Improving Compliance With Valid Oxygen Prescriptions for Surgical Inpatients in a District General Hospital: A Single-Centre Quality Improvement Study.

Introduction Medical oxygen is a drug and, as such, must be correctly prescribed according to British Thoracic Society (BTS) guidelines. These guidelines state that a valid prescription must include a target oxygen saturation range, and that all inpatients should have a valid oxygen prescription. A 2008 BTS audit revealed only 32% of patients receiving oxygen had valid prescriptions, and a 2015 re-audit showed improvement to 57.

Development of clinical-guideline-based mobile application and its effect on head CT scan utilization in neurology and neurosurgery departments.

Background: There is little evidence regarding the adoption and intention of using mobile apps by health care professionals (HCP) and the effectiveness of using mobile apps among physicians is still unclear. To address this challenge, the current study seeks two objectives: developing and implementing a head CT scan appropriateness criteria mobile app (HAC app), and investigating the effect of HAC app on CT scan order.

Methods: A one arm intervention quasi experimental study with before/after analysis was conducted in neurology & neurosurgery (N&N) departments at the academic hospital.

Effectiveness of Clinical Decision Support Systems on the Appropriate Use of Imaging for Central Nervous System Injuries: A Systematic Review.

Background: One of the best practices for timely and efficient diagnoses of central nervous system (CNS) trauma and complex diseases is imaging. However, rates of imaging for CNS are high and impose a lot of costs to health care facilities in addition to exposing patients with negative impact of ionizing radiation.

Objectives: This study aimed to systematically review the effects and features of clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) for the appropriate use of imaging for CNS injuries.

Cost-Utility Analysis of Antibiotic Therapy versus Appendicectomy for Acute Uncomplicated Appendicitis.

Background: Current UK National Health Service (NHS) guidelines recommend appendicectomy as gold standard treatment for acute uncomplicated appendicitis. However, an alternative non-surgical management involves administrating antibiotic-only therapy with significantly lower costs. Therefore, a UK-based cost-utility analysis (CUA) was performed to compare appendicectomy with an antibiotic-only treatment from an NHS perspective.