Human factors application for healthcare teams in low- and medium-income countries (LMIC) to help improve patient safety and performance.

Mistakes will always happen whether at work or in our personal lives. We can never completely eliminate error, but learning and disseminating lessons from these mistakes to others is essential. Human factors application for colleagues in healthcare, particularly in low- and medium-income countries (LMIC) can greatly improve patient safety and aid better team working and staff morale.

Temporomandibular joint anatomy: Ultrasonographic appearances and sexual dimorphism.

Introduction: Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction is common, with a greater prevalence in females. While magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is commonly used for clinical investigation, ultrasonography represents a potential alternative in some clinical scenarios. We designed a protocol for ultrasonographic evaluation of the TMJ and assessed its reliability.

"Shh-don't say the Q-word" or do you?

We aimed to assess the superstitious belief that saying the word 'quiet' during an on-call period in oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) causes a disproportionate increase in workload. A two-armed, single-centre, randomised trial was performed in a single-blinded fashion within the OMFS department at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge. Duty on-call OMFS SHOs were assigned to a 'quiet group' or 'non-quiet group'.

Coronavirus pandemic: applying a whole-of-society model for the whole-of-the world.

During a pandemic, a national government is often considered solely responsible for dealing with the outbreak with local-based policies. A whole-of-society approach to a pandemic is evidence-based and used successfully in countries with a history of pandemic infections. This collaborative approach assumes that no single entity has the capacity to successfully manage the dynamic, complex problems that arise in a pandemic environment.

Hypertension in a teenager: a family affair.

We present a young, lean, female patient following surveillance by the general practitioner for abnormally high blood pressure readings. Her grandmother died at a young age because of hypertension which shows her family has significant history for hypertension. Her symptoms and signs included feeling hot and nauseous following exercise, sweating and palpitations.

Deliberate practice on a virtual reality laparoscopic simulator enhances the quality of surgical technical skills.

Introduction: Virtual reality (VR) simulation provides unique training opportunities. This study evaluates whether the deliberate practice (DP) can be successfully applied to simulated laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) for enhancement of the quality of surgical skills.

Methods: Twenty-six inexperienced surgeons underwent a training program for LC on a VR simulator.