Evolving Therapeutic Roles of Nasogastric Tubes: Current Concepts in Clinical Practice.

Nasogastric tubes (NGT) have been in use for over 100 years and are still considered as essential and resuscitative tools in multiple medical specialties for acute and chronic care. They are vital for decompression of the stomach in the presence of bowel obstruction in the critically ill and useful as a conduit for the administration of medications and sometimes for short term parenteral nutrition. The placement of nasogastric tubes is relatively routine.

Perioperative Hypothermia after Transurethral Surgeries: Is it Necessary to Heat the Irrigation Fluids?

Objective: To investigate the role of heated irrigation fluids in the risk of hypothermia and related complications in patients undergoing transurethral procedures.

Methods: The medical records of all patients who underwent transurethral procedures between 2000 and 2016 at the VA Hospital were reviewed. Irrigation fluids have been heated to 42°C since 2013, as per the institutional policy (Group II).

Development of a real-time physician-patient communication data collection tool.

Objectives: To design a tool to assess and improve physician communication, provide physicians with personalised feedback in real time, and relate specific communication behaviours to patient experience measures. It was hypothesised that performance of fundamental communication behaviours would correlate with individual patient experience scores as measured by the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) surveys.

Design: Prospective observational study.