EDITORIAL

Dr. Venkita S. Suresh

Group Medical Director, Kauvery Hospitals, India

Dear colleagues,

The NIGHTINGALE, due for publication on 01 December, is taking shape behind these lines.

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink” – so sang Samuel Taylor Colleridge in “The rhyme of the ancient mariner!” We can now sing “Guidelines, guidelines everywhere, but guideline-directed therapy is nowhere to find”! Suryaprabha, Chief Clinical Pharmacist and Asst Manager, Clinical Research, writes the FIRST guest editorial for the NIGHTINGALE on the recent AHA/ACC guideline on Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction, published in the CIRCULATION. Let us not forget that the primary mission of Clinical Audits is to verify whether we offer guideline-directed management or not.
The guideline was prompted by the paper on ‘Dilated Cardiomyopathy in Heart Failure’ received from Heart City. The authors are Vijayalakshmi, Ambika and Rajeswari. Kindly match the guideline with the management and do your own audit!
Proton Pump Inhibitors are the most liberally prescribed drugs in clinical practice, for diseases for which there is no evidence in favour. Its possible deleterious effects on long-term administration receive scant consideration. Bini Susan Isaac, Clinical Pharmacist, Salem, makes us reflect on its true indications.
Thanks to atmospheric pollution which is now an inescapable part of our lives, COPD has emerged as a leading cause of premature atherosclerosis and downstream decompensation of many organs, leading with the lung and heart. They shall cause ILD and Fibrosis, driving patients to seek lung transplants. Ms Kanwaljeet Kaur, nurse educator and J. Santhi, Nursing Director, Chennai illustrate its ravages with a case report and discuss total management.
Guillian Barre syndrome has a steady incidence and arrives at our door with predictable regularity. Its frequency and severity increased during Covid. Physiotherapy gives hope, and sustains the courage and determination of patients, during the long period of rehabilitation, with uncertain outcomes. Vignesh, physiotherapist from Salem, describes the uphill struggle of his patient. The struggle was by no means over when he was discharged. The long road ahead would not have been easy to travel.
Acute Pulmonary embolism and Chronic Thrombo Embolic Pulmonary Hypertension are dangerous roads to travel. The first is a common cause of sudden death and the latter leads to an unacceptable quality of life. Jane Abhishak, Mercy, Priyadarshini and Akshaya from Heart City describe how they handheld a patient as she negotiated this uphill and rocky path.
Paraquat poisoning wages a relentless assault on organ systems. Kalaiyarasi and Babiyoreni from Tennur, Trichy, describe a survivor!
Quality Circle “rings together” colleagues who are committed to working together, sharing problems and concerns, developing solutions and nurturing their organization. Suganya, Ananthi, Sathya and Keerthana, all stalwarts from Tennur Trichy, describe their joy in winning at the CII Quality Circle competition with their project on Reducing Higher End Antibiotic Usage, a subject of great significance in responsible antibiotic stewardship, prevention of AMR, and most importantly, preventing Hospital Acquired Infections.
The issue winds up with a diagnostic image posted by Indumathi , nurse educator, Salem.

We invite papers from all those who are serving patients and making their lives safer and better.

That includes everyone in health care from who normally never hear, the silent majority – Quality, technicians from cath lab, dialysis, or, endoscopy, interventional radiology, ECMO, lab, audiology, speech therapy, perfusion, dental surgery etc.

We are a very large family, thankfully growing and thriving, unlike todayí¢€â„¢s increasingly insular families. Let us not hide in eight silos, shut away from each other.

Do read, and write for the NIGHTINGALE

Best regards

Dr. Venkita S. Suresh

Nightingale Journals