Future EANS training programs and certification.

Provided progress is made systematically, the surgeon never attempts to perform operations that are too difficult, and all the safety protocols are adhered to, hysteroscopic surgery should be within the capabilities of most gynaecologists. Failure to appreciate the risks and failure to undergo continuous training in the learning period will inevitably lead to complications which should otherwise be avoidable. Hysteroscopic surgery offers many advantages over conventional surgery and, like many other types of minimal access surgery, appears to be the surgery of the future. Endoscopic surgery will not supplant open surgery but will become another essential part of our practice which the patient will expect and, indeed, demand. There will be problems. Training programmes must be established to try to prevent complications which will be encountered if inadequately trained surgeons perform these new forms of surgery. There must be continuous education in existing methods and research into value and results of new techniques and instruments both for laser and electrosurgery. It is possible that in the future new biophysical or pharmacological approaches may render laser and electrosurgery obsolete. Safer forms of physical energy, photosynthesis and new forms of hormone therapy are all undergoing trials with preliminary results which are encouraging. Whichever techniques eventually prove to be the most effective and safe, we must learn to use them because we owe to our patients the opportunity to benefit from them.

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PubMed1995

The use and cost of first aid in the food and drink manufacturing industry.

The Health & Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 require all companies to consider the provision of first-aid care at work. Information was obtained by postal questionnaires returned by 36 food and drink manufacturing companies on the provision and cost of the first-aid care they provide, as well as the types of treatment that their first aiders administer. Almost all of the companies complied with the legislation by providing trained first aiders and adequate treatment equipment and facilities. The average cost of first-aid provision was 16.00 pounds per worker per year. The majority (93%) of the first-aid treatment provided was of a minor nature. The study demonstrates that first aiders only infrequently use their specialist knowledge and skills for the management of serious or life-threatening medical emergencies. Based on the results of the study, and on the results of previous studies concerning the provision of first-aid care and the training requirements for first aiders, it is concluded that the present emphasis on the provision of minor treatment and the current first-aid training system have resulted in first aiders not being adequately trained to save life, the main objective of first-aid care. A case is made for first-aid training to be reduced in content, but undertaken more frequently, to ensure that first aiders can adequately manage an acute, life-threatening medical emergency.

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