Surgical malpractice: staying out of trouble

This article discusses why surgeons get into trouble more than most specialties and reviews data from the National Clinical Assessment Authority and the General Medical Council National Training Survey. It explores some of the areas that are known to be associated with the highest risk of suspension and malpractice claims, including working in the private and independent sectors, the introduction of new procedures and use of novel devices, consent and documentation, peri-procedural precautions, lack of resources and support, and medicolegal work. In each of these areas, he highlights pitfalls to avoid. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of teamworking, an adequate workload, regular peer review, thorough counselling of patients, meticulous record keeping and attention to detail.     

新型冠状病毒肺炎中医病因与辨治的思考

新型冠状病毒肺炎是感受新型冠状病毒所致,属于中医学“疫病”的范畴,其病因为吴又可提出的“异气”,与六淫不同,具有生物学属性;侵袭人体主要造成气阴损伤,气化失常,湿饮停聚;治疗当以“逐邪为第一要义”,恢复机体平衡状态。     

探讨太阳伤寒证是新型冠状病毒(2019-nCoV)肺炎的初始阶段—微汗解表严防疫毒内陷

在防控新型冠状病毒(2019-nCoV)肺炎的过程中,中医药可以发挥更大的作用。以生命定义核心,结合维持人体能量代谢过程和干细胞分裂过程五个基本因素就能构建人体内新型代谢模型。这个模型中,水液和热能的排泄是人体内代谢过程的最后步骤,也是太阳经的生理学基础。太阳经受到寒气后可以出现以热能排泄障碍为主的临床表现如发热,也可以出现以水液潴留为主要临床表现,如水肿等。根据新型冠状病毒(2019-nCoV)在感染人体后早期出现的上呼吸道症状和发热等辨证为太阳伤寒经证,出现肺部感染后辨证为太阳脏证。太阳经证治疗以温经散寒为主,而太阳脏证则需要采用急下、峻下及清热开窍为主的治法。太阳表证、经证未解,忌用寒凉药物和食物,这样才能将防治关口前移,避免邪毒内陷而致病情加重。     

Management recommendations for patients with chronic kidney disease during the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic

COVID-19 has become a pandemic and it has already spread to at least 171 countries/regions. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a global public health problem with a total of approximately 850 million patients with CKD worldwide and 119.5 million in China. Severe COVID-19 infection may damage the kidney and cause acute tubular necrosis, leading to proteinuria, hematuria and elevated serum creatinine. Since the SARS-CoV-2 enters the cells by binding to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor, some doctors question its ability to increase the risk and severity of developing COVID-19. Neither clinical data nor basic scientific evidence supports this assumption. Therefore, patients who take angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker are not advised to change their therapy. Patients with CKD are generally the elderly population suffering from multiple comorbidities. Moreover, some patients with CKD might need to take glucocorticoids and immunosuppressants. Dialysis patients are recurrently exposed to a possible contaminated environment because their routine treatment usually requires three dialysis sessions per week. Considering all the above reasons, patients with CKD are more vulnerable to COVID-19 than the general population. The development of COVID-19 may worsen the impaired kidney function and further lead to rapid deterioration of kidney function and even death. Strict comprehensive protocols should be followed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among patients with CKD. In this review, we provide some practical management recommendations for health care providers, patients with CKD, dialysis patients and dialysis facilities.     

Recommendations for prevention and management of COVID-19 in peritoneal dialysis patients

The World Health Organization characterized coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Peritoneal dialysis patients have a weakened immune system that is associated with a high morbidity of infection. Thus, COVID-19 prevention measures and management for patients on peritoneal dialysis are urgent and critical. Based on published research on COVID-19 and previous clinical practices for similar coronavirus outbreaks, we aimed to make recommendations to manage patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis.     

Consensus summary report for CEPI/BC March 12–13, 2020 meeting: Assessment of risk of disease enhancement with COVID-19 vaccines

A novel coronavirus (CoV), Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), emerged in late 2019 in Wuhan, China and has since spread as a global pandemic. Safe and effective vaccines are thus urgently needed to reduce the significant morbidity and mortality of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) disease and ease the major economic impact. There has been an unprecedented rapid response by vaccine developers with now over one hundred vaccine candidates in development and at least six having reached clinical trials. However, a major challenge during rapid development is to avoid safety issues both by thoughtful vaccine design and by thorough evaluation in a timely manner. A syndrome of “disease enhancement” has been reported in the past for a few viral vaccines where those immunized suffered increased severity or death when they later encountered the virus or were found to have an increased frequency of infection. Animal models allowed scientists to determine the underlying mechanism for the former in the case of Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine and have been utilized to design and screen new RSV vaccine candidates. Because some Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and SARS-CoV-1 vaccines have shown evidence of disease enhancement in some animal models, this is a particular concern for SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. To address this challenge, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the Brighton Collaboration (BC) Safety Platform for Emergency vACcines (SPEAC) convened a scientific working meeting on March 12 and 13, 2020 of experts in the field of vaccine immunology and coronaviruses to consider what vaccine designs could reduce safety concerns and how animal models and immunological assessments in early clinical trials can help to assess the risk. This report summarizes the evidence presented and provides considerations for safety assessment of COVID-19 vaccine candidates in accelerated vaccine development.     

基于中医药防治新型冠状病毒肺炎的用药探析

武汉市爆发新型冠状病毒肺炎(COVID-19)疫情,传染性强,传播速度快,影响范围广,引起了国内外高度关注。WHO宣布将COVID-19疫情列为国际关注的突发公共卫生事件。面对重大疫情,河南省郑州市中医院开展中医药预防治疗COVID-19用药调查研究分析,总结中医药诊疗方向及抗病毒中药、经典名方、中成药用药要点,以期能为医疗机构COVID-19诊疗以及药物合理选择提供参考依据。     

新型冠状病毒(COVID-19)感染性肺炎现代中医诊疗建议方案与探讨

自2019年12月以来,以我国湖北武汉地区为中心,以人群集散辐射传播为特点,全国各地病例陆续出现增加。疫情发源地罹患患者早期以身热不扬、干咳气促、身楚乏力为主要症状,以脉濡缓、舌苔厚腻、胸部X线检查显示炎性反应性改变为特征的新型冠状病毒(COVID-19)感染性肺炎为主的新型传染病。疫情传入地的患者早期症状由于地域的不同,有所差异。各地传统中医、现代医学先后集体或个人出台了相关诊疗方法和建议方案。作为现代中医,按照习近平主席:“遵循中医发展规律,传承精华,守正创新”和“中西并重”的指示精神。为规范这一新型传染病“瘟疫”的认知和诊疗,综合相关资料,根据疫情演变规律,结合个人经验与体会,特此探讨COVID-19感染性肺炎的诊疗建议方案。