Primary healthcare's carbon footprint and sustainable strategies to mitigate its contribution: a scoping review.

Background: The escalating climate crisis poses a significant threat to global public health. The healthcare sector, designed to protect human health is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, and thus, a key driver of climate degradation. This paradox endangers both planetary and human health, making the decarbonization of healthcare, including primary care, critical.

Outbreak of invasive Group A streptococcus disease in a nursing home in Ireland in February 2023 caused by type 18.

An out-of-season increase in cases of invasive Group A streptococcus (iGAS) was observed in Ireland between October 2022 and August 2023. We describe the management of an iGAS outbreak involving three nursing home residents in Ireland in early 2023. A regional Department of Public Health was notified of an iGAS case in a nursing home resident in January 2023.

The effectiveness of continuing professional development for the residential long-term care workforce: A systematic review.

Objectives: To investigate the effectiveness of continuing professional development in residential long-term care.

Design: Systematic review.

Data Sources: PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health (CINAHL), and Web of Science.

Knowledge, attitudes, and perception of air pollution in Ireland.

Aim: Air pollution remains a major global public health challenge; and Ireland is no exception to the human health implications of exposure ambient air pollutants. Accurate and timely information can be critical to mitigate the harmful effects of air pollution. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes to poor air quality in Ireland to assist stakeholders in developing and implementing effective communication pieces and policies about the management of air pollution.

Limited transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in schools in Ireland during the 2020-2021 school year.

BackgroundThe role of schools in SARS-CoV-2 transmission has been a debated topic since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.AimTo examine SARS-CoV-2 transmission in all schools in Ireland during the 2020-21 school year.MethodsIn a national descriptive cross-sectional study, we investigated PCR-confirmed cases of COVID-19 among students (aged < 20 years) and staff (aged ≥ 20 years) who attended school during their infectious period to identify school close contacts.

Consensus recommendations for opioid agonist treatment following the introduction of emergency clinical guidelines in Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic: A national Delphi study.

Background: Emergency contingency guidelines for opioid agonist treatment (OAT) were introduced in Ireland in March 2020, to ensure rapid and uninterrupted access to treatment while mitigating COVID-19 risk. The contingency guidelines deviated, across multiple clinical domains, from pre-pandemic clinical guidelines published in 2016. The objectives of this study are to (1) identify changes introduced to OAT clinical guidelines in Ireland during the pandemic; and (2) develop consensus on whether the new recommendations should be retained beyond the pandemic, using a national Delphi consensus methodology.

Designing rare disease care pathways in the Republic of Ireland: a co-operative model.

Background: Rare diseases (RDs) are often complex, serious, chronic and multi-systemic conditions, associated with physical, sensory and intellectual disability. Patients require follow-up management from multiple medical specialists and health and social care professionals involving a high level of integrated care, service coordination and specified care pathways.

Methods And Objectives: This pilot study aimed to explore the best approach for developing national RD care pathways in the Irish healthcare system in the context of a lack of agreed methodology.

Public mental health: a psychiatry and public health perspective.

Mental health issues are fast becoming one of society's greatest health challenges with evidence of higher levels of illness and strain on psychiatric services. The reasons for this trend of increasing mental health problems across the population are complex and there is an urgent need to research and deliver effective public mental health strategies. In this perspective piece we argue that psychiatrists and public health physicians have unique knowledge and perspectives on population mental health.

Why do healthcare professionals fail to escalate as per the early warning system (EWS) protocol? A qualitative evidence synthesis of the barriers and facilitators of escalation.

Background: Early warning systems (EWSs) are used to assist clinical judgment in the detection of acute deterioration to avoid or reduce adverse events including unanticipated cardiopulmonary arrest, admission to the intensive care unit and death. Sometimes healthcare professionals (HCPs) do not trigger the alarm and escalate for help according to the EWS protocol and it is unclear why this is the case. The aim of this qualitative evidence synthesis was to answer the question 'why do HCPs fail to escalate care according to EWS protocols?' The findings will inform the update of the National Clinical Effectiveness Committee (NCEC) National Clinical Guideline No.

An audit of assessment rooms for mental health assessments in Ireland's emergency departments.

Objectives: To audit compliance of mental health assessment rooms in Irish adult emergency departments (EDs) which are open 24 hours on 7 days a week with standards identified by the Psychiatric Liaison Accreditation Network (PLAN).

Methods: A self-audit tool was sent via email to Clinical Nurse Specialists and Consultant Psychiatrists in Ireland's 26 Adult EDs that are open 24 hours on seven days a week. Results were collated and are presented ensuring anonymity.

National Guidelines on the Provision of Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy (OPAT).

Aim Outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) is an option in patients who require parenteral antimicrobial administration and are clinically well enough for hospital discharge. This is an update of the Irish National OPAT guidelines which were last reviewed in 2011. Methods The guideline was devised through a collaborative process with the national OPAT Working Group and a review of the literature.

Awareness and Preventative Behaviours Regarding Toxoplasma, Listeria and Cytomegalovirus Among Pregnant Women.

Aim Infection with toxoplasma, listeria and cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections can negatively affect pregnancy outcomes. Awareness of these infections, knowledge of preventive practices and pertinent behaviours was assessed. Methods A survey of patients at antenatal clinics in a Dublin maternity hospital was conducted over a six month period.

Key Worker-Mediated Enhancement of Physical Health in First Episode Psychosis: Protocol For a Feasibility Study in Primary Care.

Background: Studies have demonstrated that, for patients with psychosis, a majority of the decline in health status and functioning emerges during the first few years after the onset of illness. This knowledge led to the development of specialized early intervention services (EISs) targeting patients experiencing their first episode of psychosis. The central component of EISs is often assertive case management delivered by a multidisciplinary team, where an appointed key worker is responsible for coordinating treatment and delivering various psychosocial interventions to service users.

Molecular epidemiology of multi- and extensively-drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Ireland, 2001-2014.

Objectives: The primary objective of this work was to examine the acquisition and spread of multi-drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis (TB) in Ireland.

Methods: All available Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) isolates (n = 42), from MDR-TB cases diagnosed in Ireland between 2001 and 2014, were analysed using phenotypic drug-susceptibility testing, Mycobacterial-Interspersed-Repetitive-Units Variable-Number Tandem-Repeat (MIRU-VNTR) genotyping, and whole-genome sequencing (WGS).

Results: The lineage distribution of the MDR-TB isolates comprised 54.

Public knowledge and understanding of dementia-evidence from a national survey in Ireland.

Background: there is growing consensus around the importance of population level approaches which seek to improve public knowledge and awareness of dementia.

Aim: to assess knowledge of the relationship between dementia and ageing, and of the risk and protective factors associated with it, among the general public in Ireland.

Design: cross-sectional survey.

Preferences for ARV-based HIV prevention methods among men and women, adolescent girls and female sex workers in Gauteng Province, South Africa: a protocol for a discrete choice experiment.

Introduction: For the past few decades, condoms have been the main method of HIV prevention. Recent advances in antiretroviral (ARV)-based prevention products have substantially changed the prevention landscape, yet little is known about how popular these products will be among potential users, or whether new methods might be used in conjunction with, or instead of, condoms. This study will use a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to (1) explore potential users' preferences regarding HIV prevention products, (2) quantify the importance of product attributes and (3) predict the uptake of products to inform estimates of their potential impact on the HIV epidemic in South Africa.

Adverse events in healthcare: learning from mistakes.

Large national reviews of patient charts estimate that approximately 10% of hospital admissions are associated with an adverse event (defined as an injury resulting in prolonged hospitalization, disability or death, caused by healthcare management). Apart from having a significant impact on patient morbidity and mortality, adverse events also result in increased healthcare costs due to longer hospital stays. Furthermore, a substantial proportion of adverse events are preventable.

Cancer incidence and mortality due to alcohol: an analysis of 10-year data.

Alcohol consumption is causally related to cancer of the upper aero-digestive tract, liver, colon, rectum, female breast and pancreas. The dose response relationship varies for each site. We calculated Ireland's cancer incidence and mortality attributable to alcohol over a 10-year period.