The role and utilisation of public health evaluations in Europe: a case study of national hand hygiene campaigns.

Background: Evaluations are essential to judge the success of public health programmes. In Europe, the proportion of public health programmes that undergo evaluation remains unclear. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control sought to determine the frequency of evaluations amongst European national public health programmes by using national hand hygiene campaigns as an example of intervention.

Paraneoplastic leukemoid reaction in solid tumors.

Leukemoid reaction is defined as leucocytosis >50,000/μL. When it occurs in association with a malignancy, and infection or leukemia has been ruled out, it is termed as paraneoplastic leukemoid reaction. A patient presented with fatigue, generalized weakness, and abdominal distension and was incidentally noted to have a white blood cell count of 139,000/μL.

Nursing in a changing NHS.

In the past few weeks, I have had the privilege of attending a series of seminars exploring the themes emerging from the Mid Staffordshire Public Inquiry to date. They are highly relevant to nurses and to the future of nursing. They have explored system and professional regulation, organizational culture, board leadership, information systems, nurse training, patient experience and commissioning.

Full clinical recovery after topical acyclovir treatment of Epstein-Barr virus associated cutaneous B-cell lymphoma in patient with mycosis fungoides.

Primary cutaneous T- and B-cell lymphomas are a heterogeneous group of diseases with varied clinical presentations and prognosis. The use of new molecular, histological, and clinical criteria has improved their recognition. Cutaneous B-cell and T-cell lymphomas are seldom found together in the same patient.

Achieving a safer health service: Part 3. Investigating root causes and formulating solutions.

The third paper in our series describes the National Patient Safety Agency's approach to investigation, root-cause analysis and significant event audit. When should an investigation be high level and when should it be low level? What does this mean, and how can lessons be translated into safety solutions in local areas? Central initiatives such as patient-safety alerts are also examined.

Achieving a safer health service: Part 1. Making safety a way of life.

Patient safety incidents are a major problem in the health service and it is acknowledged that blaming and reprimanding staff for actual or potential mistakes does not encourage an open and safe culture in which to work. In the first paper in a three-part series the National Patient Safety Agency's seven key to steps to achieving patient safety are discussed.