Power wheelchair prescription, utilization, satisfaction, and cost for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: preliminary data for evidence-based guidelines.

Objectives: To determine the features most frequently selected in a power wheelchair (PWC), level of satisfaction with the selections, and how often the PWC features are used by patients diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)/motor neuron disease (MND).

Design: Internally generated questionnaire.

Setting: An ALS/Muscular Dystrophy Association center.

Moving a hospital--a once in a lifetime experience.

It is a hugely complex task to move a 525-bed acute tertiary health facility to a new building whilst continuing to provide services to the public--a task that was undertaken at Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital in March/April 2001. There were complex issues to manage, ranging from clinical unit interdependence across a split campus to the development of detailed plans for transferring telephone extensions/personal computers in a "live environment". The success of the Princess Alexandra exercise is shown by there having been no adverse effects on patients, the lack of negative media attention and the occurrence of only two staff injuries during the move.