World hospitals and health services : the official journal of the International Hospital Federation
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World Hosp Health Serv · Jan 2008
Historical ArticleWe shape our buildings, then they kill us: why health-care buildings contribute to the error pandemic.
Hospitals are complex. The physical environment in which that complexity exists has a significant impact on health and safety. ⋯ Despite recent discussions regarding design of 'patient-centered' healthcare facilities and 'evidence-based design', there has been little assessment of the impact of the built environment on patient outcomes. This paper will present a few examples of how changes in design can improve the quality of care.
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World Hosp Health Serv · Jan 2008
Virtual patient simulation for prevention of medical error: beyond just technical upskilling.
Virtual patient simulation is a well established mode of medical education for many technically oriented clinical skills. Resuscitation Annie has been used for teaching cardiopulmonary resuscitation for many years and other similar simulation has been used extensively for teaching colonoscopy, delivering babies, suturing, and a variety of surgical techniques and procedures. ⋯ Simulation has taken many forms in Medicine including: (1) Computer-based simulations; (2) Standardised patients widely used in OSCE training and examination; (3) Virtual environments; (4) mannequins such as Resuscitation Annie, and (5) so-called "high fidelity" simulations resembling as much as possible the actual clinical situations. These forms of simulation have been used to teach the important skill of clinical decision-making as well as technical procedures (Owen, 2008).
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World Hosp Health Serv · Jan 2008
HIV/AIDS, conflict and security in Africa: rethinking relationships.
The effect of conflict on HIV transmission and regional and global security has been the subject of much recent discussion and debate. Many long held assumptions regarding these relationships are being reconsidered. Conflict has long been assumed to contribute significantly to the spread of HIV infection. ⋯ Nevertheless, HIV/AIDS remain a serious threat to population health and economic well being in this region. These issues are of vital importance for HIV programming and health sector development in conflict and "post-conflict" societies and will constitute formidable challenges to the international community. Further research is required to better inform the discussion of HIV, conflict, and security in sub-Saharan Africa.