Inspired by the great initiative from Portsmouth Hospital (see below) we’ve continued to refine the lanyard design to make it as simple as possible for anyone – patients, agency staff to understand. A simple increase in colour shade as level of experience increases combined with plain language. We’d be most […]

After 6 reported deaths and over 400 reported incidents related to oxygen cylinder use the NHS released this patient safety alert (click on image for more details):   These are only the reported cases – the number of true cases will be several magnitudes greater. Father of two, Roland Bull, […]

For those unsure that clearly displaying ones name and role will improve communication, teamwork and patient outcomes this may help: An RCT which demonstrates that wearing hats would lead to prevention of patient deaths require over a million patients in either limb. This is because because of the frequency of […]

Colour coding alert systems perhaps complicate our work environments unnecessarily. I’ve always wondered why they haven’t just said what the alert is. They’re not internationally recognised (a myriad of different systems here) aren’t intuitive, occur extremely rarely in some cases and may be easily forgotten. Misinterpretation of colour coding can […]

  In 2002, 2 patient deaths and a cluster of other adverse events from blocked anaesthetic breathing circuits lead to a police investigation. Operation Orcadian was set up in part to exclude foul play. Several cases were caused by detachable caps from filters coming off and obstructing the breathing circuit. […]

There is no medical benefit to liposuction and significant risk of harm. The death rate from liposuction, 1 in 5000, is 20 times greater than that of other surgical procedures. Within the past 10 years there have been at least 17 deaths from liposuction within Los Angeles alone. All of them female: […]

Not all Bag Valve Masks are designed the same. One major difference is the presence of an expiratory valve. If your BVM does not have an expiratory valve it will entrain air when used for pre-oxygenation vastly impairing the amount of oxygen delivered to patients. Many staff aren’t aware of […]

Activated self-warming blankets have several safety advantages over forced-air warmers. They may also represent a significant cost saving measure – linen usage will be greatly reduced. Disadvantages of forced air warmers include: – occasionally remembering to turn forced air warmer on is overlooked – risk of patient burns when used […]

Turn the ‘Remove Central Lines Supine’ animation into your screensaver wallpaper with a clickable link to the animation by following these simple steps. 1. Click on image above and save as a PNG file in pictures folder. 2. For MAC: Go to System Preferences > Desktop and Screensaver > Desktop […]

Should oxygen analysers become standard in all hospital areas where airway support is provided? A pilot study utility ETO2 monitoring indicated that less than 78% of patients in emergency department resuscitation bays were receiving adequate PreOxygenation prior to induction for intubation. Please feel free to join the conversation by clicking on […]