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| This Month |
A profile of hospital consultants: The health practices of a cohort of medical professionals: O’Cathail and O’Callaghan have surveyed the lifestyles of medical consultants. The smoking rate was 7.5%, the rate in the general population is 29%. Twenty per cent of consultants take no exercise. The alcohol consumption rate was 94%.
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Universal Antenatal Screening for Hepatitis C: Lambert et al screened 8976 antenatal patients for hepatitis C . Seventy eight (0.9%) tested positive. Two thirds of the positive cases were Irish, most of the others being Eastern European. Risk factors included drug abuse and tattooing. The authors recommend that hepatitis C antenatal screening should be introduced.
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Parental patterns of use of over the counter analgesics in children: Garvey et al have examined the parental use of OTCA medications. The questionnaire was completed by 183 parents. The findings indicate that two thirds of parents use analgesics inappropriately. Understanding of the side effects of medication was poor. The authors urge that pharmacists provide advice when OTCA medication is being purchased for children.
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Evaluation of an innovative recruitment initiative on the attitudes of medical students: O’Connor et al note that in 2011 less than 50 % of first year BST places in Psychiatry were filled in Ireland. A one day psychiatric summer school was held. The school had a positive effect on the students’ attitude towards psychiatry, the Nielson score increased from 26.7 to 28.3.
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The difficulty identifying intoeing gait in cerebral palsy: O’Sullivan et al have addressed the problem of intoeing gait in cerebral palsy children. Among 245 cases of cerebral palsy there were 102 (41.6%) children with intoeing. It was more common in diplegics compared with hemiplegics. The condition is important because it can lead to functional gait difficulties.
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The impact of rolling theatre closures on core urology training: Good et al report on the impact that theatre closures have on urology surgical training. At CUH there were 33 more theatre closures in 2011 compared with 2009. The number of surgical procedures decreased from 555 to 443 cases during the corresponding period of time. The authors suggest the provision of simulation training to make up the shortfall.
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Factors involved in unplanned admissions from general surgical day-care in a modern protected facility: Awan et al have analysed the pattern of unanticipated admissions from a day surgery ward. Among 560 cases there were 25 (4.4%) admissions. Ten were admitted for control of post-operative pain, nausea and vomiting. The others were mostly for management of surgical issues such as the need for post-operative drains.
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