CPD Articles

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Medical Technology

Clinical Articles

Chronic Granulomatous Disorder

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is an inherited immunodeficiency that is caused by genetic mutations resulting in the inability of the phagocytes (Neutrophils and Monocytes) to kill certain ingested microbes. CGD results from a mutation in the Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase enzyme complex, found in phagocytic cells. This defect results in recurrent, life-threatening bacterial and fungal infections.

SEP 12, 2023  |  CLINICAL: 3 POINTS

Cholera

Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. Cholera remains a global threat to public health and an indicator of inequity and lack of social development.

AUG 25, 2023  |  CLINICAL: 3 POINTS

Communication

Communication can be defined as imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium, such as phone lines or computers. We all know that communication involves more than one person, one cannot communicate to themselves. Communication is a two way street. The Organization should encourage the two-way flow of information between workforce and management. Input from employees is considered vital in the development of policies and procedures

AUG 25, 2023  |  CLINICAL: 1 POINTS

Herd immunity, vaccination and moral obligation

The public health benefits of herd immunity are often used as the justification for coercive vaccine policies. Yet, ’herd immunity’ as a term has multiple referents, which can result in ambiguity, including regarding its role in ethical arguments. The term ’herd immunity’ can referto (1) the herd immunity threshold, at which models predict the decline of an epidemic; (2) the percentage of a population with immunity, whether it exceeds a given threshold or not; and/or (3) the indirect benefit afforded by collective immunity to those who are less immune.

AUG 25, 2023  |  CLINICAL: 2 POINTS

Influencing the culture of Quality and Safety Through Huddles

Literature shows that interdisciplinary huddles help promote clear communication and proactive reporting of potential errors. High reliability organization (HRO) and just culture models were implemented, yet fragmented team communication about patient safety remained. Huddles were implemented to identify and address patient safety issues. A pre/postintervention design was used. Near-miss and actual event safety metrics,
patient satisfaction, and employee satisfaction/work group perceptions were measured at 3 time points over 1 year

AUG 25, 2023 |  CLINICAL: 2 POINTS

Cholera outbreak in South Africa

Since the last update on 28 February 2023, four new cholera cases have been reported. All new cases were detected in Gauteng Province over the last week, and have been classified as indigenous cases; none reported recent travel (international or local) and there was no evidence of a direct link to imported cases. Three of the new cases are in the City of Johannesburg and are adults who participated in the same traditional healing ritual. One case is in Ekhurhuleni: a 10-year-old child with no history of travel and no apparent links to other cases. All new cases are recovering.

AUG 15, 2023 |  CLINICAL: 2 POINTS

Introduction to Medical Virology

Most of us have had a cold at some point in our lives. You have had a stuffy nose, or a sore throat, or a cough. These illnesses are caused by viruses, or non-living infectious particles. They get into your body through physical contact, or even simply through the air. If you've ever been near someone who has a cough, you know how quickly a virus can spread. But, why do viruses make us sick? Viruses infect our body and invade our cells. They take over normal cell functions and force cells to make more viruses. Viruses often kill host cells, which is where the sick feeling comes from. Your cells are dying and your body is mounting an immune response to try to get rid of the virus.

JUL 27, 2023  |  CLINICAL: 3 POINTS

Drop for drop: A descriptive analysis of blood product usage in a South African tertiary care setting during the Covid-19 pandemic

The Covid-19 has had a drastic effect on the global community. Blood products are precious resourses especially in the African context and this has been especially compounded during the Covid-19 pandemic. Concurrent to this during the Covid-19 level 5 lockdown in South Africa from 26 March - 30 April 2020, a decrease in trauma admissions to state hospitals was noted. The aim of this data collection was to assess whether lowered blood product issuance was seen during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown

JUN 27, 2023  |  CLINICAL: 2 POINTS

Management of donor with a Meditech status of Permanent Inactive due to viral markers.

A viral marker is a series of tests that help in identifying viral infections. Test that a performed at SANBS include HIV test, Hepatitis B/C and Syphilis. A donor status can be a Permanent inactive
due to any of the viral marker’s HIV, Hepatitis or Syphilis.

JUN 26, 2023  |  CLINICAL: 1 POINTS

School nurses’ engagement and care ethics in promoting adolescent health

The school is a key environment for establishing good health habits among pupils. School nurses play a prominent role in health promotion, since they meet with every single adolescent.  To describe care ethics in the context of school nurses’ health-promoting activities among adolescents in secondary schools.  An explorative descriptive methodology in which semi-structured interviews were used to collect data and content analysis was performed. Participants and research context: Data were collected from eight school nurses in a municipality in Western Sweden.

JUN 25, 2023  |  CLINICAL: 2 POINTS

Student factors affecting academic success among undergraduate students at two South African higher education institutions

This study explored student factors affecting academic success among undergraduate students at a historically Black and a historically White South African public higher education institution. Qualitative methodology was used. Data were collected through five focus group discussions from 31 undergraduate students.

MAR 22, 2022 |  CLINICAL: 1 POINTS

The iron status of South African blood donors: balancing donor safety and blood demand

Several studies in developed countries have demonstrated high levels of iron deficiency (ID) among blood donors. There is a paucity of data for developing countries where blood shortages remain a major concern.

MAR 11, 2022   |  CLINICAL: 2 POINT

Infection Prevention & Control (IPC)
Standard precautions

Many medical practices and risks associated with health care are emerging as major challenges for patient safety and contribute significantly to the burden of harm due to unsafe care. Health care-associated infections (HAIs) are one of the frequently encountered patient safety incidents in care delivery and poses a major public health challenge impacting on morbidity, mortality and quality of life.These infections also present a significant economic burden at the societal and health facility level.

MAR 10, 2022  |  CLINICAL: 2 POINTS

Trigeminal Neuralgia

Trigeminal neuralgia is a chronic condition that can cause sudden, intense painful episodes, typically on one particular side of your face, that can disrupt daily activities. Surgical procedures usually only suppress symptoms for a set amount of time, but other forms of medication can help relieve these short, sporadic, very painful episodes

MAR 10, 2022  |  CLINICAL: 2 POINT

Nervous breakdown! A registry of nerve blocks from a South African emergency centre

Nerve blocks are commonplace in the operating theatre and have recently made their way into emergency centres as a viable alternative to traditional methods of analgesia. Their use and safety has been documented for a variety of pathologies and it has been shown that they spare opioids and shorten time to discharge. No data exists on their use in South Africa. The purpose of this study was to analyse data from an existing nerve block registry from an emergency centre in South Africa.

MAR 2, 2022 |  CLINICAL: 1 POINT

Ethics Articles

An exploration of an ethics of care in relation to people with intellectual disability and their family caregivers in the Cape Town metropole in South Africa

People with intellectual disability (ID) are defined as a group by their need for lifelong support. For the most part, it falls to family caregivers to provide this support.

MAR 17, 2021  |  ETHICS: 3 POINTS

Practice what you preach’: Nurses’ perspectives on the Code of Ethics and Service Pledge in five South African hospitals

A recent focus of the global discourse on the health workforce has been on its quality, including the existence of codes of ethics. 

MAR 17, 2021  |  ETHICS: 1 POINTS

Blood Transfusions and Medical Malpractice in South Africa

Blood transfusions save countless lives around the world, with an estimated 85 million units of red blood cells transfused each year.

MAR 5, 2021  |  ETHICS: 2 POINTS

Ethics of sleep- Clinical practice and the law

Ethical behaviour is core to the practice of sleep medicine. Sleep medicine raises questions in three often distinguished subcategories of ethics - normative ethics (how should we behave?)...

MAR 5, 2021  |  ETHICS: 2 POINTS

Experimental Treatment with Favipiravir for COVID-19: An Open-Label Control Study

An outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and its caused coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been reported in China since December 2019.

MAR 5, 2021  |  ETHICS: 3 POINTS

Balancing health worker well-being and duty to care: an ethical approach to staff safety in COVID-19 and beyond.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the risks that can be involved in healthcare work. In this paper, we explore the issue of staff safety in clinical work using the example of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the COVID-19 crisis.

JULY 1, 2021  |  ETHICS: 3 POINTS