Irish journal of medical science
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The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic caused severe disruption to scheduled surgery in Ireland but its impact on emergency abdominal surgery (EAS) is unknown. ⋯ Significant improvements in patient flow following admission for EAS during the pandemic were observed. These changes were not associated with greater mortality nor increased readmission rates and offer important insights into optimal delivery of EAS services.
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Amyloidosis is a heterogeneous group of diseases that most often presents with advanced cardiac pathology. Another presentation of the disease can include symptoms consistent with carpal tunnel syndrome; however, the true incidence of amyloidosis in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome remains unclear. ⋯ Our results suggest that the incidence of amyloidosis in the general CTS patient population may be as high as 1.4% with routine screening by synovial biopsy and the diagnosis should be considered as a potential cause. Level of Evidence: III, retrospective study.
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Contemporary discourse on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in medicine is oft-sensationalised to the point of bearing no resemblance to its everyday impact and potential - either to proselytise it as a saviour or to condemn its perilous, amoral and sprawling reach.This report aims to unravel the paucity of understanding underpinning this hyperbolic duality, whilst addressing the potential clearly defining its ethical use poses to the semi-public healthcare models in Ireland and Europe. ⋯ This report concludes that balanced assessment of AI's role in healthcare requires improvement in three areas: improving clarity in definition of AI and its extant remit in medicine; aligning contemporary discourse on AI use with contemporary objective ethical, legal and system frameworks; and clearly identifying for dismissal a number of logical fallacies deliberately sensationalising AI's potential.
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Pneumococcal diseases (PN) and herpes zoster (HZ) are preventable infections in the adult population. ⋯ The public obtain information on vaccines from friends and family members, which may result in misinformation and inappropriate behaviour in vaccination. Although educational sessions provided by pharmacists did not increase the actual vaccination rates for PN and HZ, public willingness to vaccination has increased.