Brit J Hosp Med
-
Review
Life-threatening and terminal illness: considerations for hospitalised Orthodox Jewish patients.
For Orthodox Jewish patients, palliative care in general and withholding and withdrawing treatment in particular pose potential conflicts with some aspects of current religious practice. This article gives an introduction to the relevant cultural context and summarises the relevant principles of Jewish law to help clinicians provide appropriate care for their Jewish patients.
-
Postoperative pulmonary complications occur in half of patients with perioperative COVID-19 and are associated with high mortality. The Royal College of Surgeons of England published guidance on recovery of surgical services during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. One part of this toolkit looked at unique considerations during the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular the risk of contracting COVID-19 while in the hospital. This quality improvement project sought to assess consent forms from the authors' surgical department to see if patients were being consented for the risks associated with COVID-19 during their stay in the hospital. ⋯ Errors or omission of important elements in documentation of patient consent can delay operations, expose hospital trusts to medicolegal risk and ultimately may represent a failure to fully respect patient autonomy. This project sought to evaluate consenting practice during the presence of COVID-19 in society. While the teaching session showed some improvement in the consenting for the risk of COVID-19, emails and visual posters increased the consent rates further.
-
Despite extensive study and use, selecting an osmotherapy agent for traumatic brain injury remains a dilemma. This article explores the challenges in managing patients with traumatic brain injury and the ongoing debate surrounding the efficacy of different hyperosmolar agents as treatment options.