Nursing standard (Royal College of Nursing (Great Britain) : 1987)
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The transfusion of components made from human blood carries a small risk to the recipient. Pre-operative preparation, ensuring that the patient is not anaemic before surgery, is important to ensure that blood is not transfused unnecessarily. ⋯ Nurses managing these clinics have an opportunity to decrease the need for peri-operative transfusion. The management of patients attending pre-operative assessment clinics should be reviewed to ensure that mechanisms are in place to allow the identification, investigation and treatment of anaemia.
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People with learning disabilities have greater health needs than the general population, and annual health checks for this group are advocated. This article reviews the literature for the need for such checks and discusses whether they lead to health improvements for individuals with learning disabilities. It considers how annual health checks should be implemented and the role of community learning disability teams.
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The shift towards providing critical care in general wards has changed the way acutely ill patients are identified, treated and managed in hospital. This requires the expertise of knowledgeable, informed and capable staff. Effective education and appropriate knowledge and skills are required to aid identification of the deteriorating patient and provide prompt, timely and appropriate intervention to prevent further deterioration and possibly death. This article provides information about a systematic approach that will enable healthcare professionals to intervene to prevent deterioration in acutely ill patients.