Theatre Department Research Articles

Perception of Employees Regarding the Quality Management System Implemented at a Tertiary Care Eye Hospital in North India: A Mixed-Methods Study

Background: Quality management in healthcare is critical for hospitals and everyone in the loop —from physicians to support staff—needs to be aware of and involved in this process. Objectives: To assess the perception of employees about the quality management system (QMS) implemented at a tertiary care eye hospital in north India and to use it to identify scope for further improvement. Methods: This cross-sectional mixed-method study involved both questionnaire-based survey and an in-depth interview by a third party. The questionnaire had 12 questions to assess the changes in culture, infrastructure, environment, system, operation theatre and outpatient department. Employees shared their opinion about improvements brought by the QMS in eight years. Respondents were divided into five groups based on their job description: (i) doctors, (ii) technical staff (nursing/operation theatre/laboratory), (iii) optometrists/opticians/audiologists, (iv) patient care executives and (v) human resources/administration/others. Results: Of the 73 employees interviewed, 94.5% perceived an improved treatment and care process and 91.8% perceived improved treatment results. According to 83.6% of the employees, they were encouraged to report patient safety concerns and 71.2% saw improved incidence and adverse event management. The QMS has increased patient satisfaction according to 83%, while 91.8% felt it improved the profile of the hospital. The employees stated no negative effects of the QMS except a long waiting time of the patients and the duplication of paperwork. Conclusion: QMS has brought many positive changes across the hospital. Still, there is scope to reduce the patient waiting time and paperwork duplication.

PRACTICE OF GOWNING AND GLOVING TECHNIQUE AMONG HEALTH PERSONNEL AT OPERATION THEATRE OF TEACHING HOSPITAL, BHARATPUR

Background: Gowning and gloving is regarded as the basic component of modern Surgery, its standard of practice is directly concerned with patient safety and infection prevention. The aim of this study was to observe the practice of gowning and gloving technique among health personnel at operation theatre of teaching hospital, Bharatpur, Nepal. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among 90 health personnel who had scrubbed in the operation theatre before approached to sterile field, by using observational checklist. Sample was selected by using non probability, consecutive sampling technique. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics to find the association between the variable. Results: The findings highlighted, that only 36.7% of the health personnel fulfill the criteria of surgical gowning and gloving. The main issues found in the study were not picking up the entire folded gown through all layers from the wrapper (31.1%), and not holding the gown near the gown’s neck and touch unsterile objects (18.9%). Conclusions: The level of practice on gowning and gloving technique was statistically significant with professional experience and education of the respondents. Hence, operation theatre department should develop the audit protocol and in-service training model for the surgical team.

Confinement, COVID, and the Comedia in Mexico City

The COVID19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the arts, particularly the performing arts, where live audiences are an important part of the creative process. In spite of the immense roadblocks created by this crisis, artists around the world began to shift their craft online. No where do we see a more rapid shift than in Mexico City, propelled in part by the theater department at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. This paper will look at the ways in which small theater companies were able to move their current productions online in the weeks following the shutdown, and how they evolved over the course of 2020 and into 2021, innovating and creating new digital-theatrical spaces via platforms like Zoom, YouTube, and Facebook live.

«ЛОЖА УЧРЕДИТЕЛЬНОГОСОБРАНИЯ»: «ХОЗЯИН ЗЕМЛИ РУССКОЙ» И БЫВШИЕ ИМПЕРАТОРСКИЕ ТЕАТРЫ

The image of the Constituent Assembly played in 1917 and early 1918 an important role in the life of theaters, which had the magnificent title “Imperial” before the fall of the monarchy. Between February and October 1917, both the artists and the administration of the State theaters considered the “master of the Russian land” as the only authorized institution for the “final” and radical theatrical reform. After the Bolsheviks came to power and until Jan-uary 1918,the Constituent Assembly became a symbol of the coming liberation from the power of the Bolsheviks, whose power the State (former Imperial) theaters did not officially recognizeat thattime. Loyalty to the “master of the Russian land” was repeatedly emphasized by both artists and theater management: on the originally intended day of the Constituent Assembly’s convocation, November 28, a solemn performance was held at the Mikhailovsky thea-ter in Petrograd; a month later, at the Mariinsky theater, government boxes were declared boxes of the Constituent Assembly (and not of the Council of People’s Commissars). In early January 1918, the Bolsheviks conducted a forceful operation to establish control over the State stage, which included the removal of the Chief Commissioner for State theaters, Fyodor Batyushkov, from its management and the arrest of the Manager of the Opera company, AlexanderSiloti. Coinciding with the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly, these events dealt a powerful blow to the “saboteurs” in the Theater department, depriving them, after the liquidation of the “master of the Russian land”, of the hope for apeaceful deliverance from the Leninist government.

Svět prken, která znamenají svět. O projektu Divadelního oddělení Národního muzea – Dokumentace současných divadelních budov

This paper presents an extensive research project carried out by the Theatre Department at the National Museum. This document, the Catalogue of Contemporary Theatre Buildings, maps out in detail the sites where theatre is performed in the Czech Republic today. It focuses not only on professional venues, but also registers other, often unconventional, places where theatre thrives, such as churches, public spaces, cultural centres, private apartments, gymnasia, cinemas, shopping centres, etc. In the first section, the outline of the project is presented, starting from the initial idea through to the people involved and technical support for its implementation, to a description of how the obtained material was processed into a comprehensive and clear archival collection. In the second part, the study focuses on some valuable findings on contemporary theatre in the Czech Republic, obtained by the author during the cataloguing process. Using photographs, textual materials, video footage and interviews with employees of the documented institutions, the project aims to find answers to general questions of a social nature: How does neatness or untidiness indicate a citizen‘s relationship to the place in which they live? How do people understand the terms ‘community centre’ and ‘public service’?

Divadelní tisky, almanachy a další periodické i neperiodické prameny jako zdroj pro heuristické bádání v teatrologii: Zpráva o této sbírkotvorné činnosti Divadelního oddělení Národního muzea

The paper introduces the specific issue of sources for theaterological research and deals more closely with the historical genesis of the emergence and development of theatrical periodical and non-periodical press from the 18th century to the present day, from synopsis to theatre signs, almanacs, theater calendars, monthly periodicals, yearbooks and other printed periodicals. The paper establishes the historical typology of this source and its transformation since the modernism era. The final part of the paper focuses on the collections of the Theater Department of the National Museum and the way these sources are recorded and made accessible to the public, including the methodology of documentation of contemporary theatre sources with the focus on the digital sources.

Athletic Training Educators' ConferenceApril 29–May 1, 2021

Athletic Training Educators' ConferenceApril 29–May 1, 2021

Mobile Phones of Healthcare Workers are Possible Source of Nosocomial Infections: Evidence from Asante-Mampong Municipal Government Hospital, Ghana

Background: The users of mobile phones often contaminate them with several microflorae including viruses, fungi, and bacteria via unhygienic conditions and habits making phones a breeding ground and a tool for the transmission of infections. This study examined microbial contamination of mobile phones of health care workers (HCWs) and the risk of nosocomial infections at the Mampong Municipal Government Hospital (MMGH), Ghana.
 Methods: We employed a cross-sectional study design to characterize bacterial microflora on mobile phones of HCWs at the MMGH. A random sample of thirty-five [1] mobile phones of HCWs was swabbed for microbiological analysis from the Dental, Children, Male, Theatre and Laboratory departments. A 0.1 ml sterile buffered peptone water was used to make a uniform suspension of each sample and streaked on blood agar and MacConkey agar and incubated at 37℃ for 48 hours. Bacteria were isolated and identified using suitable laboratory and biochemical methods. Analysis of data was done using SPSS-IBM version 16.
 Results: All cell phones were contaminated with one or more species of bacteria. Cell phones from Male, Dental and Laboratory departments had 85.7%, 71.4% and 57.1% prevalence of bacterial contamination respectively while Children’s and Theatre departments each recorded 28.6%. Bacterial contaminants identified were Staphylococcus epidermidis (G+) (37%), Staphylococcus aureus (G+) (26%), E. coli (G-) (20%), Bacillus spp. (G+) (11%) and Klebsiella spp. (G-) (6%.). Apart from the Children’s Ward, E. coli was isolated at all study sites and the most prevalent (42.9%) at the Dental Unit. Klebsiella spp (G-) (28.6%) was isolated only at the Children’s ward.
 Conclusion: Mobile phones of HCWs harboured possible pathogens that could cause nosocomial infections among patients. Therefore, strict handwashing practices should be adhered to by HCWs before and after phone use before contact with the patient to reduce the risk of nosocomial infections. This has become even more relevant in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.

Comparative Study Between Ultrasound Guided Femoral Nerve Block Versus Ultrasound Guided Saphenous Nerve Block After Total Knee Replacement

Abstract Background Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is one of the most commonly performed operations in our daily practice. It is indicated in all patients with severe osteoarthritis and it needs early postoperative ambulation to improve postoperative outcomes and to reduce immobility related complications. Providing adequate analgesic control is very important to achieve functional recovery, facilitates rehabilitation and attenuates the progression from acute to chronic postsurgical pain, aiming to maximize non-opioid analgesics in addition to regional analgesic techniques. It is estimated that the majority of patients experience either severe pain (60% of patients) or moderate pain (30% of patients) following TKA surgeries. With the emergence of enhanced recovery after surgery ERAS clinical pathways, many surgical specialties are adopting multimodal analgesic regimens to improve patient outcomes. Objective This study aimed at shedding lights on the value of preserving the motor function in the immediate postoperative period after total knee replacement. That was illustrated by comparing femoral nerve block (mixed motor and sensory nerve) versus saphenous nerve block (pure sensory nerve) in the adductor canal, and the effect of either blocks on the analgesia and ambulation of the patients postoperatively. Patients and Methods After approval of the departmental ethical committee, from September 2017 to September 2019, this Prospective double armed interventional randomized clinical study was conducted at Ain Shams University Hospitals, operating theatre department on 40 adult patients of ASA physical status classification I-II, admitted to Ain Shams university hospital, scheduled for elective primary unilateral total knee replacement surgery. The patients were subdivided into 2 groups A and B, (20) patients for each group. Results In our study we performed a prospective randomized trial to compare between saphenous nerve block (adductor canal block ACB) versus femoral nerve block FNB regarding postoperative analgesic efficacy in terms of pain scores using visual analogue scale VAS during rest and during 45 degree passive flexion of the knee joint, both were measured at 6, 12, 24 and 48 hours postoperatively. Total nalufen consumption in the first 24 hours postoperative was measured in milligrams. Also postoperative Quadriceps muscle strength clinical testing by using a Timed Up-and-Go test (TUG test) at 24 hours postoperative and (10 minutes walking test) at 24 hours postoperative. We found that analgesic efficacy of both groups in the terms of VAS pain scores and cumulative 1st 24 hours Nalufin consumption are equivalent but there is a statistically significant difference in quadriceps muscle strength being higher in adductor canal block group than femoral nerve block group. TUG test results were lower in ACB group compared to FNB group, and results of 10-minutes walking test were significantly higher in ACB group compared to FNB group. Also incidence of postoperative nausea, vomiting and Sedation was assessed and it was found no statistically significant differences in nausea, vomiting and Sedation between the two groups. Conclusion Saphenous nerve block (adductor canal block) is equivalent to femoral nerve block in achieving postoperative pain but it's superior to femoral nerve block in preserving quadriceps muscle power. So it's competent to be chosen as postoperative analgesic modality after Total knee replacement surgeries.

Innovations in virtual education for clinical and simulation learning.

The global impact of COVID-19 forced nursing education to provide an alternative for scheduled clinical experiences during the Spring and Fall of 2020. Many programs selected the pre-packaged, web-based solutions at the onset of the pandemic due to the uncertainty and recommendation of social distancing. Clinical and simulation faculty began to look for educational alternatives to provide meaningful learning experiences that more closely replicated clinical learning because students expressed displeasure with the asynchronous web-based options. This article outlines how an innovative partnership between clinical faculty, simulation faculty, and the Theatre Department modified an in-person simulation activity designed for groups of two students into a web-based "clinical" experience that included the assigned clinical faculty, eight nursing students, and one simulated patient. This active learning strategy was able to meet the course objectives, required little additional resources, and most importantly, underwent positive evaluation by the weary, screen-based learners.

Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts

The article deals with the formation of avant-garde as an alternative to the academic artistic paradigm in the Kharkiv Art School. The contribution of Kharkiv artists to the world culture is determined primarily by the avant-garde art. Its agents, who steadily carried the baton of modernization of artistic culture, were V. Yermilov and B. Kosarev. During 1915–1916 a group of artists, The Union of Seven, was formed at the Art School; their work reflected the diverse palette of changes that accompanied the formation of Cubo-Futurism in Kharkiv. Fundamental changes took place in the artistic culture of Ukraine in the 1920s. The initiative to transform Kharkiv Art School into an Art Technical School with the rights of an institution of higher education in 1921, is attributed to Yermilov (it actually became an institute in 1927). In the 1920s–1930s his teaching team was joined by such artists as Mykola Burachek, Ivan Padalka, Oleksander Khvostenko-Khvostov, Anatol Petrytsky, and Borys Kosarev. Studios were established: easel painting (Mykhailo Sharonov), monumental (Lev Kramarenko), and theatrical (Oleksander Khvostenko-Khvostov). From 1922 to 1934 Yermilov led the graphics studio (together with Padalka starting in 1925). The key figures in the creation process of artistic avant-garde culture in Kharkiv after the 1930s were V. Yermilov and B. Kosarev, who influenced the formation of the next generation of artists. Yermilov’s work in Kharkiv (including teaching at Art Institute) had an impact on the creative features of O. Shcheglov, V. Platonov, V. Savenkov, and defined the horizon of effective development of design in the region. Among those who continued Yermilov’s design traditions are M. Molochynsky, І. Krivoruchko, V. Lesnyak, O. Bojchuk, V. Danilenko, O. Veklenko. Launched by the latter International Environmental Forum of Eco Poster “The 4th Block” has found quite a resonance in the world. “Yermilov’s Mansard” appeared on Kharkiv cultural space as an artistic centre and an original example of artistic design in the spirit of Bauhaus. Due to B. Kosarev a constellation of talented artists appeared in Kharkiv artistic culture and defined its uniqueness. Among his students in the theatre and decorative department there were such people as a teacher Konstantinov; a theater artist, a Doctor of Architecture, corresponding member of the AAU V. Kravetz; the Main artist of Kharkiv State Academic Ukrainian Drama Theater named after T. Shevchenko T. Medvid; theatre artists M. Kuzheliev, G. Nesterovska, P. Osnachuk, L. Pisarenko, N. Rudenko-Krayevska and others. Among the artists, whose creative work shaped under the influence of B. Kosarev, were Honoured Artist of Ukraine, member and Vice President of AAU V. Sidorenko, and Honored Artist of Ukraine, famous graphic N. Myronenko.

Editorial: Theatre and Performance Department at the Victoria and Albert Museum Under Threat

Editorial: Theatre and Performance Department at the Victoria and Albert Museum Under Threat

CLASSICAL REVIVAL IN LOCKDOWN: A HYBRID RESPONSE TO SOPHOCLES’ ANTIGONE WITH ANTIGONENOW

It is hard to deny that the pleasure of theatre substantially lies in witnessing a performance in situ. It is equally impossible to eschew the role of digital means in rendering a theatre work accessible to far-away audiences. In the present world hit by Covid-19, theatre practitioners have resorted to digitalism as one solution to ensure theatre’s survival. The University of California (UC) Davis Theatre and Dance Department’s all-female cast AntigoneNOW, a hybrid adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone, is one of those enterprises that successfully reflected on and responded to the world’s current state through digital means. Twelve culturally diverse female actors from different parts of the world filmed themselves with their phones, iPads, and computers; then all of the recordings brought together and edited by directors of the production. This online adaptation while exemplifying theatre in lockdown, offers insights into the nameless troubles across the globe and the common struggle of a variety of people in their faces.

Spectrum of urological procedures in Yobe State University Teaching Hospital: an initial experience in a young west African hospital

Background: In auditing the surgical procedures of a hospital, services rendered to patients are reviewed using the data generated from the procedures, hence the outcome is used as a framework for improvement in future and capacity building. Objectives of the study were to analyze the indications for Urological procedures with the procedures performed at Yobe State University Teaching Hospital (YSUTH) and share our experience, with recommendation for future improvement.Methods: Retrospective hospital-based study on patients who had urological procedures done in YSUTH between March 2018 to April 2020. Urology patients that have not undergone any urological procedure were excluded from the study. Data obtained from the records in the operation theatre, emergency unit and medical record department of the hospital.Results: There were 185 patients with indications for surgery, constituting 41.0% of all general surgery patients. Male to female ratio was 8.7:1 and the median age range was 70-79 years. A sum of 212 urology procedures performed. Benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and prostatectomies were the commonest diagnoses and elective procedures respectively, while urethral stricture and bladder cancer were the 2nd and 3rd diagnose respectively. Urethral catheterization for urine retention in BPH was the commonest emergency procedure. Cystoscopy was the commonest day case and the commonest among endo-urology procedures.Conclusions: BPH, followed by urethral strictures and bladder cancers were the commonest diagnoses and indications for surgery. Urine retention in BPH is the commonest emergency requiring urthral catherization. Creation of dedicated day surgery unit and employment of permanentt consultant urologists and more health personnels relevant to urology, will improve the quality and quantity of services rendered.

Teaching Critical Performance Theory: In Today's Theatre Classroom, Studio, and Communities ed. by Jeanmarie Higgins

Reviewed by: Teaching Critical Performance Theory: In Today's Theatre Classroom, Studio, and Communities ed. by Jeanmarie Higgins Eero Laine Teaching Critical Performance Theory: In Today's Theatre Classroom, Studio, and Communities. Edited by Jeanmarie Higgins, Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2020; pp. 262. Reading Teaching Critical Performance Theory is like visiting an imaginary theatre and performance department. Playwriting, design, theatre history, and acting classrooms as well as the communities that support and surround those spaces are imbued with a critical sense of the import and impact of the work we do. I write "we" here because the volume feels like it is written to address fellow artists, teachers, and scholars, especially as it bridges many of the apparent fault lines in theatre and performance pedagogy and training. It is like we are being invited into a thoughtful and ongoing conversation with a community of critical performance theorists. I suspect this is in no small part because the volume emerged from meetings at the Mid-America Theatre Conference, and editor Jeanmarie Higgins and the over twenty contributors should be commended for extending those conference connections from presentation to the page. Following an introduction wherein Noe Montez reminds us of the potential of theoretical work, that "Critical theory aspires to change society as a whole. It aims to unearth and understand how power and privilege operate within the world" (1), the book opens into four sections of four or five chapters each. The sections on "Course Design: Reimagining the Syllabus," "Classroom Identities: Engaging Students in Theory," "Studio: Theorizing Praxis," and "Communities: Applying Theory" together develop approaches to critical performance theory and offer important ways of critiquing our own work as teachers and artists. The sections offer a neat structure to the book, even as there is generative overlap among the chapters they contain—practical case studies are not constrained to the studio section, for instance—and most of the chapters take up the range of ideas described by the various section headings. Higgins has assembled an impressive team of authors, spread across professional practice and every academic rank, and this range of contributors itself makes pertinent the ways that critical performance theory finds its ways into theatrical work. Emma Watkins and Stacy Wolf's chapter, for instance, examines feminist pedagogy in the musical theatre classroom and, in its writing, enacts a feminist approach to pedagogy. Here, undergraduate musical theatre student and full professor collaborate to argue for new and critical ways of teaching musical theatre that might shape "a new generation of theatre-makers, empowered to thoughtfully and subversively engage with the materials of the past and to create novel musicals that reflect their contemporary surroundings" (34). Their contribution shows that the work of critical performance pedagogy is not simply an act of thinking about or applying ideas; rather, the chapter drives home the notion that how we approach theatre and performance in our classrooms today affects the theatre and performance of the future. Indeed, the work in this volume frequently emphasizes the importance of the classroom, not only for emboldening students to think critically, but for our potential as faculty, artists, and scholars to impact the field, the discipline, and the industries of theatre and performance. To this end, the importance of collaborative methodologies in theatre and performance and their ability to encourage critical engagement comes to the fore through other co-written chapters. Jeanmarie Higgins and Michael Schweikardt, for instance, similarly write as professor and former student, exploring two sides of an assignment that asked graduate design students to think through a particular theoretical approach in their design for a play. The Marxist Oliver! that emerges from the assignment shows readers the theoretical possibilities of the classroom, of the production, and of the profession of theatre. A few chapters stand out for their emphasis on the heightened political and artistic stakes of critical performance theory. Angela K. Ahlgren's chapter wonderfully explicates practical considerations of pedagogical labor nested in a larger argument about teaching "theory over time" in survey courses (38). Jen Plants reminds us that "Theory expands or limits possibilities, impacts what we see and how we see it, frames distinctions in praxis, and opens gateways to clarify values. How...

Developing Frontera Aesthetic through New Work Creation

Developing Frontera Aesthetic through New Work Creation Kim McKean (bio), Georgina Escobar (bio), and Adriana Domínguez (bio) “It seems to me that the great question that our culture faces now is whether it’s going to have the resilience to redefine itself and take off again.” —Thomas McEvilley1 Creating Monsters On the first day of rehearsal for the University of Texas at El Paso’s (UTEP) semi-devised and collaboratively written new play Monsters We Create, the room buzzed with excitement. The script had been developed over a fifteen-week semester the previous fall, with a team of over fifty student playwrights, actors, and designers involved in creating the piece, led by visiting professor of playwriting Georgina Escobar and assistant professor of theatre Kim McKean. With a production draft fresh off the printer, Escobar and McKean were ready to stage UTEP’s first-ever collaboratively written new play as part of the theatre and dance department’s 2019–20 season. The undertaking of Monsters We Create was significant to the department for several reasons. Chief among them, UTEP had dedicated its 2019–20 season to staging solely Latinx works in response to a lack of BIPOC representation in previous departmental programming. Along with Monsters We Create, the season lineup included works by Karen Zacarías, Josefina López, Adriana Domínguez and Jay Stratton, Virginia Grise, and Andrew Siañez-De La O. Furthermore, on August 3, 2019, three weeks before development was to begin on Monsters We Create, a gunman massacred twenty-three people at a Walmart in El Paso, with the stated aim of targeting people of Mexican descent. The tragedy of the Walmart shooting, set against the backdrop of vitriolic anti-immigrant rhetoric from the Trump White House, forced our community and student body to recognize their vulnerability, making engagement and representation feel more imperative—and making it essential that our students have a voice in telling their own stories. Monsters We Create was an integral element in the season, as it gave our students an opportunity to construct their own narrative, claim ownership over their experience, and oppose the hateful, fallacious narrative promulgated by the president. It also provided playwright Escobar studio space to continue the exploration of her “sci-femme frontera” aesthetic, a fluid approach that combats classical Western demands of form and beauty and uses speculative narrative to act as an aesthetic corollary to the lived experience of inhabiting a border region. Compelled by our work as scholars and practitioners who regularly engage in discussions surrounding programming and representation at our institution, this essay critically examines the development process for Monsters We Create, where three Special Topics courses (Playwriting, Performance, and Design) were employed to create the play. We investigate how, by generating the material through three separate classes rather than a “performer-centric” devising model, our multidisciplinary process became its own unique “border culture”—one in which, as Gloria Anzaldúa describes in Borderlands/La Frontera, “the prohibited and forbidden are [the] inhabitants” of the creative space [End Page 205] (25). Finally, we analyze how redefining and redirecting techniques from Antonin Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty advanced the sci-femme frontera aesthetic established in Escobar’s earlier work by actively embracing the inherent “duality” of the Latinx identity of our students. Ultimately, through our semi-devised, collaboratively written new-work creation process, we promoted student engagement and ownership of the artistic process and diversified our department’s audience base by connecting our community more intentionally with work that was created in, and by artists from, the frontera. The Frontera as Setting Monsters We Create is a dystopian femmetasia2 set in the year 2030, in which a climate crisis called the “Big Sink”3 has caused rising sea-water levels to drown the United States’ coasts. Along the border, in a place called “Sun Town,” a series of ominous threats have surfaced. Namely, NAFU (New American Forces Unit) has imposed Malthusian Law, which mandates sterilization camps (STAMPs) for immigrants along the border in order to control the ever-rising population in the desert. Our story follows two immigrant women who have been detained in these camps and sterilized. By activating VOX...

The Seven Deadly Sins, by Wesley Savick, Micaleen Rodgers, and Sydney Grant

The Seven Deadly Sins, by Wesley Savick, Micaleen Rodgers, and Sydney Grant

An Enemy of the People

An Enemy of the People

Retrospective Analytic Study of Neurosurgical Patients Who Developed Postoperative Hydrocephalus

Abstract Objective This article discusses the causes, primary pathologies, management, and prognosis of patients who did not have hydrocephalus in preoperative stage, underwent definitive surgical procedure, and developed postoperative hydrocephalus requiring cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) diversion procedures. Methods Retrospective data collection was done from operation theatre (OT) department database and patient records were obtained for the patients after, related literature was searched, all possible risk factors were analyzed, and our results were compared with other studies. Results A total of 80 cases were found eligible for the study. Decompressive craniectomy was the most common cause followed by aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), intraventricular, and cerebellopontine angle (CPA) tumors. Rate of postsurgical hydrocephalus was 15 to 16%. Cases of decompressive craniectomy presented late, only few cases required diversion procedures during the immediate postop period, mostly aneurysm cases and tumors bed bleed. Out of total 6 mortalities, none of them were directly attributable to hydrocephalus. Since most patient presented after initial stabilization, permanent ventriculoperitoneal shunting was found to be the best option. Conclusion Cases of decompression surgery should be under vigilant follow-up after discharge and even after cranioplasty for risk of development of hydrocephalus and requirement of permanent shunting. Cases with intraventricular hemorrhage or SAH should be considered as future candidate with risk of developing hydrocephalus. Lamina terminalis opening whenever possible results in favorable outcome in cases of anterior circulation aneurysms. CSF protein analysis in cases of intraventricular and CPA tumors should be done whenever possible, preferably routinely.

Microbiological analysis of bacterial and fungal bioaerosols from burn hospital of Yazd (Iran) in 2019.

Bioaerosols play an important role in incidence of infections in indoor and outdoor air of hospitals. Microorganisms play a critical role in the health of human beings and they are found everywhere in the environment, including different wards of a hospital. So, quantitative and qualitative analysis of microorganisms is highly important in hospital air. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diversity and density of bacteria and fungi in the air of Shohadaye Mehrab Hospital in Yazd City, Iran. Sampling was performed using a single-stage pump (Quick Take30) at a flow rate of 28.3l per minute for five minutes. As a result, 288 indoor and outdoor hospital air samples were collected. Numbers and types of bacterial and fungal colonies were identified using colony morphology, gram staining, and standard microbial tests. Chi-square test, PCA and linear mixed model were run by SPSS version 24.0 for data analysis. The highest bacterial contaminations were found in the burns ward (294CFU/m3), operating theater (147CFU/m3), and emergency department (124CFU/m3), respectively. Fungal contamination was higher in the derm ward (110CFU/m3) than other sampling sites. The dominant genus of gram-positive bacteria was Staphylococcus epidermidis (n = 60, 62.5%) and the dominant genus of gram-negative bacteria was Citrobacter freundi (n = 11, 11.5%). The most fungal gens isolated from the hospital air samples were Penicillium (n = 73, 76%), Alternaria (n = 51, 53.1%), Aspergillus niger (n = 40, 41.7%), and Aspergillus flavus (n = 34, 35.4%), respectively. Considering that the burn wounds represent a susceptible site for opportunistic microorganisms, even low concentration of fungi/bacteria in air can be considered as a risk factor that facilitates transmission of the infectious agents in the hospital. Therefore, control measures should be taken to reduce the infection hazard in health staff and patients. These measures include ensuring effective ventilation, cleaning and decontaminating surfaces and equipment, restricting the personnel and patient companions' movement across the wards.