Medicine is a serious business and when you hear harrowing stories of sepsis, how do you respond? Certainly, many of the accounts you will read, or perhaps you have witnessed through personal exposure to family or friends who have had some form of sepsis, can be very disturbing. Survivor accounts can be as equally distressing to all those allied to the caring professions and for all of us beg the question, what more can we do to improve diagnosis? In Wales, as in other parts of the UK early recognition and detection of sepsis is key to early interventions. The … Read the rest
Care home conference
I always welcome the opportunity to visit the National Botanic Garden of Wales so was delighted to be invited to discuss how the Hywel Dda’s paradigm shift in thinking about the management of healthcare associated will support our local care homes.
The conference, “Working together to promote health, wellbeing and quality of life” was opened by Sarah Rochira, Older People’s Commissioner for Wales where she discussed elements of her care home review, “A place to call home?”
I was struck by her messages around the wellbeing agenda for older people in our community and what “good” looked like in those … Read the rest
Blood cultures: an important test
One of the most important microbiological investigations we undertake is the blood culture. This is because blood does not normally have bacteria swimming around in it and therefore unlike from non-sterile sites, we can view any organism from a blood culture as potentially serious.
That said, as with any test we undertake, the opportunity for a sample to become contaminated is ever present. This is just as true for blood culture because the sample is taken from a vein and access to the vein is via a needle through the skin. Skin is not sterile but is home to many … Read the rest
Should I worry about Healthcare Associated Infections?
This is a healthy question for any potential patient to ask of their medical advisors, particularly if they are about to go into hospital for some form of healthcare intervention, be it surgery or some other form of therapy. Every potential patient should be advised of all the risks they may face – that’s part of understanding and determining their decision to proceed with the advice of their physician.
The unhealthy question is much more the specific: “Should I be worried about MRSA or C diff?” It’s understandable that people ask about specific organisms but it is rather a failure … Read the rest
Smile and the world smiles with you
I couldn’t help thinking of Eleanor at Give a Brick as well as her personal site at Youier when I got stuck into the book I mentioned I had ordered from Amazon following my day in London last week. The second chapter is entitled, “When you smile, the world smiles with you.”
Happiness is good for you
The basis of this chapter is that happiness is good for you. So by spreading happiness and love, you help prolong the lives of those with whom you interact. Now, ever since the start of the year, Eleanor has been spreading her infectious … Read the rest
Understanding behavioural responses to infections
The Infectious Disease Research Network held a fascinating conference on Friday 11th June entitled “Understanding behavioural responses to infectious disease outbreaks”. The programme was still available last time I looked at: www.idrn.org/events/upcoming/behavioural.php. This seemed the ideal opportunity to see if others felt there were opportunities to explore the internet technologies in getting people engaged in discussions around public health issues – something that this whole site is aiming to do.
Communicating an issue is one thing; getting people to change their behaviour is the difficult bit. But as this web site attests, if we are to get more into … Read the rest