The Ramsay Way 2016 | 04 7 HOSPITAL NEWS ST ANDREW’S IPSWICH REHAB UNIT CELEBRATES 1ST YEAR OF SERVICE St Andrew’s Ipswich Private Hospital celebrated their new Rehabilitation Unit’s first year of service in October 2016. The Unit, supported by an experience team of allied health and nursing professionals, affords patients the choice of receiving private rehabilitation services close to home; eliminating the need for patients to travel to Brisbane for care. NEW INNOVATIVE TREATMENT FOR DRY EYE SUFFERERS John Flynn Private Hospital Ophthalmologist, Dr Cathryn Edrich is one of the first practices on the Gold Coast to introduce the IPL (Intense Pulse Light therapy) solution to help Dry Eye sufferers. Dry Eye is a condition that affects an estimated 20 percent of the population, and this figure is likely to grow with the increasing use of electronic and other media devices in our daily lives. Frequent exposure to air-conditioning in the office and car is another major factor contributing to Dry Eye symptoms, which given the climate on the Gold Coast and Northern NSW, is particularly prevalent in our everyday living. “Evaporative dry eye disease is one of the most common eye disorders seen in any eye and/or optometry practice.” “Our daily lives are increasingly dominated by media devices such as computers, smartphones and iPads, often involving hours of concentrated viewing.” “This serves to increase the strain on our eyes which exacerbates the familiar symptoms of dry eyes,” explains Dr Edrich. IPL therapy offers a simple, painless, safe and long-lasting treatment that effectively alleviates the discomfort of dry eyes in over 80-90 percent of patients with evaporative dry eye disease. IPL gently targets the nerves that supply the oil-producing meibomian glands within the eyelids, stimulating production of improved quality lubricating oils. Normal gland function is thus enhanced, which in turn stabilises the tears, reducing tear evaporation and relieving the discomfort of dry eyes. World first Greenslopes research finds superbug threat New research shows a species of multidrug-resistant World recognition for safer radiation study at St George St George Private Hospital Cath Lab Director Dr James Weaver received recognition in Europe’s most respected interventional cardiology journal EuroIntervention, relating to his study on the world’s first commercially installed radiation-dose tracking system in the hospital’s Cath Lab. In a study of 1011 patients, the research found a 46% reduction in radiation exposure during stent insertion real time colour-mapping. “We know that patients who are increasingly exposed to radiation treatment as part of necessary treatment for medical conditions may have significant long term consequences - including the potential to develop cancer down track,” says Dr Weaver, an Interventional Cardiologist who is also the Director of the Coronary Care Unit at St George Hospital. “The risks are low, we don’t know how much of a risk specifically, but we still need to work on the ALARA principle (as low as reasonably achievable) and we wanted to track the effectiveness of this new system – which pinpoints and tracks radiation with exquisite clarity.” He said St George Private was the first hospital in the world to install a radiation dose tracking system in a clinical setting (the Cath Lab). This study on 1011 patients found that real time colour-mapping (which makes normally invisible radiation pathways visible) reduced total radiation by 22 per cent across all procedures; and by 46 per cent with stent insertion. Dr Weaver will be reaching more 25,000 imaging radiologists around the world, via a review in Diagnostic Imaging, to be published in coming months. mycobacteria, which can cause potentially deadly lung infections, is creating an urgent global threat. For the first time, an international team of researchers revealed Mycobacterium abscessus infections can be spread from person to person. Researchers from Greenslopes Private Hospital, The Prince Charles Hospital and QUT were part of the Brisbane group that demonstrated these bacteria could spread from droplets created when an infected person coughs. They also showed these bacteria could survive on surfaces for long periods of time, and were resistant to standard hospital cleaning. Alarmingly, not only do these bacteria affect people with suppressed immune systems (e.g. cystic fibrosis patients); they can occasionally infect healthy people too. The study was co-authored by respiratory physician Associate Professor Rachel Thomson and was published in the world-renowned journal Science. Assoc Prof Thomson had previously isolated these bacteria from the Brisbane water supply and had shown that patients could acquire infection both from water, and aerosols generated by showering. However, in this international study, “we found that approximately 60% of these bacterial infections are caused by clusters of very nasty strains, which are more resistant to antibiotics, are increasingly virulent and can be spread from person to person. This presents an unprecedented challenge on an international scale,” said Assoc Prof Thomson. Researchers examined the genetic code of samples of mycobacteria from more than 500 patients in Australia, England and the USA. “To put into perspective how worrying this trend is, the infection was extremely uncommon just 15 years ago. Now it has become so virulent the same strains are being picked up in countries on opposite sides of the world.” Many strains of this superbug are extremely difficult to treat successfully because they are resistant to so many antibiotics, meaning infected patients may need many months of intravenous treatment. Some are still battling the bug after a decade of treatment attempts. The research will have an impact on infection control measures for inpatient and outpatient care in all hospitals. The next step will be an Australian-wide study involving 21 cystic fibrosis centres, where factors such as geographic location, water supply, patients previous antibiotic use and other treatments will all be analysed to investigate why this infection is on the rise, so that strategies for control can be implemented. Genetic information about these bacteria will also be collected so as to facilitate better treatment strategies to conquer them. Dr James Weaver Dr Rachel Thomson co-authored the study published in the world-renowned journal Science. Dr Cathryn Edrich performing Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) treatment on a patient to the lower eyelids
The Ramsay Way - 2016 Christmas Edition
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