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Practical Patient Care Issue 29


Editorial Editor Peter Littlejohns peter.littlejohns@progressivemediainternational.com


Sub-editors Liam Murphy Group art director Henrik Williams Designer Martin Faulkner Production manager Dave Stanford Head of content Jake Sharp


Commercial Client services executive Ruchita Marwaha Sales manager Martin John Business development manager Shamraiz Ayub shamraiz.ayub@progressivemediainternational.com Managing director William Crocker


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he pandemic may not have ended yet, but things feel different than they did this time last year. In the majority of countries, all restrictions have been lifted, and despite the protestations of many healthcare experts, masks are a rarer sight than they once were. All of this has contributed to a feeling akin to a return to normality – unless you work in a hospital. Once again, wards have seen a marked increase alongside the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant. On page 49, Jim Banks explores how hospitals have handled infection control with Covid-19 in the mix, alongside the usual hospital-acquired infection culprits. For those who are hospitalised with the disease, treatment can vary depending on a number of factors. But with each mutation, there is a chance that certain antivirals and monoclonal antibodies can become ineffective. On page 20, Kim Thomas speaks to immunology experts and physicians to better understand how treatment approaches have had to develop in response to the emergence of different variants. For the past few years especially, the world has been reliant on the skills of physicians and other medical professionals. While that will not change as far as day-to-day patient care is concerned, many believe diagnoses will evolve from being a human skill to a collaborative effort assisted by AI. In our lead article on page 10, Mae Losasso investigates some of the ways diagnostic departments could benefit from the technology, as well as asking some pertinent questions about its impact on staff. It does not matter how good a diagnostic department is if a disease is not well understood, and this is the case with fibromyalgia. On page 33, I focus on the pain disorder that has long perplexed physicians across specialities, to see if the research community can shed some light on what causes the disease. Other subjects explored in this issue include the potential for smart technologies to aid in wound care, innovations that could make brain surgery safer and the latest developments in treating heart failure.


Peter Littlejohns, editor


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