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A Randomised Controlled Trial Investigating the Effect of Improving the Cleaning and Disinfection of Shared Medical Equipment on Healthcare-associated Infections: The CLEaning and Enhanced disiNfection (CLEEN) Study
No full textBackground
Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are a common, costly, yet largely preventable complication impacting patients in healthcare settings globally. Improving routine cleaning and disinfection of the hospital environment has been shown to reduce the risk of HAI. Contaminated shared medical equipment presents a primary transmission route for infectious pathogens, yet is rarely studied. The CLEEN study will assess how enhanced cleaning and disinfection of shared medical equipment affects the rate of HAIs in a tertiary hospital setting. The initiative is an evidence-based approach combining staff training, auditing and feedback to environmental services staff to enhance cleaning and disinfection practices. Methods
The CLEEN study will use a stepped wedge randomised controlled design in 10 wards of one large Australian hospital over 36 weeks. The intervention will consist of 3 additional hours per weekday for the dedicated cleaning and disinfection of shared medical equipment on each ward. The primary outcome is to demonstrate the effectiveness of improving the quality and frequency of cleaning shared medical equipment in reducing HAIs, as measured by a HAI point prevalence study (PPS). The secondary outcomes include the thoroughness of equipment cleaning assessed using fluorescent marker technology and the cost-effectiveness of the intervention. Discussion
Evidence from the CLEEN study will contribute to future policy and practice guidelines about the cleaning and disinfection of shared medical equipment. It will be used by healthcare leaders and clinicians to inform decision-making and implementation of best-practice infection prevention strategies to reduce HAIs in healthcare facilities. Trial registration
Australia New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry ACTRN12622001143718
Bloom Exhibition
No full textBloom is and exhibition of works which could be described as two-dimensional assemblages which have as their subject matter Australian Flora. The exhibition had 16 works which were exhibited at the Robin Gibson Gallery August 1 -26, 2020
Growing Capable Kids: Exploring the Nexus Between the Australian Curriculum’s General Capabilities, Global Competencies, and one School Garden Program
Get PDFMany countries include core competencies in their educational curricula. The purpose of competencies is to ensure a holistic education that equips students with skills to flourish in the twenty-first century. Across the literature on this topic, however, there are limited studies that investigate how primary schools embed competencies into their learning programs. A qualitative case study of one Australian primary school with an established environmentally friendly garden program revealed how gardening as part of the school program provided opportunities for the development of core competencies, in particular the general capabilities of the Australian Curriculum
Foreword - Encountering New Twists
No full textCritical Essays on English and Bengali Detective Fiction brings together three strains of detective fiction: British, American, and Bengal. The import of detective fiction from Britain has influenced generations of writers of Bengali detective fiction. In this anthology of critical essays by scholars on detective fiction, we have divided the contents into three groups. First, there are essays on classic British detective fiction, with essays on Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, P.D.James, Kate Atkinson, and Margery Allingham. The second section is on American hard-boiled fiction with essays on Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. The third section is on Bengali detective fiction with essays on Hemendra Kumar Roy, Saradindu Bandyopadhay and Satyajit Ray. Together, these essays bring three strains of detective fiction into conversation to show the gradual postcolonial attempt of Bengali detective fiction to outgrow colonial influences and create an original and organic tradition of regional and vernacular detective fiction
Sandstrom, Donald John (1928-1999)
No full textDonald J. Sandstrom was a pastor in Massachusetts, a missionary in South America and East Africa, and president of three conferences in the United States
White, Seabert Griffin (1885-1973) and Genevieve (Paisley) (died 1940)
No full textSeabert White served as a missionary in China for seven years and then returned to his home country, Canada, to minister in the provinces of British Columbia, Ontario, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan
Efficacy of a Multimodal Lifestyle Intervention (The Lift Project) for Improving the Mental Health of Individuals with an Affective Mood Disorder Living in South Africa
No full textBackground: Affective disorders are becoming more pervasive worldwide, including in Southern Africa, where treating patients with these conditions is challenging due to social and financial constraints. A variety of non-pharmacological approaches including lifestyle medicine (e.g., exercise, nutrition, sleep) and positive psychology practices (e.g., gratitude, service), are effective for treating mental health (MH) conditions.
Methods: Twenty-six individuals from South Africa with a diagnosed MH condition participated in a 10-week multimodal intervention incorporating a diverse range of non-pharmacological strategies for improving MH. MH metrics were assessed pre-and post-intervention, including general MH, vitality/energy (VIT), depression, anxiety, stress, and satisfaction with life. MH and VIT were also measured weekly.
Results: Improvements were observed in all mental metrics from pre-to post-intervention: MH (59%, p \u3c 0.001, Cohen’s D = 1.36), VIT (110%, p \u3c 0.001, Cohen’s D = 1.71), depression (−46%, p \u3c 0.001, Cohen’s D = −1.06), anxiety (−48%, p \u3c 0.001, Cohen’s D = −1.21), stress (−36%, p \u3c 0.001, Cohen’s D = −1.08) and life satisfaction (23%, p \u3c 0.001, Cohen’s D = 0.66). Significant improvements in MH and VIT were observed after only 1 week of the intervention and progressively increased until the seventh week, after which further improvements were not statistically significant.
Conclusion: The findings of this cohort study indicate that a multimodal intervention that incorporates lifestyle and positive psychology practices may benefit individuals living with an affective disorder. Non-pharmacological, multimodal interventions might offer a stigma-free way of providing MH promotion and treatment at a population level
Revealing Jesus in the Learning Environment: In Celebration of Teaching
No full textThis book is the fourth in the series ‘Revealing Jesus in the Learning Environment’. Spanning Christian Early Childhood, Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary learning environments, it explores and celebrates how these environments, and in particular the teachers who create them, reveal Jesus to their students.The chapters in this volume range from literature supported narratives, to research-based papers, to original research in schools. This book also investigates a variety of topics, including parent perceptions of Adventist education, graduate attributes, celebrating teaching over instruction, and case studies from the teachers at Fulton Adventist University College. Varying between the practical and the philosophical, each chapter contributes to a celebration of what Christian teachers have done, are doing, and can do in the future to best reveal Jesus in their learning environments
Moisturizers, Emollients, or Barrier Preparations for the Prevention of Pressure Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
No full textSignificance: Pressure injuries are prevalent, yet preventable global health care problem estimated to affect 14% of hospital patients and up to 46% of aged care residents. One common prevention strategy is improving skin integrity through emollient therapy to optimize hydration and avoid skin breakdown. Therefore, this study aimed to review the literature and determine effectiveness of inert emollients, moisturizers, and barrier preparations compared with standard care, to prevent pressure injury in aged care or hospital settings.
Recent Advances: Search terms were derived with database searches, including ProQuest, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Medline, Science Direct, Scopus, and the Cochrane library. The Robins1 and Risk of Bias 2 (Rob2) quality appraisal tools were used. A meta-analysis of the effects of interventions was conducted (random effects). Four studies met the inclusion criteria, with heterogeneous quality. Pooling of nonrandomized studies found that the application of emollients, moisturizers or barrier preparations did not significantly reduce incidence of pressure injury compared with standard care (relative risk 0.50, 95% confidence interval: 0.15–1.63, Z = 1.15, p = 0.25).
Critical Issues: This review suggests that the use of inert moisturizers, emollients, or barrier preparations for preventing pressure injuries was not effective to prevent pressure injury in aged care or hospital settings. However, there was a distinct lack of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), with only one meeting the inclusion criteria. Furthermore, most of the included studies did not report on the frequency of application of the product, making it difficult to determine if application was in line with current international guidelines. One included study, which utilized a combination of neutral body wash and emollient demonstrated a significant reduction in the development of stage one and two pressure injuries. This combination of care may further support skin integrity and should be further examined in future trials.
Future Directions: Future studies should ideally be RCTs, which control for skin cleansing, and implement an inert moisturizer emollient or barrier preparation as part of a pressure injury reduction bundle of care. Standardization of the application of the product, the volume of product applied at each application, and the quality of the product should also be considered
Risk of Organism Acquisition from Prior Room Occupants: An Updated Systematic Review
No full textBackground Evidence from a previous systematic review indicates that patients admitted to a room where the previous occupant had a multidrug-resistant bacterial infection resulted in an increased risk of subsequent colonisation and infection with the same organism for the next room occupant. In this paper, we have sought to expand and update this review. Methods A systematic review and meta-analysis was undertaken. A search using Medline/PubMed, Cochrane and CINHAL databases was conducted. Risk of bias was assessed by the ROB-2 tool for randomised control studies and ROBIN-I for non-randomised studies. Results From 5175 identified, 12 papers from 11 studies were included in the review for analysis. From 28,299 patients who were admitted into a room where the prior room occupant had any of the organisms of interest, 651 (2.3%) were shown to acquire the same species of organism. In contrast, 981,865 patients were admitted to a room where the prior occupant did not have an organism of interest, 3818 (0.39%) acquired an organism(s). The pooled acquisition odds ratio (OR) for all the organisms across all studies was 2.45 (95% CI: 1.53–3.93]. There was heterogeneity between the studies (I2 89%, P \u3c 0.001). Conclusion The pooled OR for all the pathogens in this latest review has increased since the original review. Findings from our review provide some evidence to help inform a risk management approach when determining patient room allocation. The risk of pathogen acquisition appears to remain high, supporting the need for continued investment in this area