Integrated electronic health record facilitates a safer and more efficient rural outreach haematology service.

Background: Rural Australian oncology patients are known to have inferior mortality rates compared to metropolitan patients, possibly related to access to appropriate healthcare services and treatments. Electronic systems improve the safety of chemotherapy administration and allow easily accessible patient information and data collection.

Aims: To integrate the electronic healthcare delivery systems at a metropolitan hospital and a rural outreach haematology clinic to facilitate streamlined and safe outpatient care.

Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia masquerading as a labial lump.

We report a case of an 82-year-old woman who presented with a 2-week history of a left labial lump. She had a history of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) for several years and remained stable without clinical evidence of disease progression. She was observed with regular blood tests and clinical assessment.

A Case of Glaucoma in Hereditary Spherocytosis.

Purpose: To report a case of glaucoma and the inherited red cell membranopathy hereditary spherocytosis diagnosed simultaneously in 2 individuals in a family.

Patient: A 66-year-old man with normal pressure glaucoma and hereditary spherocytosis.

Results: This patient presented with a branch retinal vein occlusion, and normal tension glaucoma that was incidentally detected.

Single-unit transfusions in the obstetric setting: a qualitative study.

Background: The rate of obstetric blood transfusion is increasing, and there is hospital variation in its use. Recent Australian guidelines recommend a restrictive transfusion strategy in maternity patients who are not actively bleeding and advocate single-unit red blood cell (RBC) transfusions followed by clinical reassessment to determine the need for further transfusion.

Study Design And Methods: The aim of this study was to identify factors influencing single RBC unit use when initiating transfusion in a postpartum woman with noncritical bleeding.

Second Cancer Risk and Late Mortality in Adult Australians Receiving Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: A Population-Based Cohort Study.

We quantified the risk of second cancer and late mortality in a population-based Australian cohort of 3273 adult (≥15 years) allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients (1992 to 2007). Most recipients received nonradiation-based conditioning and a peripheral blood graft from a matched related donor. Using record linkage with death and cancer registries, 79 second cancers were identified a median of 3.

Intravenous iron: barriers and facilitators to its use at nine maternity hospitals in New South Wales, Australia.

Background: Anaemia in pregnancy is mostly due to iron deficiency, and the use of intravenous (IV) iron is gaining acceptance as a treatment option. Recently released obstetric transfusion guidelines recommend IV iron for obstetric patients in certain situations, including when oral formulations are poorly tolerated, unlikely to be well absorbed, or when rapid restoration of iron stores is required.

Aims: To identify barriers and facilitators to the use of IV iron in pregnancy among nine maternity hospitals in New South Wales, Australia.

Age of blood and adverse outcomes in a maternity population.

Background: In recent times there has been debate around whether longer storage time of blood is associated with increased rates of adverse outcomes after transfusion. It is unclear whether results focused on cardiac or critically ill patients apply to a maternity population. This study investigates whether older blood is associated with increased morbidity and readmission in women undergoing obstetric transfusion.