Professional

Anyone who's ever had a long commute to work knows the feeling of driving along the highway while drifting into your own thoughts. You're contemplating life and what's been troubling you lately, thinking of god knows what. Then, suddenly, you've arrived at your destination with no recollection of how you got there. This phenomenon is colloquially known as White Line Fever, or otherwise, Highway Hypnosis, first coined in 1963 by G. W. Wiliams (Williams, 1963). It is described as a mental state in which a person can…

A UK-based artist by the name of William Utermohlen was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1995 and he chronicled his own mental demise over his years of living with the disease. Unfortunately, Utermohlen died in 2007, but he drew a self-portrait every year until he was no longer able to before his death. The artworks offer a unique glimpse into the mind of an Alzheimer's patient, and how their mind deteriorates over time. Strikingly, we can see slow decay until 1999, where we can no longer distinguish any facial…

An inguinal hernia is a protrusion of the abdominal contents through the inguinal canal, often into the groin or scrotum. They are a very common problem and patients may complain of pain or discomfort when coughing, exercising or during bowel movements. Inguinal hernias are so common, they are often one of the first surgical procedures postgraduate surgical residents are trained in​​. The protrusion may not be visible, particularly in overweight patients, however, a bulging area may occur in the area of the hernia, and may…

Managing and otherwise minimising pain and suffering of patients is a core responsibility of providing nursing care. Minimising pain makes life significantly more comfortable for the patient, and allows them to recover faster, and with a positive experience. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case, and when nurses fail to read the signs of pain and do not provide remedial action, the patients are the ones that suffer greatly. The complexity of a patients condition and comorbidities can obscure significant problems in the…

Hand hygiene is a vital part of any infection control practice. Nurses are constantly disinfecting their hands hundreds, if not thousands of times per day (or at least they should be) but this mentality has spread to the greater public, with antibacterial soaps becoming more readily available, and to some, a necessity. You would expect this to be good news, but it's not. Recently emerging evidence has shown that this over-use of antibacterial soaps outside of the healthcare setting may actually be doing more damage…

Traditionally, western medicine has been centred around the biomedical model and its underpinning philosophies to best determine a person’s health status. The biomedical model has allowed medicine to advance in leaps and bounds over recent decades, improving our understanding of the human body while also maintaining a superior standard of care through the evidence-based practice approach. Through this approach, we were able to isolate body systems and understand disease processes and how they impacted upon the individual…

A recent article released in the Journal of Clinical Nursing has revealed the healthcare industry to be potentially the most violent industry to work in. The study surveyed 365 doctors and nurses working in the emergency department which revealed that within the past 12 months, 76.2% of the participants experienced violence in the workplace, although the vast majority (88.8%) was not physical, but verbal abuse. The study also revealed that it was not necessarily the patients that are the source of violence directed at…

A recent incident involving a physician is a medical emergency whilst onboard a passenger flight in the USA has raised some questions about the ethics surrounding assisting fellow passengers whilst traveling. The incident in question happened in October 2016 when a 28-year-old OB/GYN resident from Houston offered her medical expertise in dealing with a medical emergency on board the flight she was traveling on. According to the New York Times, this offer was rejected by the flight attendant as they were not satisfied she…

Over the last decade or so, health care has shifted focus from treatment of symptoms and disease processes, to more emphasis on prevention of disease, such as living an active lifestyle and exercising regularly. Healthy diet and personal habits have also seen an increased emphasis in recent health promotion campaigns. Through these new approaches modern medicine has slowly moved away from the biomedical model as its sole foundation, and has moved towards a more holistic approach to healthcare, while using the solid…

Nursing is a broad profession within the healthcare system, which deals with the caring and support of sick is injured people, promoting recovery and wellbeing. Nursing is often what we envision when we think about hospitals and healthcare in general. The caring nurse with her gentle touch and soft voice is what we all think would best aid in our recovery, and indeed this has been shown to be the case on many occasions. Nurses focus not only on supporting individuals in need, but rather focus their skills…