Indwelling urinary catheter use and adherence to clinical practice guidelines: A point prevalence study in adult hospital inpatients.

Background: Approximately 25% of hospitalised adults require an indwelling urinary catheter (IDC) during their hospital stay. IDCs expose patients to risks of infectious and non-infectious complications.

Aims: To identify IDC prevalence, assess adherence to clinical practice guidelines and patient-reported involvement in IDC care for adult hospital inpatients.

COVID-19 opens the door for right iliac fossa pain treatment pathway.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the risks of surgery and management of common surgical conditions has changed, with greater reliance on imaging and conservative management. The negative appendectomy rate (NAR) in the UK has previously remained high. The aim of this study was to quantify pandemic-related changes in the management of patients with suspected appendicitis, including the NAR.

The ethics of biometrics: the risk of social exclusion from the widespread use of electronic identification.

Discussions about biotechnology tend to assume that it is something to do with genetics or manipulating biological processes in some way. However, the field of biometrics-the measurement of physical characteristics-is also biotechnology and is likely to affect the lives of more people more quickly than any other form. The possibility of social exclusion resulting from the use of biometrics data for such uses as identity cards has not yet been fully explored.