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Biomedical subjects

Linda Watterson

Publications and source records attributed to Linda Watterson.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Using indicator development to revise infection control activities in an acute NHS trust.

AIM: This paper describes a 2-year project to facilitate improved infection control within an acute National Health Service trust. BACKGROUND: Organizational support, broad ownership of issues and adequate resources are needed to enable good infection control to underpin improvements in care. METHOD: Development of indicators, agreed at a stakeholder workshop, was used as a focus. The Infection Control Team was expanded. RESULTS: The team has a wider skills base and can deliver proactive and reactive services in closer collaboration with clinicians, especially modern matrons. The infection control committee has been reconstituted and become more effective. There have been demonstrable health and financial gains over 2 years, and improved performance against national standards. CONCLUSION: Focusing on indicator development enabled key stakeholders to gain a collective appreciation of the issues that the trust faced, increased ownership of agreed actions and rooted infection control activity in trust mechanisms for monitoring and business planning.

Hospitals, Public↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Sharp thinking.

Nurses are the healthcare professionals most at risk from neeldestick and sharps injuries, according to the latest figures from the RCN's EPINet project. During 2004, 1,990 injuries were reported from the 20 self-selecting participating sites. Nurses sustained 43 per cent of these injuries. Disposable syringes and needles were the most common equipment to cause injury. Although discouraged, 4 per cent of injuries occurred during recapping of needles. Just under a third of injuries were sustained by staff other than the original user of the sharp.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Monitoring sharps injuries: EPINet surveillance results.

Sharps injuries are one of the main types of accident sustained by NHS staff. The RCN's Be Sharp Be Safe campaign was launched in 2001 with the aim of reducing sharps injuries and includes a surveillance project to describe the current pattern of sharps injuries being experienced in participating trusts. This article gives an overview of the results from the second year of the surveillance project and indicates how the data can be used to help improve practice. Nurses emerge as the staff group reporting the highest proportion of injuries recorded in the study period. The most common sharps injury scenario involves nurses giving injections in the patient's room or ward area. Aspects of poor disposal practice and incidents involving the recapping of needles continue to result in injuries and are worthy of further investigation. Analysis of the data by location can highlight specific tasks which could be reviewed to identify safer working practices.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Principles of aseptic technique in urinary catheterisation.

Most nurses are aware of the importance of aseptic technique but some may be unsure about applying the technique during urinary catheterisation. This article explains the principles of aseptic techniquue and their application to the procedure of urinary catheterisation.

Humans↗