No abstract

A thorough understanding of the role of human factors in error in health care for improving patient safely is paramount. One area particularly crucial for optimising clinical performance is the recognising the importance of situational awareness. Loss of situation awareness can occur in many different settings, particularly during stressful and unexpected situations. Tunnel vision is a classic example where clinicians focus on one aspect of care, often to the detriment of overall patient management. Loss of situational awareness can result in serious compromise to patient safety if it is not recognised by either the individual or clinical team. We provide an introduction to situational awareness for those not familiar with it, including some important theory which explains how awareness can be lost, and discuss the important approaches we use in our day-to-day practice to safeguard both patients and clinicians in the workplace environment.

Together with the ongoing serious Covid-19 second wave in India, a serious fungal infection, mucormycosis has been increasingly found in Covid-19 recovered patients. Colloquially known as “black fungus”, mucormycosis commonly causes necrosis in the head and neck region including the nose, paranasal sinuses, orbits, facial bones, with possible intracranial spread. The disease causes high morbidity and mortality given that diagnosis is often delayed, and that is progresses rapidly. Given the sheer magnitude of the outbreak, the Indian Health Ministry has advised all states to declare mucormycosis an epidemic. Typically, the disease has been found linked to COVID-19 infections caused by the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant which has spread rapidly throughout India. This variant has already become a cause for global concern, having spread to at least 40 countries, including the USA, and UK. We present the findings of a study conducted on post-COVID Mucormycosis patients and discusses the associated risk factors to raise awareness for OMFS colleagues.

The most common injuries occurring as a result of acute trauma to the immature knee were chondral. In patients with open physes, chondral injuries were significantly more prevalent than anterior cruciate ligament and meniscal injuries.