Needlestick injuries are history
Because safety is more important than ever
Multiple strategies have been deployed to reduce catheter associated urinary tract infections. These include employing correct hand-washing procedures, avoiding breakages in the urinary collection system and taking measures to prevent commensal bacteria from the patient contaminating the catheter. As well as changes in clinical practice, we need to be mindful of the potential technological and equipment solutions. This article highlights the potential use of silver-alloy urinary catheters to reduce catheter associated urinary tract infections.
by Michelle Beattie
Catheter associated urinary tract infections are often accompanied by an increased period of hospitalisation and morbidity, resulting in poor outcomes for patients as well as their families, and significant economic costs to service providers. Despite the high risk of infection and other potential complications, urinary catheters have many beneficial uses in healthcare including diagnostic, prophylactic and therapeutic uses. Regardless of whether the urinary catheter is used for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes, catheters should only be inserted when deemed absolutely necessary, due to their association with significant morbidity and mortality [1].
Catheterisation and sources of infection
As urinary catheterisation involves the insertion of a catheter into the bladder via the urethra, the patient is at a higher risk of infection, as essentially the body treats the presence of a catheter as a foreign body. The body
According to World Health Organisation data, cancer accounted for 13% of all deaths globally in 2008. Largely because age is a fundamental and unmodifiable risk factor, and the average age of the world population is rising, deaths from cancer are projected to increase to over 11 million per annum by 2030. However on world cancer day earlier this month the really good news was that the survival of children with solid tumours has increased from 30% up to 90% within four decades. Of course this dramatic improvement is the result of multidisciplinary efforts involving more effective treatment as well as diagnosis, but improved imaging techniques have played an enormous role in the continually improving survival rate.
The imaging techniques used at diagnosis, and for evaluating tumour response during and after therapy as well as before and after resection, include ultrasonography, CT, MRI, PET or combinations of these modalities, depending on local conditions and the healthcare professionals involved. But in spite of the developments in modern imaging, which are inexorably lowering the dose of radiation to which patients are exposed during procedures, imaging does involve potentially dangerous ionising radiation that may induce other cancers in later life. There is a small, but crucially not zero risk, one which is greater in paediatric patients. An article published last month by authors from the Harvard and Johns Hopkins medical schools reported that in the USA CT scans are proliferating, with seven to eight million per year being performed on paediatric patients. The authors state that many of these paediatric scans are either not justified or could be carried out with imaging techniques involving lower or no radiation, such as MRI and ultrasonography. Should a CT scan really be indicated, paediatric CT protocols should be optimised based on the patient
The number of peer-reviewed papers covering the field of anaesthesiology is huge, to such an extent that it is frequently difficult for healthcare professionals to keep up with the literature. As a special service to our readers, International Hospital presents a few key literature abstracts from the clinical and scientific literature chosen by our editorial board as being particularly worthy of attention.
Regional anaesthesia with sedation protocol to safely debride sacral pressure ulcers
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