Varney's Midwifery 5th Edition now in Nursing & Midwifery library

Located at shelf number 618.2 VAR

Conference on 'Health and Gender Equity in a Period of Global Crisis'

‘Education is the social vaccine that can combat AIDS’ Fr Michael Kelly, speaks about the AIDS crisis internationally.

Fr. Michael Kelly presents the keynote speech on ‘Gender, Sexuality and HIV’ at a major conference on ‘Health and Gender Equity in a Period of Global Crisis’ on 28-29 November, ahead of World AIDS Day on 1st December. The conference is being held in the Galway Bay Hotel & Conference Centre, Salthill, Galway.

Fr. Michael Kelly, based in Zambia, is a noted AIDS activist who has written and spoken extensively about the need to curb the spread of AIDS, using education as a ‘social vaccine’ to empower women to make informed choices.
Fr. Michael Kelly says “Gender inequalities continue to be a major driving force behind the AIDS epidemic. Many factors increase the vulnerability of women and girls to HIV, such as denying women sexual health knowledge as well as practices that prevent them from controlling their bodies or deciding the terms on which they have sex. This is made worse by their limited access to economic opportunities and the multiple household and community roles they are saddled with, as can be seen very clearly in my own country Zambia”.

The conference is hosted by NUI Galway and jointly organised by the Development Studies Association (DSA) Ireland, Irish Forum for Global Health & Gender Advanced Research Consortium and sponsored by Irish Aid.

Click here to view full press release

Tongue piercing helps paralysed patients drive wheelchairs

An experimental device is enabling paralysed people to drive wheelchairs simply by flicking their tongue in the right direction. Users get their tongue pierced with a magnetic stud that resembles jewellery but acts like a joystick for a wireless system.

Researchers said on Wednesday that 11 people paralysed from the neck down rapidly learned to use the device to pilot their wheelchairs through an obstacle course full of twists and turns, and to operate a computer.

"It's really powerful because it's so intuitive," said Jason DiSanto, 39, who was among the first spinal cord injury patients to try out the system. "The first time I did it, people thought I was driving for, like, years."

The research, reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine, is an early step that allowed use of the device only inside laboratories. Larger studies in real-world conditions are required before it ever could be sold. And the tongue piercing may be a turn-off for some potential users, the researchers acknowledge.

But the work is attracting attention from specialists who say there's a big need for more assistive technologies for the severely disabled

Click here to view full article in The Guardian

Addressing Obesity Levels - BMJ

British Medical Journal Editorial:

Getting Serious About Obesity            

Reports from UK medical bodies are a start, but doctors can’t do it alone

Obesity continues to be one of the biggest health threats to the UK population. We therefore welcome the fact that two of the United Kingdom’s most important medical organisations—the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges—have launched major reports this year setting out concrete steps for responding to this crisis.

According to the BMA’s consensus statement on the role of the doctor,1 doctors have to act in “the best interests of their patients and of the population served.” In helping serve the best interests of patients, the RCP report takes several important steps to help bring UK clinical practices in line with those in the United States, which also has an obesity crisis.2 These include developing bariatric medicine as a clinical subspecialty, along with better education for general practitioners, a patient charter, introducing a cross governmental obesity chief, and research into better pharmaceutical and surgical interventions to treat obesity as a medical condition.

1. ↵ 
   BMA. The consensus statement on the role of the doctor. 2008. www.medschools.ac.uk/Publications/Pages/Role-of-the-Doctor-Consensus-Statement.aspx.

   
   
2. ↵ 
   Royal College of Physicians. Action on obesity: comprehensive care for all. 2013. www.rcplondon.ac.uk/sites/default/files/action-on-obesity.pdf.

click on highlighted text to see full editorial:
Getting Serious About Obesity

SPSS Survival Manual

• The current edition (5th) of the statistics package - SPSS Survival Manual is located at 005.55 SPSS.P
• The earlier editions are located at 519.50285536 PAL 

Julie Pallant
http://books.google.ie/books/about/The_SPSS_Survi

US concussion expert to speak at Dublin sports injury summit

Sports concussion expert Dr Micky Collins is the keynote speaker at UPMC Beacon orthopaedic summit next Saturday 30th November at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin which will focus on sports injury management and concussion in particular.

Although there have been a couple of high profile incidents here in recent months where players have continued on the pitch despite receiving a knock to the head, Beacon consultant orthopaedic surgeon Maurice Neligan says awareness and the level of caution with which concussion is treated has improved in recent years.

“Before that it was less recognised and it was not treated,” he says. “It was almost considered manly to stay on the pitch and to be able to play on. Now it’s recognised that that’s actually quite a dangerous thing.”

Dr Collins was one of the co-founders of the Impact assessment in the US which involves a 25-minute cognitive test to evaluate if a sports person is suffering from concussion. Only when they get a score, within a certain percentage of what they received when originally taking the test, can they return to play.

View full article in The Irish Times here

Countdown to the Crystal Clear MSD Health Literacy 2014 Awards begins

Healthcare professionals across the country are being called upon today to begin preparing their entries for the 2014 annual Crystal Clear MSD Health Literacy Awards ahead of the February 7, 2014 closing date.

Established in 2007, the Crystal Clear MSD Health Literacy Awards is the longest standing awards of its kind in Ireland which aim to recognise and reward excellence among those working in the health sector.

last year’s Crystal Clear MSD Health Literacy Awards

Entries for the 2014 awards will be accepted via online only; for a full online entry form visit www.healthliteracy.ie.

Dr Laura Sahm, Lecturer in Clinical Pharmacy (UCC) and Consultant Research Pharmacist at Mercy University Hospital, is newly appointed Chairperson of the awards judging panel.

She said: “This year the judges will be looking for initiatives that empower patients to make informed decisions about their health whether on a reactive or proactive basis. We encourage all HCPs from GPs to pharmacists to nurses to practice managers to submit their entries and showcase the innovative work they are doing.”

Entries can be made by visiting www.healthliteracy.ie by no later than 5pm on Friday February 7, 2014. For more information on the Crystal Clear MSD Health Literacy Awards and details on the judging panel visit www.healthliteracy.ie

Read more in the Irish Medical Times

Newly acquired books in the Nursing & Midwifery Library

located at 610.72 BOS

located at 610.696 SIL

located at 344.410414 NUR

All Ireland Cancer Atlas

Table of Contents:

• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• Summary
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Methods
• 3. Non-melanoma skin cancer
• 4. Breast cancer
• 5. Colorectal cancer
• 6. Lung cancer
• 7. Prostate cancer
• 8. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
• 9. Stomach cancer
• 10. Melanoma of the skin
• 11. Bladder cancer
• 12. Head and neck cancer
• 13. Leukaemia
• 14. Pancreatic cancer
• 15. Kidney cancer
• 16. Oesophageal cancer
• 17. Ovarian cancer
• 18. Brain and other central nervous system cancer
• 19. Cancer of the corpus uteri
• 20. Cancer of cervix uteri
• 21. Discussion
• 22. Conclusions and recommendations

  See more at: http://www.ncri.ie/atlas/all-ireland-cancer-atlas-1995-2007

UpToDate - Resource for Clinicians

Clinical Answers at the Point of Care — Anytime, Anywhere

UpToDate^® is an essential resource for hundreds of thousands of physicians and healthcare practitioners, serving as a trusted medical "colleague" that provides unbiased, evidence-based medical information at the point of care. Accessed more than 18 million times each month.

UpToDate may be accessed through The James Hardiman Library and it provides a
What's New service which covers the following topics:

Practice Changing UpDates

What's new in adult and pediatric emergency medicine

What's new in allergy and immunology

What's new in cardiovascular medicine

What's new in dermatology

What's new in drug therapy

What's new in endocrinology and diabetes mellitus

What's new in family medicine

What's new in gastroenterology and hepatology

What's new in general surgery

What's new in geriatrics

What's new in hematology

What's new in hospital medicine

What's new in infectious diseases

What's new in nephrology and hypertension

What's new in neurology

What's new in obstetrics and gynecology

What's new in oncology

What's new in pediatrics

What's new in primary care internal medicine

What's new in psychiatry

What's new in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine

What's new in rheumatology

Global Health Initiative

Global Health Initiative:
In 2011, the World Health Organization reported that 6.7 million people died of infectious diseases while 36 million people die each year from non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and lung diseases. In an effort to tackle the world's top 30 diseases, ALISON in association with the Ashoka Making More Health initiative have created a suite of courses known as the Global Health Initiative which aims to increase global awareness of these diseases.

Each course includes the latest information about the disease and its prevention. The courses include an interactive assessment for learners to test themselves and measure their knowledge level and will be made available for free and translated into as many as 100 different languages. The goal of the Global Health Initiative is to educate over 100 million people worldwide over the next two years through free online courses.

ALISON is interested to hear from organizations that would like to contribute to, partner with or endorse the initiative. For further details, contact GHI@alison.com.

Honorary degree for Aran doctor and lifeboat medical officer

Dr Marion Broderick, general practitioner for the Aran Islands, was conferred yesterday with the Honorary Degree of Master of Health Sciences at NUI Galway

By currach, lifeboat and helicopter, Aran island doctor Marion Broderick has saved as many lives at sea as on land over the past 32 years.

The general practitioner’s “solo” role as “first port in the storm” and advocate for her community was recognised yesterday by NUI Galway (NUIG), which conferred her with a masters degree in health science.

Dr Broderick, who has also served as medical officer to the RNLI lifeboat, epitomises the best definition of “optimal” general practice, Prof Andrew W Murphy said in his citation at the conferring yesterday.

That definition, articulated by world authority Barbara Starfield in the Lancet journal, involves providing “first contact, continuous, comprehensive and co-ordinated care” to people “undifferentiated by gender, disease or organ system”, Prof Murphy said.

“In a world reduced to statements of 140 characters, the concept of simply being there over an extended period of time seems revolutionary,” Prof Murphy said.

“It can also appear that doctors are expected to know more and more, about less and less, making comprehensive care an unrealisable fairytale,” he said, while co-ordination is “generally overlooked and always underestimated”.

Dr Broderick was one of the first in Ireland to use tele-healthcare and “near patient” testing, he said, and she was “intrinsic” to the development on the island of Arás Ronán, a 12-bed nursing home.

Rural practice is universally recognised as being tough, and island practice even tougher, he said, noting that she was unsure last week if she would have locum cover to travel in for the conferring.

Click here to view full article in The Irish Times

View also Press Release from NUI, Galway here

Cardiovascular Disease - JAMA

The current issue of JAMA is devoted to Cardiovascular Disease -

November 20, 2013
Vol 310, No. 19

The editorial note from this issue looks at the 'story of cholesterol'

What's New With Measuring Cholesterol?

The physical effects of mental illness

Everybody with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia or manic depressive illness, should have an annual health screen with an emphasis on risk factors for heart disease, according to Prof Jogin Thakore, associate professor of psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin.

While advice on smoking cessation, diet and exercise has led to dramatic falls in the rates of death due to heart disease in the general population, Prof Thakore points out the rates of death due to heart disease in those with mental illness has remained the same over the past 20 years.

Prof Thakore is speaking about the physical effects of mental illness at the RCSIMiniMed open lecture series tomorrow evening, at the RCSI, St Stephen’s Green. Free registration at rcsi.ie

View news article here

Neurology Update - Introducing Oxford Short Guides

Oxford Medicine

• A collection of short guides covering a range of topics in neurology
• Each title summarizes up-to-date research literature in a style that has direct clinical application for busy healthcare professionals
• Search and browse within a specific title, or across all the content subscribed to on Oxford Medicine Online
• Images can be downloaded to be used in clinic with patients and peers

The Oxford Neurology Library Online (ONLO) is a collection of short guides covering a range of topics within neurology. Each title summarizes up-to-date research literature in a style that has direct clinical application for busy healthcare professionals. The texts are aimed at neurologists, neurology trainees, clinical nurse specialists, and other healthcare professionals managing neurological conditions in patients.

All content on ONLO can be browsed using the table of contents, or readers can use the in-built search facility to jump to the specific topic, figure or table that is most relevant to their needs. Additional features provide enhanced access to artwork, giving readers the option to enlarge images and to download images of particular interest directly to PowerPoint.

Offering practical information in an easy-to-access format, Oxford Neurology Library Online is an invaluable introduction for trainees and nurses and a handy reference for general neurologists.

Readership: Neurologists, trainees, clinical nurse specialists, and interested GPs.

Oxford Care Manuals

The Medical Library holds a number of practical manuals from the series -
Oxford Care Manuals

Two from that series:

1. Diabetes Care - Rowan Hilson
is located at the Medical Library, CSI - 616.46206 HIL

2. Dementia Care - Jonathan Waite
is located at the Medical Library, CSI - 362.19683 DEM

'Late starters' still have much to gain by exercising

Taking up exercise in your 60s will still help stave off major ill health and dementia, research suggests.

The study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine followed 3,500 healthy people at or around retirement age.

Those who took up exercise were three times more likely to remain healthy over the next eight years than their sedentary peers.

Exercise cut the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and depression.

After eight years of follow-up, a fifth of the participants were defined as healthy - not suffering from any major chronic mental or physical illness.

In the study, those who had regularly indulged in moderate or vigorous physical activity at least once a week were three to four times more likely to be healthy agers than those who had remained inactive, even after taking into account factors such as smoking.

Dr Hamer says physical activity does not necessarily mean going to the gym or going for a run - gardening or walking to the shops also counts.

Click on the title below to access the full text of the article published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine 25th November 2013

Taking up physical activity in later life and healthy ageing: the English longitudinal study of ageing.

Click here to view link to news article

'A Tobacco Free Future' Report Launched

The number of children taking up smoking and women who smoke during pregnancy has declined over the past decade, a new report has found.

However, disadvantaged children remain at particular risk of exposure to second-hand smoke.

The findings are contained within A Tobacco-Free Future, an all-island report on tobacco, inequalities and childhood published this week by the Institute of Public Health inIreland (IPH) and the TobaccoFree Research Institute Ireland.

The World Health Organisation said there are three key “windows of exposure” in terms of tobacco-related harm in childhood; in the womb, directly through children taking up smoking and through exposure to second hand smoke.

It found smoking rates during pregnancy fell by around a third in the Republic of Ireland between 1997/1998 and 2007/2008.

Click here to read more

NUI Galway HPV and Head and Neck Cancer Symposium Commended at the Irish Healthcare Awards.

L-R: Professor Ivan Keogh Academic Department of Otolaryngology, NUI Galway & Galway University Hospitals, Diarmuid Coughlan, Economics of Cancer Research Group, Department of Economics NUI Galway, Mr. Tony O’Connor, Academic Department of Otolaryngology, NUI Galway & Bon Secours Hospital Galway

An NUI Galway symposium jointly organised by the Department of Economics and the Academic Department of Otolaryngology was acknowledged in the “Best Educational Meeting” category at the annual Irish Healthcare Awards earlier this month. There were thirteen entries short-listed and the HPV and Head and Neck Cancer symposium , held on 17th May earlier this year, received a commendation from the expert judging panel at the recent award ceremony.

Professor Ivan Keogh, Director of the Academic Department of Otolaryngology at NUI Galway said “It is a real honour to have our symposium acknowledged at these prestigious awards. I am really very impressed by the extremely high standard of the activities which achieved short listing.”

View full article here

NUI Galway Launch Free Advice Booklet for First Year Students

 ‘Risky Bizzness: Student Wellbeing for Successful Students’, was commissioned by the Health Promotion Service, part of NUI Galway Student Services, which aims to assist students to reach their full potential by providing non-judgemental and up-to-date information to help students make informed decisions.

‘Risky Bizzness: Student Wellbeing for Successful Students’ is based on the popular blog riskybizzness.blogspot.ie which mixes facts and humour to encourage students to look after their health and wellbeing and boost their resilience. 

Like the blog, the new booklet provides information on relationships, study tips, nutrition, budgeting and much more. There are facts, ideas, contact details and also plenty of online links to articles and video clips.

The booklet was written Rab Fulton, the editor of the riskybizzness blog, with Cindy Dring, Health Promotion Coordinator, NUI Galway student services.

For more on Health Promotion in NUI Galway visit http://www.nuigalway.ie/student_services/health_promotion/

click here to view full article

Amazon workers face 'increased risk of mental illness'

A BBC investigation into a UK-based Amazon warehouse has found conditions that a stress expert said could cause "mental and physical illness".

Professor Michael Marmot was shown secret filming of night shifts involving up to 11 miles of walking - where an undercover worker was expected to collect orders every 33 seconds.

It comes as the company employs 15,000 extra staff to cater for Christmas

Amazon said the safety of its workers was its "number one priority."

Undercover reporter Adam Littler, 23, got an agency job at Amazon's Swansea warehouse. He took a hidden camera inside for BBC Panorama to record what happened on his shifts.

Professor Marmot said: "The characteristics of this type of job, the evidence shows increased risk of mental illness and physical illness."

"There are always going to be menial jobs, but we can make them better or worse. And it seems to me the demands of efficiency at the cost of individual's health and wellbeing - it's got to be balanced."

See Panorama: The Truth Behind The Click, BBC One, Monday 25 November at 20:30 GMT and then available in the UK on the BBC iPlayer.

View article on BBC News here

Fewer hospital admissions for alcohol-related liver disease

Hospital admissions for alcohol-related liver disease have begun to drop, according to a new study. The research by doctors from St Vincent's Hospital and the Mater Hospital in Dublin show that 14,000 people were admitted to hospital for the treatment of alcohol dependence in 2011.That was a 17% decrease on 2010.

However, it follows a trebling of people being treated for liver damage from the mid-90s until 2010.

Professor Aidan McCormick at St. Vincent's Hospital, said while the reduction in hospital admissions was good news, a corresponding decrease in liver disease is not yet apparent. He said the findings could point to a different pattern of drinking among Irish people. 

Click here to view article in  RTE Health

Law for standardised cigarette packs moves closer

The Government has this week approved the General Scheme for legislation to provide for much larger health warnings on cigarette packets. The Cabinet has approved the Heads of the Bill that will make it mandatory for tobacco to be sold in Standardised Packaging which will greatly increase the health warnings and reduce the ability of tobacco manufacturers to promote their brand.

The Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill 2013 will outlaw forms of branding such as trademarks and logos on cigarette packs and on roll-your-own packs and will determine the size and positioning of the warnings.

 Ireland’s standardised packaging will have graphic warnings and text selected from a library of graphic images and warnings developed by the European Commission for Member States

There is strong evidence that standardised packaging will increase the effectiveness of health warnings, reduce false health beliefs about cigarettes and reduce brand appeal particularly among youth and young adults.

Click here to view full DOH press release

View also in Irish Times

Involving patients in their nurses’ shift change reduces errors and improves patient satisfaction

At shift change, incoming and outgoing nurses transfer accountability by exchanging information about the patients under their charge. Called bedside handover, this process empowers patients and allows them to become active partners in their own care.  

New research published shows that performing this transfer at the patient’s bedside can also reduce potential errors. 

The findings, published in the Journal of Nursing Care Quality, comprised of qualitative interviews with 45 patients, this research builds on Dr. Jeffs’ ongoing study of transitions across the health care system. Study participants described bedside handover as engaging, personal and informative but indicated the importance of recognizing and being sensitive to patients’ preferences – which can change over time and from patient to patient.

“Most patients felt safer, more satisfied and better informed of their care plan,” said Dr. Jeffs, “But some long-term patients did not want to participate in the twice-daily routine because their conditions had not changed from day to day.”

View press release here

Journal Reference:

Lianne Jeffs, Susan Beswick, Ashley Acott, Elisa Simpson, Roberta Cardoso, Heather Campbell, Terri Irwin. Patientsʼ Views on Bedside Nursing Handover. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 2013; : 1 DOI:10.1097/NCQ.0000000000000035

Galway University Hospitals’ Diabetes Team wins 2013 Healthcare Award

An initiative to introduce structured education programmes for people with diabetes by the Diabetes Education Team at Galway University Hospitals has won the “Patient Lifestyle Education Project” category at the Irish Medical Times 2013 Healthcare Awards.

(l-r) Bernadette McDonnell, Diabetes Nurse Specialist; Dr Sean Dinneen, Consultant Physician and Senior Lecturer, School of Medicine, NUI Galway; Mary Clare O’Hara, Diabetes Education Project Manager; Carmel Murphy, Senior Diabetes Dietitian 

The project involves providing structured training to people with type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes so that they can develop the necessary skills and knowledge to successfully self manage their chronic illness.

The programme for people with type 1 diabetes is called DAFNE or Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating and the Diabetes Team delivers this course up to seven times per year. 

The programme for people with type 2 diabetes is called DESMOND orDiabetes Education and Self Management for Ongoing and Newly Diagnosed and this programme is delivered in the community by specially trained diabetes nurse specialists and dietitians.

Speaking of the achievement Dr Sean Dinneen said, “Through the dedication and commitment of busy healthcare professionals and with the support of senior management in the West / North West Hospitals Group, Galway Primary Community and Continuing Care (PCCC) and NUI Galway we have succeeded in changing the emphasis of our diabetes service from one that was very provider orientated to one that is now very patient centred.

View full article here