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Hospital Medicine
British paediatric surgeon suspended for ‘below standard’ ops
An orthopaedic surgeon who specialises in treating children has been suspended from a hospital in Cambridge, England, after nine surgeries were found to fall...
One in five – and more women – get infections after heart surgery
One in five older adults will develop an infection up to six months after heart surgery – and women, in particular, have a 60%...
Global shortage of oxygen a growing concern, say experts
Oxygen is vital to many medical procedures. But a safe, affordable supply is severely lacking around the world, according to a new report.
At the...
AMR could overtake cancer as top disease killer by 2050
Concerned experts say that if antimicrobial resistance continues to grow, in 25 years’, some antibiotics will become useless, certain bacterial infections will be much...
‘Almost untreatable’ superbug tied to common antibiotic – Australian study
After an eight-year study, scientists recently made a surprising finding in the first recorded instance of one antibiotic causing resistance to another in a...
‘Brain dead’ US man awakens during organ harvesting
An American man who had gone into cardiac arrest and been declared brain dead woke up as surgeons were midway through harvesting his organs for...
Pre-surgery iron vs blood transfusions for anaemic patients – US study
Researchers have suggested – after a rigorous medical records study covering tens of thousands of patients – that some patients with pre-operative anaemia have...
NHLS cyber hack continues to cause chaos in hospitals
Doctors and other medical staff have expressed frustration and alarm at the devastating impact the cyber attack on South Africa’s National Health Laboratory Service...
Small hospital groups get further competition rules reprieve
Smaller private hospital groups have been granted another five-year exemption from certain competition regulations by the Department of Trade, Industry & Competition (DTIC) in...
Neonatal antibiotic use slashed in multi-disciplinary SA project
After a 20-week intervention involving nearly 600 neonates, researchers found that the implementation of a prospective, multi-disciplinary antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programme had significantly reduced...
SA data track shows how pathogens spread and superbugs evolve
For the first time, researchers have been able to precisely quantify the ability of different pneumococcal strains to survive and reproduce, an insight that...
Protests at Eastern Cape hospital over doctor's transfer
Protests have erupted from hospital staff and the local community after a senior doctor, who has worked at Zithulele Hospital in the Eastern Cape...
International health volunteers 'can harm' local relationships in Africa
Every year, thousands of international health volunteers travel to Africa with the intention of “improving health outcomes” and learning about “global health”. However, from...
Hospitals no place for sleep or rest
Most people know that being in hospital is not synonymous with a good night’s sleep – yet while the primary reason might be that...
Tembisa Hospital buckling under pressure of shortages
Gauteng Health’s MEC has admitted Tembisa Hospital is struggling to provide services to patients, thanks to 104 vacancies and a critical lack of equipment,...
WHO guidelines to reduce catheter infections
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has published the first global guidelines to prevent the occurrence of bloodstream and other infections caused by use of...
Activists march for unused R784m to be spent on cancer patients
Despite R784m being set aside by the provincial treasury in March last year for the outsourcing of radiation treatment in Gauteng, the money has...
Non-payment closes theatres in Gauteng hospital
A frustrated supplier, fed-up with delayed payment from Leratong Hospital in Mogale City, Johannesburg, for replacement of an air conditioning system, has “soft-locked” a...
Post-surgery complications higher for African children
After a recent study revealed abysmal outcomes after anaesthesia and surgery for African children with complication rates up to four-fold higher and mortality rates...
Patients’ skin bacteria tied to post-surgery infections – US study
Surgical infections might be caused by bacteria that already live on your skin, rather than via external contamination, suggests a study of more than...
‘Martha’s Rule’ launches this month in UK
Britain’s three main regulators for health professionals and providers are fully supportive of the new "Martha’s Rule" being rolled out this month, giving patients...
Conflicting takes on prone positioning in COVID-19 hospitalised patients
Two recent studies offer conflicting data about the proper use of prone positioning – a belly-down approach to improve respiration – in hospitalised, non-intubated...
Aggressive warming in surgery does not cut complications – PROTECT trial
Patients kept at a body temperature of 37°C during major surgery had no fewer cardiac complications than patients kept at 35.5°C, according to recent...
Standardisation needed of newborn bathing practices at US hospitals
A first nationwide survey of American hospitals has revealed a wide variety of approaches to newborn skincare, including the timing of the first bath,...
Drug resistance linked to antibiotic use and patient transfers in hospitals
The use of the penicillin antibiotic, piperacillin-tazobactam, was the strongest predictor of the emergence of bacteria that are resistant to the standard treatments for...
Hospital infections: 2-year ICU study again makes the case for copper
There are some 90,ooo infection related deaths in US hospitals each year. A growing chorus of researchers argue that replacing stainless steel surfaces with...
New CDC guidelines for S aureus prevention and control in NICUs
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued new recommendations for the prevention and control of Staphylococcus aureus in neonatal intensive...
Injections 2.5x safer when nurses use revamped guidelines
When UK nurses followed modified guidelines that present the same information in a more user-friendly way, nearly two and half times more doses were...
Beware false negative PCR tests, warns Groote Schuur doctor
Clinicians should be wary of false negative COVID-19 PCR swab tests and rather rely on typical infection symptoms, backed by radiological scans. This warning...
'Prehab' before surgery improves care, reduces costs
"Pre-habilitation," as it's called, uses the weeks before surgery to encourage patients to move more, eat healthier, cut back on tobacco, breathe deeper, reduce...
Copper beds in ICU significantly reduce bacterial infections
A study has found that copper hospital beds in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) harboured an average of 95% fewer bacteria than conventional hospital...
High number of older adults re-admitted to hospital with pre-existing infections
Too many older adults readmitted to hospitals with same infections they took home. However, a University of Michigan study found that a disproportionately high...
Energy-saver washing machines may fail to eradicate pathogens
Repeated Klebsiella oxytoca contamination on the skin of premature babies in a German hospital's neonatal intensive care unit was eventually traced to the inability...
Poor doctor-nurse communication behind most catheter use problems
Indwelling devices like catheters cause roughly 25% of hospital infections, but ongoing efforts to reduce catheter use and misuse haven't succeeded as much as...
Flying insects and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in hospitals
More than 50% of bacteria recovered from flying insects in a group of English hospitals were resistant to one or more antibiotics, posing a...
Anti-bacterial coating for intravascular catheters
Brown University researchers have developed a new antibacterial coating for intravascular catheters that could help to prevent catheter-related bloodstream infections, the most common type...
Remodulating hospital microbiota cuts infections and costs
The spread of antimicrobial resistance in hospitals can be limited by sanitation methods that re-modulate the hospital microbiota, according to a multi-centre trial conducted...
Fewer registered nurses linked to increased mortality risk in wards
Admission to a hospital ward with below average numbers of fully trained (registered) nurses to care for patients is linked to a 3% rise...
C. difficile on bed sheets may survive hospital laundering
Washing contaminated hospital bedsheets in a commercial washing machine with industrial detergent at high disinfecting temperatures failed to remove all traces of Clostridium difficile...
Diagnosis and treatment guidelines for C.difficile in new-borns
New-borns require special diagnosis and treatment considerations for the infectious diarrhoea Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) infection, according to a new evidence-based white paper. The...