British journal of nursing (Mark Allen Publishing)
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This article presents the author's experience, in the role of a transfusion practitioner (TP), of developing and implementing a major haemorrhage protocol. A definition is given for the term 'major haemorrhage' in conjunction with the incidence of and outcomes for people experiencing excessive blood loss. The advantages and disadvantages of clinical protocols are discussed. ⋯ With reference to the specific design of a major haemorrhage protocol for use in an acute NHS trust, a detailed explanation of the stages involved in developing a protocol is given. This is followed by a summary of the standard recommendations specified for protocol implementation. The findings from an audit showed on average that the time to the first transfusion was 26 minutes less for patients in the post-protocol group compared to the pre-protocol group.
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Professor Alan Glasper from the University of Southampton discusses the latest flu plan initiative by the Department of Health, NHS England and Public Health England for the winter of 2014-15 designed to increase flu vaccine uptake among frontline health professionals.
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The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) has been accepted nationally and internationally as a tool to assess depth and duration of consciousness since it was published in 1974. Although it was intended to be an easy and practical bedside tool for any grade of health professional, it is considered to be ambiguous and confusing for infrequent users. Moreover, there has been increasing concern about the accuracy and effectiveness of the GCS observation carried out by these users, which could result from lack of training and dissemination of benchmarking across non-specialist areas. This paper aims to introduce a GCS flow chart to guide users step by step when assessing a patient's level of consciousness.
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John Tingle discusses the Care Quality Commission's fifth annual report on the state of health and care in the NHS.