Background: Tracheostomy management and care is multifaceted and costly, commonly involving complex patients with prolonged hospitalisation. Currently, there are no agreed definitions of short and prolonged length of tracheostomy cannulation (LOC) and no consensus regarding the key factors that may be associated with time to decannulation.
Objectives: The aims of this study were to identify the factors associated with short and prolonged LOC and to examine the number of tracheostomy-related adverse events of patients who had short LOC versus prolonged LOC.
There is growing recognition of the need for a coordinated, systematic approach to caring for patients with a tracheostomy. Tracheostomy-related adverse events remain a pervasive global problem, accounting for half of all airway-related deaths and hypoxic brain damage in critical care units. The Global Tracheostomy Collaborative (GTC) was formed in 2012 to improve patient safety and quality of care, emphasising knowledge, skills, teamwork, and patient-centred approaches.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There are national initiatives to involve service users in service delivery. However, programs employing people with dementia as peer support workers (PSWs) in memory services are in their infancy. This study is the first to explore the challenges and benefits to staff and peers involved in such a program.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To assess outcomes in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) and a tracheostomy tube (TT), before and after the introduction of a tracheostomy review and management service (TRAMS) for ward-based patients.
Design: Matched-pairs design with two cohorts, before and after the intervention.
Setting: 900-bed tertiary hospital in Melbourne, Victoria.