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SURGEON BROADCASTS CANCER OP USING


GOOGLE GLASS A SURGEON at The Royal London Hospital has become the first in the UK to broadcast online a live surgical procedure using Google Glass eyewear. More than 13,000 medical students in


115 countries watched colorectal surgeon Shafi Ahmed (pictured left) remove cancerous tissue from the liver and bowel of a 78-year-old male patient. They typed questions online which appeared in the left-hand side of the Google Glass. Mr


Ahmed, colorectal cancer lead at Barts Health NHS Trust, then responded verbally, transmitted via the online feed. In an online questionnaire after the procedure, 90 per cent of


students who watched the broadcast said they wanted this type of learning to be part of the curriculum.


LEGAL DUTY TO CONSULT OVER DNR


DOCTORS now have a legal duty to consult with patients before placing a do not resuscitate (DNR) order in medical records. The Court of Appeal in England made the ruling in a landmark case


involving Janet Tracey, a 63-year-old care home manager who died soon after fracturing her neck in a car accident. She had also recently been diagnosed and under treatment for lung cancer. The court found that doctors at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge had acted unlawfully in placing a DNR order without consulting her and her family. Lord Dyson ruled in his judgment that the hospital trust had violated Mrs Tracey’s right to respect for her private life under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights. He said: “Since a [DNR] decision is one which will potentially deprive


the patient of life-saving treatment, there should be a presumption in favour of patient involvement. “There need to be convincing reasons not to involve the patient.” Doctors are already advised to inform patients and their families in most cases before a DNR is applied. The ruling makes this now a legal requirement.


HIGH GP TRAINEE VACANCIES IN SOME PARTS OF UK


THE proportion of unfilled GP training places in certain parts of the UK is at its “worst ever”, with up to a third of positions still vacant. The worst affected area is the East Midlands where only 62 per cent of


posts for the August 2014 intake had been filled by the end of May. Figures from Health Education England (HEE) show the Northern region and Merseyside have also had difficulties, with fill rates of 71 per cent and 72 per cent respectively. In contrast, London has filled 99 per cent of its posts. In England, 2,630 positions have been filled – 89 per cent of the total


available. This compares to a fill rate of 99 per cent for each of the past three years. Northern Ireland fared better with 97 per cent of posts filled this year; 91 per cent were filled in Wales and 90 per cent in Scotland. The BMA’s GP Committee described the figures as the “worst ever”. A spokeswoman for HEE said they were working to boost


applications, including reviewing the GP recruitment process, developing a pre-GP year for prospective applicants and offering trainees careers advice.


HIGH SATISFACTION AMONG


TRAINEES TRAINEE doctors are largely satisfied with the support and education they receive, according to an annual GMC survey. Satisfaction is particularly high in general practice and anaesthetics, but some trainees highlighted problems at a local level that have not improved in the past three years. A total of 53,077 doctors in training responded to the National


training survey 2014, a response rate of 98.2 per cent. Overall satisfaction with training was 81.2 out of 100, a slight rise


on last year’s score of 80.8. This follows the pattern of rising satisfaction levels from 2006 to 2013. The GMC report showed satisfaction increased the longer a doctor had been in training, beginning at 78.4 in foundation trainees and rising to 81.6 in core training/ST3 and 83.7 in those at ST4 and onwards. Findings showed trainees were generally very satisfied with the


quality of clinical supervision (scoring between 84 and 92) and with the level of experience they received (79-84). But handover continued to score lowest at 67-68 out of 100.


STUDENTS DISSECT VIRTUAL CADAVER


A VIRTUAL cadaver is being used by medical students at the University of Edinburgh to perform detailed dissections. CT scans were used to create 3D life-sized male and female bodies,


offering views from front to back, side to side and upside down. Students can not only remove body parts but they can also add or remove organs, veins, arteries, nerves or tissue. The new Anatomage Table is one of the first in the UK and joins the life-sized 3D anatomical hologram already used by the medical school.


PHOTO: BARTS HEALTH NHS TRUST


PHOTOGRAPH: MAVERICK PHOTO AGENCY


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