Irish journal of medical science
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Inadequate medical documentation has been associated with a higher rate of adverse events and may have medicolegal consequences. An accurate admission note is critical as it is frequently referred to during inpatient stay, particularly when the patient is acutely unwell and during handover of care. ⋯ The surgical admission proforma has significantly improved the quality and completeness of admission documentation, ensuring improved patient safety and efficiency of care. Structured admission proformas have a positive impact on patient outcomes, doctors' performance, hospital efficiency, communication and audit quality control, thus providing multiple clear benefits in comparison to freehand admission notes.
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Women diagnosed with substance use disorders (SUDs) have higher rates of major medical conditions compared to women without SUDs. Cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women aged 20-39 years worldwide and women with SUDs have an increased risk of cervical cancer compared to women without SUD. The National Drug Treatment Centre (NDTC) cervical screening programme, derived from the national CervicalCheck programme, offers free cervical screening to patients attending for treatment of SUDs. ⋯ This completed audit cycle shows that an awareness-raising educational intervention can significantly improve adherence to a cervical screening programme in women with SUDs.
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Nutrition is an important aspect of care in the management of cancer at all stages from diagnosis to survivorship. There is currently little data available on the views of those with cancer regarding the importance of nutrition throughout the cancer journey. ⋯ Irish cancer patients and survivors have a positive view of the role of nutritional care in cancer from diagnosis through cancer survivorship. It is important that services are put in place to provide this nutritional care at all stages of cancer.
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Crowdfunding is the internet practice of funding a project or person by requesting online monetary donations from people. We set out to analyse the current non-US GoFundMe cancer pages in order to get deeper understanding of this unregulated activity. ⋯ Our GoFundMe analysis has identified that crowdfunding platforms are predominantly used for requesting financial support, but worryingly, a large proportion are requesting immunotherapy for unlicensed indications and alternative therapies with no evidence. Future efforts to improve patient education, and possibly online donation page regulation, are required to better manage this route of cancer funding.