Medical negligence under pressure: obligations of clinicians and healthcare services in the setting of resource limitations.

Healthcare provision takes place in a variety of contexts, with variations of resources available to practitioners and their patients. Effects from the COVID-19 pandemic superimposed on existing system demands have driven increasing concern about resource limitations, particularly in rural and remote settings. This article explores the legal liability of medical practitioners and healthcare services with respect to actions in negligence arising from harm to patients suffered, either partly or wholly, as a result of resource limitations.

Are clinically unimportant findings qualified as benign in lumbar spine imaging reports? A content analysis of plain X-ray, CT and MRI reports.

Background: Lumbar spine diagnostic imaging reports may cause patient and clinician concern when clinically unimportant findings are not explicitly described as benign. Our primary aim was to determine the frequency that common, benign findings are reported in lumbar spine plain X-ray, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reports as either normal for age or likely clinically unimportant.

Methods: We obtained 600 random de-identified adult lumbar spine imaging reports (200 X-ray, 200 CT and 200 MRI) from a large radiology provider.

Functional recovery from refractory hepatic encephalopathy following angiographic obliteration of a large, spontaneous portal-umbilical portosystemic shunt: a case report.

Background: Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) as a consequence of cirrhosis with portal hypertension has a profound impact on quality of life for both patients and caregivers, has no gold-standard diagnostic test, and is a risk factor for mortality. Spontaneous portosystemic shunts (SPSS) are common in patients with cirrhosis, can be challenging to identify, and in some cases, can drive refractory HE. Cross-sectional shunt size greater than 83mm is associated with liver disease severity, overt HE, and mortality.

Managing negative online reviews: Considerations for doctors.

Background: In an increasingly digital world, particularly with the rapid rise in the use of telehealth, online reviews from members of the public regarding clinician performance are becoming more ubiquitous.

Objective: This article considers the measures clinicians can take to manage unwanted negative online reviews. While this is a complex area, the aim of this article is to provide a starting point and overview of practical responses clinicians may consider.

Consumer understanding of terms used in imaging reports requested for low back pain: a cross-sectional survey.

Objectives: To investigate (1) self-reported societal comprehension of common and usually non-serious terms found in lumbar spine imaging reports and (2) its relationship to perceived seriousness, likely persistence of low back pain (LBP), fear of movement, back beliefs and history and intensity of LBP.

Design: Cross-sectional online survey of the general public.

Setting: Five English-speaking countries: UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

Obligations of Australian health services as employers during COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into focus obligations for health services to protect the health and safety of their staff, arising from Occupational, Health and Safety legislation and the duty of care owed by a health service as an employer. Health workers, by nature of their work, are a particularly at-risk population in the context of COVID-19. This article examines the legal standard of care that healthcare employers owe their staff in terms of reduction of risk exposure, both physically and psychologically, to COVID-19, the obligation to provide staff with personal protective equipment, adequate hygiene, cleaning and the consequences for breaching these standards.

Imaging triage of acute stroke patients for endovascular clot retrieval: Effect of increased therapeutic window on the utilization of CT perfusion.

Introduction: Recent randomized trials showing improved outcomes for later-presenting acute ischaemic stroke (AIS) patients with large vessel occlusion (LVO) treated with endovascular clot retrieval (ECR) may result in substantial increases in CTP utilization. This 3-hospital, single-institution cohort study aimed to compare 2017 and 2018 patient cohorts for the following: CTP use in AIS. Prevalence of LVO in all patients having CTP.

Enhancing clinician and patient understanding of radiology reports: a scoping review of international guidelines.

Imaging reports are the primary method of communicating diagnostic imaging findings between the radiologist and the referring clinician. Guidelines produced by professional bodies provide guidance on content and format of imaging reports, but the extent to which they consider comprehensibility for referring clinicians and their patients is unclear. The objective of this review was to determine the extent to which radiology reporting guidelines consider comprehensibility of imaging reports for referring clinicians and patients.

Content reporting of exercise interventions in rotator cuff disease trials: results from application of the Consensus on Exercise Reporting Template (CERT).

Background: Exercise interventions are frequently recommended for patients with rotator cuff disease, but poor content reporting in clinical trials of exercise limits interpretation and replication of trials and clinicians' ability to deliver effective exercise protocols. The Consensus on Exercise Reporting Template (CERT) was developed to address this problem.

Objective: To assess completeness of content reporting of exercise interventions in randomised controlled trials for patients with rotator cuff disease and the inter-rater reliability of the CERT.