The impact of a mobile COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction laboratory at a large tertiary hospital during the first wave of the pandemic: A retrospective analysis.

Background: The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa (SA) created numerous supply challenges. Demand for diagnostic testing overwhelmed the capacity to deliver. We describe the utility and outcomes of a mobile laboratory staffed by non-laboratory healthcare workers and established to perform polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for the rapid diagnosis of COVID-19 at a large hospital in SA.

A retrospective comparison of the burden of organophosphate poisoning to an Intensive Care Unit in Soweto over two separate periods.

Introduction: Organophosphate poisoning (OPP) is a major health-care burden in South Africa. Recently, we have observed that patients admitted to our Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with OPP have followed a more complicated course in comparison to previous years.

Objectives: To describe the differences in the clinical course and costs of patients with OPP between two time periods, namely 2012 and 2017.

Microbiology and antibiotic resistance in severe burns patients: A 5 year review in an adult burns unit.

Background: Infections are a major problem in burns patients. Knowledge of the incidence and antimicrobial sensitivities of the microorganisms commonly encountered within each institution's burns unit is important as it informs and directs empiric antibiotic therapy.

Methods: This was a retrospective review of patients admitted from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2012 to an adult burns intensive care unit.