Robotized compounding of oncology drugs in a hospital pharmacy.

In 2005, the Pharmacy Department of the University Hospital of Ancona began collaboration with the engineers of the Loccioni group in order to realize a fully automated system for the preparation of cytostatic drugs, which could be safe for both healthcare workers and patients. At present, the cytotoxic laboratory of Ancona is equipped with two robots and one Class II biological-safety cabinet. The introduction of the robots in the cytotoxic laboratory has increased both efficiency and safety of the working process.

Analysis of emergency medical services triage and dispatch errors by registered nurses in Italy.

Introduction: The major elements of an effective emergency medical services (EMS) system include a single telephone access number, accurate assessment of the urgency of the health problem, and timely dispatch of appropriate personnel and equipment. In Italy, EMS calls are managed by emergency operations centers by registered nurses who have received specialized education in this function. The nurses determine the criticality of the situations and assign an EMS response priority level identified by a color code, ranging from red (very critical) to green (not critical).

[Comparison between antibacterial coated suture vs standard suture to prevent the surgical site infections].

The surgical site infections (SSI) still represent an issue, which causes prolonged hospital staying, major costs for both healthcare system and professional insurance. Recent studies enlighten that using the antibacterial agent triclosan® leads to decrease infections rates. In this observational study we compared two groups of patients undergoing scheduled the so called clean surgery.

Robot-assisted preparation of oncology drugs: the role of nurses.

Since 2007, the preparation of cancer drugs at the Pharmacy of the University Hospital of Ancona has been progressively robotized. Currently, the process of preparation of intravenous cancer drugs is almost totally automated (95%). At present, the Cytotoxic laboratory of Ancona is the sole, in Europe, that can count on two robots.

A structured telephonic counselling to promote the exclusive breastfeeding of healthy babies aged zero to six months: a pilot study.

This pilot study aimed to test the effectiveness of a structured telephonic counselling (STC) on exclusive breastfeeding (EB) on healthy babies. The study was carried out on 114 primiparous women from February to March 2009. After randomization, women were divided into two groups: 55 receiving STC and 59 receiving conventional counselling.

An observational study of family caregivers' quality of life caring for patients with a stoma.

The management of stomas following surgical resection often falls to family caregivers. The purpose of this observational survey was to investigate the family caregivers' quality of life caring for a patient with ostomy. Between August 2008 and July 2009, 144 eligible Italian family members caring for a patient with ostomy were evaluated using two questionnaires: the Caregiver Quality of Life Cancer survey and the Caregiver Burden Inventory.

Influence of family carers on haemodialyzed patients' adherence to dietary and fluid restrictions: an observational study.

Aim:   To determine the influence of a family carer on haemodialyzed patients''adherence'.

Background:   There is extensive evidence showing that successful treatment of patients with end-stage renal disease is directly related to patients''adherence'. The parameters indicative of a good adherence are potassium and phosphate serum levels and the interdialytic weight gain.

Effectiveness of the telephonic-case-management for treatment of headache. A pilot study.

Chronic or intermittent headache affects the patients' quality of life, and has direct and indirect social costs. Several chronic illnesses are already treated through telephone counseling, however there is poor evidence in literature about headache treatment via telenursing, and it is not clear which role could the nurse play in this specific field. The study was carried out at the headache centre of "G.

Differences in blood pressure by body position (supine, Fowler's, and sitting) in hypertensive subjects.

Background: Although blood pressure (BP) differences from supine to sitting position have long been recognized, limited data are available on other commonly used body positions. We performed a cross-sectional study to compare BP values obtained in supine, sitting, and Fowler's positions in essential hypertensive subjects.

Methods: Systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) were recorded using an automatic oscillometric device.