Patient prioritisation for hospital pharmacy services: current approaches in the UK

Objectives To survey and explore current approaches to deployment of pharmaceutical care prioritisation tools in acute hospitals in the UK.Methods A national online survey was circulated electronically to chief pharmacists of hospitals to determine if they use a prioritisation tool or process. Where such mechanisms exist, respondents were invited to participate in a semistructured telephone interview to explore the development, evaluation and application of their tool and share relevant documentation. Interviews were transcribed and thematically analysed.Results Seventy hospitals (70/130) used a tool or process to prioritise clinical pharmacy services. Thirty-six interviews were conducted, and two were excluded. The majority of tools had been developed in-house. Few hospitals had undertaken formal evaluations of their prioritisation tool. Pharmacy prioritisation tools ranged in complexity and often included a combination of pharmacy service prioritisation, such as medicines reconciliation, and a section to assign an individual patient prioritisation level. Determining the priority of a patient based on the identification of set indicators instilled confidence in pharmacists by ensuring they were not missing high-risk patients. Electronic prioritisation tools were especially useful at retrieving real-time data to prioritise workload, improving workflow and ensuring continuity in patient care. Drawbacks of using prioritisation tools included lack of tool sensitivity across certain specialties and time spent using the tool if not all information was accessible.Conclusions Prioritisation tools were seen to be useful for prioritising workload and ensuring the right patients are seen at the right time. As few hospitals had formally evaluated their tools, it is important to rigorously and systematically develop an evidence-based prioritisation tool that is both useable and acceptable. Further research to evaluate such tools would be needed to ensure it improves patient health outcomes and efficiency in pharmacy services

Outcome of prosthesis exchange for infected knee arthroplasty: the effect of treatment approach: A systematic review of the literature

Background and purpose Two-stage revision remains the gold standard in the treatment of infected knee arthroplasty. Lately, good long-term results of direct exchange arthroplasty have been reported. The purpose of this literature review is to compare the clinical outcome achieved with one-stage revision and two-stage revision with different types of spacers

Tempo

When Amy comes to work at the Festival on the Grand, she enters a world in which feminism has disappeared. Without a way to access feminism, the Festival staff: Judith, Poppy, James, Lisa, and Amy endure the patriarchal rule of Artistic Director, Nick Noble. Tempo captures the Festival in the week leading up to its prestigious 40th anniversary opening night: the Berlioz Requiem and concludes by asking the audience to consider our current treatment of feminism. The afterword that accompanies the script is part personal reflection, part critical analysis. The reflection includes the process of developing, writing, and workshopping the script as well as how the play conveys feminism in form, content, and inspiration. The analysis considers the notion of post-feminism and the dangers of blindly embracing it. This project aims to encourage an audience to be critical of post-feminism and revive feminism in creative and useful ways