LATEST NEWS AND RESEARCH
AroundtheGlobe UNITED KINGDOM
NZ nurse who cared for COVID+ UK PM quits in protest over wages and conditions A nurse credited with helping to save the life of British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has quit the UK’s National Health Service due to his lack of “respect” for frontline staff. Jenny McGee was one of two intensive-care nurses who cared for the PM round-the-clock at St Thomas’ Hospital, central London, when he contracted COVID-19.
Mr Johnson said he only pulled through thanks to their care and made a video thanking them personally, but is facing fury from nurses after offering a one per cent pay rise. Ms McGee refused to take part in a Downing Street photo opportunity in July as nurses struggled under terrible COVID conditions noting: “Lots of nurses felt the government hadn’t led very effectively, the indecisiveness, so many mixed messages. It was just very upsetting. At that point, I didn’t know how to describe the horrendousness of what we were going through.”
INDIA
Chennai nurse braves fire to save newborns A nurse has received high honour for bravery in fighting a fire threatening a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at one of Chennai’s busiest maternity hospitals. Indian news reported scrub nurse, P Jayakumar, had finished his shift and single-handedly responded to the fire at the Government Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for Women and Children. “I was only thinking of the babies because if it entered the NICU, it would have created a big disaster because neonates can’t tolerate that type of hazardous fog. They will collapse in ten seconds,” he recalled. It was reported – “When he found the source of the fire his anxiety gripped him more. The floor below the source of the fire was the manifold room where additional oxygen cylinders were stored due to COVID-19. This was a second potential disaster. The NICU staff had locked themselves from the inside, switched off all power and oxygen lines and began manual hyperinflation and ventilation for the babies.” “36 infants, 11 children, who were kept in incubators and their mothers were saved due to Mr Jayakumar’s actions,” an official statement said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Scientists prove bat-like echolocation benefits blind A UK study has found people can be taught to echolocate like bats and dolphins, paving the way for the visually-impaired to navigate with a click of their tongue. Researchers found the technique could be taught in 10 weeks saying patients with sight loss should be prescribed the training to improve mobility and independence. Clicking sounds are used with echoes activating the brain to create three-dimensional ‘images’ in the mind.
32 |
western nurse June-July 2022
Researchers at Durham University looked into factors of learning the technique with 12 blind and 14 sighted participants aged between 21 and 79. The researchers found participants improved considerably on all measures, and in some cases performed comparatively with expert echolocators after training. The study, published in the journal PLOS One, is described as one of the most significant in improving mobility and independence for the visually impaired.
