British journal of anaesthesia
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Improvements in safety culture have been postulated as one of the mechanisms underlying the association between the introduction of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist with perioperative briefings and debriefings, and enhanced patient outcomes. The 5 Steps to Safer Surgery (5SSS) incorporates pre-list briefings, the three steps of the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist (SSC) and post-list debriefings in one framework. We aimed to identify any changes in safety culture associated with the introduction of the 5SSS in orthopaedic operating theatres. ⋯ Implementation of the 5SSS was associated with a significant improvement in the safety culture of elective orthopaedic operating theatres.
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Neurosurgical procedures requiring a sitting position may put the patient at risk of a potentially life-threatening air embolism. Transient manual jugular venous compression limits further air entry in this situation. This study presents an alternative technique aimed at reducing the risk of air embolism. ⋯ These findings may serve as a starting point for the development of intrajugular balloon catheters designed to reduce the risk of air embolism in patients undergoing neurosurgery in a sitting position.
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In the original article, under the "Declaration of Interests" section, the authors stated "none declared" since they had no direct interest in the use of local anaesthetics to treat cancer (the focus of the article being the beneficial use of local anaesthetics in cancer surgery). However, they do have a pending patent on blockers that specifically target the persistent current component of voltage-gated sodium channels, as anti-metastatic agents.