A new safety checklist similar to those used by pilots promises to cut surgery rates and complications in Australia’s operating theatres. Every operation performed at every hospital involves some risk. This is a fact of life. However many complications are ...

As more nurses are exposed to peripherally inserted lines, Neville Hearse looks at ways to improve the management of vascular access devices. Over the last decade, nurses have been exposed to the increasing trend toward vascular access devices (VAD’s) for ...

Sometimes the most important things are also the simplest. It is said that cleanliness is next to godliness, which is very much the case for health professionals. An estimated 12,000 blood stream infections associated with health care occur in Australia ...

What is the best available evidence regarding the management of breech presentation? By Alexa McArthur RN RM MPHC Clinical bottom line Breech presentation occurs in 4 per cent of all singleton pregnancies, and as gestation increases, the proportion of breech ...

The importance of good nutrition in the healing of wounds is widely accepted, but still remains of low priority in health care. Dubbed a “hidden epidemic” by healthcare professionals, chronic wounds affect around 200,000 people in Australia at any one ...

Honey can help speed up healing in some burns. A cream commonly used to treat burns may actually delay healing, with some health professionals looking at more natural remedies. Increased understanding of the wound healing process means that there are ...

Intensive blood glucose lowering has been embraced to control hyperglycemia. Australian and New Zealand clinicians, uncertain if intensively lowering blood glucose was harmful or beneficial to critically ill patients have found it increases the risk of dying by 10 per ...

Jane Barry makes the link between nutrition and infant eye health. As an issue, infant eye health has not been high on the agenda for many child and family health nurses. It competes for attention and surveillance among other, often ...

The words we use around people with dementia are important, but so too is how we say them, writes Jane Verity To say darling or not to say darling – that is the question. The three words darling, dearie or ...