Care

News • More nurses, less ventilation and medication

A new approach to improve outcomes for critically-ill children

A major UK clinical trial led by Queen’s University Belfast has shown how a new approach to reduce the use of mechanical ventilation can greatly improve outcomes for critically ill infants and children. The study, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Programme, found that a greater involvement of nurses, minimising sedation use and increasing daily…

News • Panic prevention

Drone helps elderly escape from burning nursing homes

A student team at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) has introduced an interactive drone that guides elderly people to the exit during a fire in a nursing home, even before the fire brigade arrives. The Blue Jay Aeden is said to be the first interactive drone in the world that can transmit emotions and can fulfil an important function in saving people's lives.

News • International nurses day

Nurses are the center of healthcare

Fresenius Medical Care announced an international campaign that recognizes and supports the organization’s nurses and clinical teams throughout Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa.

News • Prevention, treatment, care and support

Action on stroke: Experts launch joint declaration

An appeal is launched for Health Ministries across Europe to sign the Declaration for Action on the Stroke Action Plan for Europe to tackle one of the leading causes of death and disability. Led by The European Stroke Organisation (ESO) and Stroke Alliance for Europe (SAFE), the initiative aims to encourage European countries to show their commitment to improving stroke prevention, treatment,…

News • Role of end-of-life support

Covid-19: a 'stress-test' for palliative care

A new report shows how palliative and end of life care in the UK was compromised by shortages of PPE, essential medicines, and equipment, because these services were not seen as ‘frontline NHS’ in the pandemic. Better End of Life – a collaboration between Marie Curie, Hull York Medical School, University of Hull, King’s College London Cicely Saunders Institute, and the University of…

Article • Shaping daily activities for elderly fragile people

Meet 'Tessa' the little robot helper

‘Hello Tessa. Do you know what I’m doing today?’ a fragile, elderly woman asks tentatively. The small robot she’s addressing has a decorative plant on its head and is wearing a jacket. This is not a funny fantasy. Tessa has proved ‘her’ usefulness and acceptability. The little robot results from a year-long pilot project recently completed in the Netherlands by the Groene Kruis…

News • European Region of the International Diabetes Federation

Improved funding and training for nurses as key players in resilient health systems

How extraordinary it is that the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, is celebrated on the year of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her key nursing values – including regularly washing hands and maintaining good hygiene – and her pioneering work in statistics and data collection have proven more relevant than ever.

News • Emotional exhaustion

Nurses burned out and want to quit

A survey of nurses caring for children with heart problems has revealed that more than half are emotionally exhausted. The analysis, presented at ESC Congress 2020, also found that good working environments were linked with less burnout.

News • Impact of a 'lost decade'

Adult social care in the UK reaches breaking point, warn experts

Urgent reform of the funding of UK adult social care is needed to save a desperately overstretched system which has now reached breaking point, warn policy experts at the University of Birmingham. The crisis is partly the result of a ‘lost decade’ in which policymakers systematically failed to act on alarms raised back in 2010, say the researchers in a hard-hitting report published in the…

News • Relief for amputees

'Virtual hand' training reduces phantom limb pain

Phantom-limb pain is as mysterious as the name implies. The vast majority of amputees experience “phantom-limb” sensations that make them feel their missing limb is still part of their body. The cause is still unknown, and 50% to 80% of the cases, the sensations are painful. With no established treatments or medication, phantom-limb pain can have a large impact on the quality of life.

Interview • Social care during the coronavirus pandemic

COVID-19: Don't forget the most vulnerable people

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought more strain on healthcare systems but it has also highlighted the necessity to integrate social care to healthcare to protect the most vulnerable populations in ageing societies, an eminent healthcare consultant told us in an exclusive interview.

Article • New concept 'HeiMeKOM'

Involvement of patients and relatives improves cancer communication

The Heidelberg Thorax Clinic is trialling a newly structured, longitudinal communication concept to meet proactively the complex needs of stage IV lung cancer patients and their relatives. The concept is aimed at enhancing prognostic understanding and building the basis for proactive care planning, early integration of palliative care and shared decision-making, ultimately improving overall care.

News • Dealing with the disease

Leading European cancer centers share their corona knowledge

Cancer patients are particularly at risk for infections because of their disease and its treatment. Due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus in Europe, cancer centers within a short period were faced with the challenge of minimizing the risk of infection for these patients while at the same time not compromising the provision of the necessary treatments. Seven leading European cancer centers…

Article • Cryptography potential

Harnessing the benefits of blockchain to enhance care

Blockchain is a concept that could have significant benefits for healthcare – particularly in radiology – but several challenges remain. Although an effective conduit through which to share data and medical images, particularly across health systems, one drawback is speed, given the amount of data that can be involved. However, Professor Morgan McBee, paediatric radiologist and imaging…

Ultrasound improves renal care at St Helier Hospital

St Helier Hospital in the London Borough of Sutton – part of the Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust – has one of the largest renal medicine departments in the UK, and relies on Fujifilm SonoSite point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) systems to improve care and patient safety. Dr Pritpal Virdee, a senior registrar in the department, explained: “We have a very busy renal department…

Article • Opinion article

Post-stroke spasticity care – a new approach

Dr Ganesh Bavikatte, Neurorehabilitation Specialist, has developed a solution along with an international expert team to untangle the complex post-stroke spasticity care pathway. With Europe’s ageing population, stroke cases are on the rise, with estimates suggesting around a 35% increase from the number of cases in 2015 to 2035. And thanks to the greatly improved emergency care and delivery of…

Video • Crucial contact

Artificial skin makes nursing robots sensitive

Sensitive synthetic skin enables robots to sense their own bodies and surroundings – a crucial capability if they are to be in close contact with people. Inspired by human skin, a team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has developed a system combining artificial skin with control algorithms and used it to create the first autonomous humanoid robot with full-body artificial skin. This…

News • Intentional rounding

Nurses' hourly ward rounds? There might be better ways to deliver care

A new report by researchers at King’s College London has found that the widespread practice of routine ward rounds in England, known as intentional rounding, may not be the best way for nurses to deliver care to patients. The report also found that intentional rounding makes a minor contribution, if at all, to the way nurses engage with patients. The research was commissioned and funded by the…

News • Cancer care

Oncology Nursing: Worldwide knowledge differs greatly

Nurses’ knowledge of cancer and screening processes varies significantly across the globe – potentially resulting in unnecessary deaths where knowledge falls short – new research reports. It is therefore vitally important to assess varying levels of knowledge in nurses across the world, a new study led by researchers from the University of Surrey reports.

Article • Mass spectrometry in patient care

LC-MS/MS: Why qualitatively high-value analysis is cheaper in the end

In the past, we repeatedly focused our attention on developments in the clinical application of mass spectrometry-based methods in patient care. Various aspects became significant. Today, the use of Liquid Chromatography Triple Quad Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) can be considered today’s standard, although classically applied immunoassays continue to be…

News • Good boy, indeed

Diabetes: Dogs can help manage hypoglycaemic episodes

New research by the University of Bristol in collaboration with Medical Detection Dogs has found that the best trained alert dogs have the potential to vastly improve the quality of life of people living with Type 1 diabetes. As reported in PLOS One, on average trained dogs alerted their owners to 83 per cent of hypoglycaemic episodes in over 4,000 hypo- and hyper-glycaemic episodes that were…

Article • Chronic peripheral inflammation and schizophrenia

The network approach to mental illness research

As European health services are pressured to provide the best possible care for best possible value, some medical fields are now very much the poor relation; this is particularly true for mental health. Mental illnesses represent a great health burden and cause huge financial and societal pressure in terms of direct and indirect costs from repeated hospitalisation and treatment failures, while…

Article • Cut device-related pressure ulcers

Biomedical designers must increase safety

Whilst acknowledging that state-of-the-art bioengineering approaches are being applied in preventing Medical Device Related Pressure Ulcers (MDRPUs), Professor Amit Gefen, from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Tel Aviv University, believes there are gaps in knowledge and technology in this area and therefore more must be done to improve patient care and avoid additional healthcare…

Article • Digitising care

Every nurse is an e-nurse

Following a report from software firm Nuance Communications that suggests technology firms should consider shadowing nurses to fully understand their workflows and inform the creation of solutions that work for them, nurses’ views on technology and data are to be consulted in a new Royal College of Nursing initiative alongside NHS Digital’s chief nurse Anne Cooper.

Article • The Buurtzorg concept

Dutch homecare goes global

Homecare in the Netherlands worsened. ‘The organisations grew bigger, involving more and expensive management,’ observed nurse Jos de Blok. ‘Registration procedures became unnecessarily complicated. I enjoyed my job when I started in 1986, but that feeling changed. I knew there should be an easier way, without managers and at a lower cost. So, in 2006, I began the Buurtzorg concept.’ This…

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