Technical patient safety solutions for medicines reconciliation on admission of adults to hospital
NICE has issued a Patient Safety Solution, the aim of which is to reconcile medicines on hospital admission is to ensure that medicines prescribed on admission correspond to those that the patient was taking before admission. It recommends that all healthcare organisations that admit adult inpatients should put policies in place for medicines reconciliation on admission. This includes mental health units, and applies to elective and emergency admissions.
These policies should ensure that: pharmacists are involved in medicines reconcilliation as soon as possible after admission and the responsibilities of pharmacists and other staff in the medicines reconciliation process are clearly defined.
Evidence-Based Medicine
BestBETS – Best Evidence Topics completed in January
Indication for brain CT in children with mild head injury update 2008
Role of plain abdominal radiograph in the diagnosis of intussusception
Should ondanestron be used as the first-line anti-emetic in paracetamol overdose
Which is the best clinical test for diagnosing a knee meniscal injury?
Is thrombolysis or surgery the best option for acute prosthetic valve thrombosis?
Role of topical analgesia in acute otitis media.
What is the best treatment for empyema?
Is the use of chest physiotherapy beneficial in children with community acquired pneumonia?
What is the best treatment for hyperkalaemia in a preterm infant?
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
Chest radiograph in acute respiratory infections
Colloid solutions for fluid resuscitation
Fluid therapy for acute bacterial meningitis
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for low back pain
Water for wound cleansing
Emergency treatment of anaphylactic reactions : guidelines for healthcare providers
This guideline from the Resuscitation Council gives an updated consensus about the recognition and treatment of anaphylactic reactions, the treatments patients should receive, and recommendations for treatment.
International guidelines for management of severe sepsis and septic shock: 2008
These updated guidelines represent phase II of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC), an international effort to increase awareness and improve outcomes in severe sepsis. The recommendations provide guidance for a patient with severe sepsis or septic shock.
Highlights from the Literature
Emergency Medicine Online, 2008, vol. 25, issue 2.
Is ice right? Does cryotherapy improve outcome for acute soft tissue injury?
Integrated hospital emergency care improves efficiency
Comparison of characteristics of admitted emergency department patients requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the ICU and non-ICU setting
Emergency Medicine Online and Emergency Nurse are available full-text. You will need and NHS Athens username and password to access these journals and the articles listed above.
Accident and Emergency Nursing, Annals of Emergency Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Emergency Radiology and Pediatric Emergency Care are not available full-text. To obtain a copy of an article from any of these publications, please complete a journal article request form and send it to you local hospital library. They will be able to obtain the article for you.
This bulletin is brought to you by the Knowledge and Information Service. It aims to keep you up-to-date with infection control issues. At the beginning of each month, a librarian will update the bulletin with relevant information published in the preceding month. If there are areas you think we also need to cover, please let us know.
