Biomedical subjects

Christopher Berry

Publications and source records attributed to Christopher Berry.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Corporate manslaughter.

The Government published its long-awaited draft Bill on the creation of a new criminal offence of corporate manslaughter shortly before the May 2005 general election. The Bill was included in the Queen's Speech after the general election and, with a Labour government back in power, the new offence could be on to the statute book as early as 2006. The Home Affairs Committee and the Work and Pensions Committee announced ajoint inquiry to consider and report on the Bill. This is expected to be completed by the end of 2005. Pressure for reform of the law relating to manslaughter and corporate killing arose out of a series of high profile fatal accidents, including several rail crashes. There has been said to be an increasing concern amongst the public that companies and organisations are not being held sufficiently accountable for deaths caused by their criminal negligence. The author acted in the first of the major cases, representing the directors accused of manslaughter following the Herald of Free Enterprise capsize disaster in 1987.

Administrative Personnel↗

PubMed2004

Internal consistency and responsiveness of the Skin Management Needs Assessment Checklist post-spinal cord injury.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the internal consistency and sensitivity to change of the Skin Management needs assessment checklist (SMnac), a measure specifically developed for the spinal cord injury (SCI) population to assess skin management ability and equip individuals with the skills they need to prevent pressure ulcer development. STUDY DESIGN: Consecutive series, psychometric evaluation study. SETTING: Spinal Cord Injuries Rehabilitation Unit, United Kingdom. PARTICIPANTS: 317 participants with traumatic or nontraumatic SCI. MEASURE: This study used the SMnac, which assesses the ability to perform skin checking, pressure relief, and the prevention of skin insults based on the individual's perception of his or her ability to independently undertake skin management activities. RESULTS: Assessment of internal consistency produced a Cronbach's alpha for this scale of 0.85. A paired-samples t test was used to evaluate the SMnac's sensitivity to change. There was a significant difference between the first and second SMnac scores (t = - 24.38, df = 186, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The SMnac has high internal consistency and sensitivity to change. The SMnac provides constructive assessment of skin management, specifying problems for individuals with SCI, standardizing the critical inputs required to meet rehabilitation targets, and measuring the effects of those inputs and their relationship to other mediating variables and expected outcome.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

The effect of a specialist seating assessment clinic on the skin management of individuals with spinal cord injury.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the specialist seating clinic's effectiveness in improving skin management knowledge and independence, represented by the Needs Assessment Checklist (NAC). DESIGN: Longitudinal, between subjects design, with two intervention groups and one control. SETTING: Tertiary care, spinal cord injury centre (National Spinal Injuries Centre), Stoke Mandeville Hospital, United Kingdom. METHOD: This study assessed the skin management ability of three groups. Group 1 consisted of individuals who had attended a specialist seating assessment (SSA) clinic before their first needs assessment, group 2 had attended SSA between their first and second needs assessment, and group 3 (control) had not attended at all. Patient skin management ability was assessed using the skin management subscale of the NAC, a measure of rehabilitation outcome, at two time points. RESULTS: Significant differences were identified between group 3 and group 1 at both the first (t = 2.36, degrees of freedom (df) = 37, p < 0.05) and second (t = 2.84, df = 37, p < 0.01) needs assessment. Significant improvements were also observed within each group between the first and second needs assessment time points in all seating assessment categories. CONCLUSION: Skin management achievement scores were significantly higher for patients who had attended a SSA clinic before their first NAC (group 1) at both time points, supporting the use of SSA as a proactive intervention to improve patient independence, knowledge and awareness, and potentially reduce pressure ulcer incidence.

Activities of Daily Living↗