ANZ journal of surgery
-
ANZ journal of surgery · May 2016
Implementation and evaluation of a checklist to improve patient care on surgical ward rounds.
Key aspects of care may be overlooked on a busy surgical ward round. This study assessed the use of a checklist to correct these omissions. Its use as the basis of structured ward round documentation was then measured. ⋯ The use of a checklist during surgical ward rounds makes significant improvement in the consideration of most key aspects of care and education in the completion of a structured progress form substantially improved documentation.
-
ANZ journal of surgery · May 2016
Endoscopic cyst-gastrostomy for pancreatic pseudocysts: refining the indications.
Pseudocysts are a common consequence of acute pancreatitis and require intervention if symptomatic. Endoscopic management is emerging as a safe and effective alternative to surgery, although its use is not yet widespread. ⋯ We discuss technical and patient factors which may have contributed to these complications in the context of current literature, and in particular, found that the presence of necrosis was associated with higher morbidity, both in our series and in others. In our experience, endoscopic ultrasound-guided cyst-gastrostomy is best employed in simple, mature pseudocysts without necrotic debris, and we recommend this procedure only after a detailed assessment of the pseudocyst in a specialist hepatobiliary unit.
-
On 8 November 2013, Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines causing widespread loss of lives and infrastructures. At the request of the Government of the Philippines, the Australian Government deployed a surgical field hospital to the city of Tacloban for 4 weeks. This paper describes the establishment of the hospital, the surgical workload and handover to the local health system upon the end of deployment. ⋯ This paper describes the experience of a trained, equipped and collaborative surgical foreign medical team in Tacloban in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan. Sepsis from foot injuries in diabetic patients constituted an unexpected majority of the workload. New presentations of typhoon-related injuries were presented throughout the deployment.