Remote and rural surgery training and recruitment: a national attitudinal survey of Scottish surgical trainees.

Introduction: Scotland's healthcare system includes six rural general hospitals (RGHs) which provide a full surgical service to the most remote and rural populations. Constraints of geography and finance, and population need, mean that local delivery of surgical services will be required for the foreseeable future. These RGHs face difficulties in recruiting suitably trained general surgeons.

Global health engagement in the Scottish health service: A journey towards global citizenship.

For most of its history, the contribution of the Scottish health service towards health needs outside of Scotland has been informal, ad hoc, and viewed as incidental to its core functions. A more globalised view is emerging, and in recent years, NHS Scotland has begun formalising the principles and mechanisms by which it will contribute towards health and human flourishing around the world. This article provides a brief historical overview of how Scottish medical personnel became involved in the introduction of Western medicine and public health in less developed countries, originally in parallel with colonial expansion and Christian mission outreaches.

Examining the impact of audience response systems on student performance in anatomy education: a randomised controlled trial.

Background and aims Electronic audience response systems offer the potential to enhance learning and improve performance. However, objective research investigating the use of audience response systems in undergraduate education has so far produced mixed, inconclusive results. We investigated the impact of audience response systems on short- and long-term test performance, as well as student perceptions of the educational experience, when integrated into undergraduate anatomy teaching.

Does pride really come before a fall? Longitudinal analysis of older English adults.

Objective: To test whether high levels of reported pride are associated with subsequent falls.

Design: Secondary analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) dataset.

Setting: Multi-wave longitudinal sample of non-institutionalised older English adults.

The Basic Surgical Skills Course in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Observational Study of Effectiveness.

Background: The Basic Surgical Skills (BSS) course is a common component of postgraduate surgical training programmes in sub-Saharan Africa, but was originally designed in a UK context, and its efficacy and relevance have not been formally assessed in Africa.

Methods: An observational study was carried out during a BSS course delivered to early-stage surgical trainees from Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Technical skill in a basic wound closure task was assessed in a formal Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills (OSAT) before and after course completion.

The effect of fabric and stabbing variables on severance appearance.

During a stabbing, apparel fabrics are usually damaged and may be penetrated. Despite numerous studies considering forces required to penetrate skin and human stabbing performance, none have systematically evaluated which variables affect severance appearance from a textile science perspective using a human stabbing participant assessment. Although the human performance aspects of stabbing attacks have been previously studied, there has been a bias towards male assailants.

Determining universal processes related to best outcome in emergency abdominal surgery: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study.

Introduction: Emergency abdominal surgery outcomes represent an internationally important marker of healthcare quality and capacity. In this study, a novel approach to investigating global surgical outcomes is proposed, involving collaborative methodology using 'snapshot' clinical data collection over a 2-week period. The primary aim is to identify internationally relevant, modifiable surgical practices (in terms of modifiable process, equipment and clinical management) associated with best care for emergency abdominal surgery.

The differential role of alcohol expectancies and drinking refusal self-efficacy in problem and nonproblem drinkers.

Objective: The present study aimed to examine the discriminatory ability of alcohol expectancies and drinking refusal self-efficacy and to identify the differential role of these constructs in social and problem drinkers.

Method: Drinkers (N = 276) were self-selected from general (n = 185) and clinical (n = 91) populations to complete a 40-minute questionnaire that asked about alcohol expectancies, drinking refusal self-efficacy, consumption, degree of dependence and demographics.

Results: The results showed that in social drinkers both the expectancy and self-efficacy constructs were reliably able to discriminate between types of drinker.

Randomised trial of erythromycin on the development of chronic lung disease in preterm infants.

Aims: To determine if erythromycin given from birth reduces the inflammatory response and the incidence and severity of chronic lung disease.

Methods: Seventy five infants less than 30 weeks of gestation and ventilated from birth for lung disease were randomly assigned to receive erythromycin intravenously for 7 days or to no treatment. Ureaplasma urealyticum was detected in tracheal secretions by culture and polymerase chain reaction.

Comparison of culture with the polymerase chain reaction for detection of Ureaplasma urealyticum in endotracheal aspirates of preterm infants.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the urease genes of Ureaplasma urealyticum was compared with culture for detection of the organism in 100 endotracheal aspirates from 54 ventilated preterm infants. Ninety specimens gave negative results by both culture and PCR and three specimens gave positive results by both culture and PCR. Six specimens were negative by culture but positive by PCR.

Surgical face masks are effective in reducing bacterial contamination caused by dispersal from the upper airway.

We have studied the effectiveness of surgical face masks in reducing bacterial contamination of a surface, produced by dispersal of organisms from the upper airway. Twenty-five volunteers were asked to speak at blood agar plates positioned in close proximity to the mouth, initially whilst not wearing a face mask and then wearing a surgical face mask over the mouth and nose. A fresh face mask almost completely abolished bacterial contamination of agar plates 30 cm from the mouth.