Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the management of chronic heart failure.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is an unprecedented challenge. Meeting this has resulted in changes to working practices and the impact on the management of patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is largely unknown. We performed a retrospective, observational study contrasting patients diagnosed with HFrEF attending specialist heart failure clinics at a UK hospital, whose subsequent period of optimisation of medical therapy was during the COVID-19 pandemic, with patients diagnosed the previous year.

Best Practice for the Administration of Daratumumab in Multiple Myeloma: Australian Myeloma Nurse Expert Opinion.

Patients with multiple myeloma (MM) are typically of an advanced age and may have significant co-existing medical conditions. They have often had multiple lines of therapy and as such experience disease-related effects alongside associated treatment toxicities. Daratumumab is a monoclonal antibody approved for the treatment of MM in the relapsed/refractory setting.

Erratum to: 36th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine: Brussels, Belgium. 15-18 March 2016.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s13054-016-1208-6.].

Sepsis impairs microvascular autoregulation and delays capillary response within hypoxic capillaries.

Introduction: The microcirculation supplies oxygen (O2) and nutrients to all cells with the red blood cell (RBC) acting as both a deliverer and sensor of O2. In sepsis, a proinflammatory disease with microvascular complications, small blood vessel alterations are associated with multi-organ dysfunction and poor septic patient outcome. We hypothesized that microvascular autoregulation-existing at three levels: over the entire capillary network, within a capillary and within the erythrocyte-was impaired during onset of sepsis.

Issues in understanding the impact of the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act on hospital sharps injuries.

Objective: Measuring the effect of the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act (NSPA) is challenging. No agreement exists on a common denominator for calculating injury rates. Does it make a difference? How are the law and safety-engineered devices related? What is the effect on injuries and costs? This study examines those issues in assessing the impact of the legislation on hospital worker percutaneous injuries.

Chinks in the armor: activation patterns of hollow-bore safety-engineered sharp devices.

A retrospective review of secondary injury data was used to evaluate the characteristics of percutaneous injuries from safety-engineered sharp devices. Injury rates and safety device activation rates differed by healthcare provider type. Approximately 22.

Risk of bloodborne pathogen exposure among Zambian healthcare workers.

Purpose: Understanding the risks of bloodborne pathogen transmission is fundamental to prioritizing interventions when resources are limited. This study investigated the risks to healthcare workers in Zambia.

Design: A survey was completed anonymously by a convenience sample of workers in three hospitals and two clinics in Zambia.

Disposal of sharps medical waste in the United States: impact of recommendations and regulations, 1987-2007.

Background: To gauge the impact of regulatory-driven improvements in sharps disposal practices in the United States over the last 2 decades, we analyzed percutaneous injury (PI) data from a national surveillance network from 2 periods, 1993-1994 and 2006-2007, to see whether changes in disposal-related injury patterns could be detected.

Methods: Data were derived from the EPINet Sharps Injury Surveillance Research Group, established in 1993 and coordinated by the International Healthcare Worker Safety Center at the University of Virginia. For the period 1993-1994, 69 hospitals contributed data; the combined average daily census for the 2 years was 24,495, and the total number of PIs reported was 7,854.

Benchmarking of percutaneous injuries at a teaching tertiary care center in Saudi Arabia relative to United States hospitals participating in the Exposure Prevention Information Network.

Background: Despite recent improvements in policies, practices, and device design, percutaneous injuries (PIs) from needles and sharp instruments continue to expose health care workers to the risk of bloodborne pathogens.

Methods: Prospective surveillance was instituted to study the epidemiologic characteristics of PIs at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (KAMC-R) from 2004 through 2008 and to benchmark these characteristics relative to those of a network of US hospitals participating in the Exposure Prevention Information Network (EPINet) research group (2004-2007).

Results: The mean PIs rate per 100 daily occupied beds in KAMC-R was significantly lower than that reported by teaching and nonteaching US EPINet hospitals.

Practice of universal precautions and risk of occupational blood-borne viral infection among Congolese health care workers.

The extent of occupational injuries among health care workers in central Africa, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is not documented. We sought to determine the incidence of percutaneous injury and exposure to blood and other body fluids in Congolese urban and rural hospitals in the previous year. Our data show high rates of percutaneous injury and exposure to blood and other body fluids, reflecting poor safety conditions for most Congolese health care workers.

A Depression Recognition and Treatment package for families living with Stroke (DepReT-Stroke): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Depression occurs in up to 50% of patients after stroke and limits rehabilitation and recovery. Mood disorders are also highly prevalent in carers; their mental health intertwined with the physical and mental wellbeing of the person they are caring for. We argue that working with families, rather than patients alone may improve the treatment of depression in both patients and their carers enhancing the mental wellbeing and quality of life of both.

Increase in sharps injuries in surgical settings versus nonsurgical settings after passage of national needlestick legislation.

Background: The operating room is a high-risk setting for occupational sharps injuries and bloodborne pathogen exposure. The requirement to provide safety-engineered devices, mandated by the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act of 2000, has received scant attention in surgical settings.

Study Design: We analyzed percutaneous injury surveillance data from 87 hospitals in the United States from 1993 through 2006, comparing injury rates in surgical and nonsurgical settings before and after passage of the law.

Increase in sharps injuries in surgical settings versus nonsurgical settings after passage of national needlestick legislation.

Background: The operating room is a high-risk setting for occupational sharps injuries and bloodborne pathogen exposure. The requirement to provide safety-engineered devices, mandated by the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act of 2000, has received scant attention in surgical settings.

Study Design: We analyzed percutaneous injury surveillance data from 87 hospitals in the United States from 1993 through 2006, comparing injury rates in surgical and nonsurgical settings before and after passage of the law.

The national study to prevent blood exposure in paramedics: rates of exposure to blood.

Objective: The purpose of this analysis is to present incidence rates of exposure to blood among paramedics in the United States by selected variables and to compare all percutaneous exposure rates among different types of healthcare workers.

Methods: A survey on blood exposure was mailed in 2002-2003 to a national sample of paramedics. Results for California paramedics were analyzed with the national sample and also separately.

Chinese EPINet and recall rates for percutaneous injuries: an epidemic proportion of underreporting in the Taiwan healthcare system.

Objectives: As an occupational injury, percutaneous injury (PI) can result in chronic morbidity and death for healthcare workers (HCWs). A pilot surveillance system for PIs using the Chinese version of Exposure Prevention Information Network (EPINet) was introduced in Taiwan in 2003. We compared data from EPINet and recall of PIs using a cross-sectional survey for rates to establish the reliability of the new system.