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Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) can be reduced by up to 55% by systematically implementing evidence-based infection prevention and control strategies, according to a review of 144 studies published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA). The study suggests that there is considerable room for improvement in infection prevention and control practices.

A 53 year old woman with right lower quadrant abdominal pain. A 36 year old acutely suicidal man off psych meds. A 21 year old opioid abuser in withdrawal. An 80 year old woman with chest pain. On a single shift, I regularly read through the “one-liners” of more than two dozen patients. To even keep track of who is who, I (along with most of my colleagues) end up remembering people by their presenting clinical symptom or main medical diagnosis. As much as we recognise this to be clinically necessary, what do we lose when we begin to think of patients in this way?

A streamlined patient risk assessment tool has the potential to dramatically reduce the amount of paperwork for nursing staff, leaving them more time for patient care. The tool – called RAIsoft Acute Care System - is a collaboration between The University of Queensland, Scandinavian company RAIsoft and Queensland Health. It has been successfully trialled at Brisbane’s QEII Jubilee Hospital.

While the focus has been on World Sepsis Day this week, Australian researchers are “on the verge” of breakthroughs in the management of sepsis, according to experts. “We need to be able to show the impact of these interventions, but we can’t do that unless we are able to record the patients who truly have sepsis,” says Professor David Paterson, Director at the University of Queensland’s Centre for Clinical Research. He said that recent research published online in the MJA was an important step in improving the “counting” of cases of sepsis and septic shock in Australian hospitals.

Patients with obstructive sleep apnoea have a higher risk of developing gout, even beyond the first years after being diagnosed with the sleep disorder, according to UK researchers. They noted that apnoea was associated with a range of serious comorbidities and it had previously been shown that people with it had a higher risk of developing gout in the first year after diagnosis.

A dying man has had his wish for one last caramel sundae granted by Queensland Ambulance officers. Gold Coast cancer patient Ron McCartney was leaving his home for the last time to go into palliative care at Robina Hospital. His wife Sharon McCartney was by his side and mentioned that Mr McCartney had barely eaten in two days. Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) officers Kate Hanafy and Hanna Hoswell asked him if he could eat anything, what would it be? Mr McCartney replied that he'd love his favourite food — a caramel sundae.

Nurses from Townsville Hospital and Health Services have literally helped write the book on neonatal care, with the first-ever neonatal teaching textbook written in Australia and New Zealand – “Neonatal Nursing in Australia and New Zealand: Principles for Practice”.

Research conducted with child health nurses in South Australia has found that they don't feel able to challenge structural racism, say Australian researchers, who suggest there is an urgent need for the introduction of anti-discriminatory education and training in the nursing workforce. Nurses are often the ones identifying racism or potential racism in service delivery but are often not given the education and training needed to help them counter racism in practice, say the authors.

Social media bots and Russian trolls promoted discord and spread false information about vaccines on Twitter to sow division and distribute malicious content, according to new research led by the George Washington University. Using tactics similar to those at work during the 2016 United States presidential election, these Twitter accounts entered into vaccine debates months before U.S. election season was underway. 

The five to ten percent of Australian women who have polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) not only face challenges with pregnancy, obesity and diabetes, now a new study by researchers from Cambridge University's Autism Research Centre shows that women with PCOS are more likely than other women to have a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).