is that it is difficult to provide continual monitoring of blood gas levels on patients with acute respiratory ...