BACKGROUND The incidence and prevalence of knee arthrodesis (fusion) in the United States is largely unknown, in spite of numerous case reports and review articles that have called attention to this life altering procedure. PURPOSE This study was conducted to determine long-term knee arthrodesis incidence and patient populations, and to characterize the associated healthcare burden. METHODS...

BACKGROUND Clinical audit is an important tool to improve patient care and outcomes in health service. A significant proportion of time and economic resources are spent on activities related to clinical audit. Completion of audit cycle is essential to confirm the improvements in healthcare delivery. We aimed this study to evaluate audits carried out within trauma and orthopaedic unit of a teach...

OBJECTIVE Recent critiques of incident reporting suggest that its role in managing safety has been over emphasized. The objective of this study was to examine the perceived effectiveness of incident reporting in improving safety in mental health and acute hospital settings by asking staff about their perceptions and experiences. DESIGN Qualitative research design using documentary analysis an...

At the time of writing, the author was a modern matron in a surgical division of an NHS teaching hospital in London. This article considers the differences between leadership and management, and discusses the skills required by modern matrons to lead safe and successful clinical services. It also examines three leadership styles – transactional, transformational and situational – and their rele...

There is one disturbing similarity between the two very dissimilar hospitals. In both cases industrial relations have been complicated and embittered by a degree of interunion competition that seems to have left management virtually powerless to effect improvements in the departments and sections concerned. _011|Rainhill is a 1550-bedded psychiatric hospital in the St Helens and Knowsley AHA, m...

IMPORTANCE Handoffs have significantly increased in number following Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) work-hour restrictions. Studies have shown correlations between the number of handoffs and errors/patient harm. Distractions are common during handoffs and may interfere with handoff quality and effectiveness. OBJECTIVE To examine the frequency of distractions and ...

Australia's major academic health centres not only provide excellent healthcare, but are also involved in one of the most important aspects of the healthcare system -the training of our future health professionals. Most teaching hospitals are also involved in basic and clinical research, and many have major research institutes on their campuses. This symbiosis of healthcare, research and traini...

OBJECTIVE To prevent wrong surgery, the WHO 'Safe Surgery Checklist' was introduced in 2008. The checklist comprises a time-out procedure (TOP): the final step before the start of the surgical procedure where the patient, surgical procedure and side/site are reviewed by the surgical team. The aim of this study is to evaluate the extent to which hospitals carry out the TOP before anaesthesia in ...

. One of the most important tasks of general physicians is the management of outpatients in health centers and clinics. Bedside teaching and ambulatory traiing are however, limited to hospital clinics in short courses without enough supervision. This study aimed to evaluate the attitude of general practitioners working in health centers of Guilan University of medical sciences toward ambulatory...

ambitious 18-year-old was ready to begin her nursing career, even though her father would have preferred her to do secretarial work. The problem was that the two hospitals to which she applied accepted nursing students at age 19, and she didn’t want to wait. Undeterred, the young woman further aggrieved her staunch Protestant family by enrolling at the Catholic St. Michael’s Hospital. That woma...