Anaesthesia, Intensive Care and Pain Medicine - St Vincent's ...

Department of Pathology
St.Vincent’s Healthcare Group
direction of hospital blood banks.The Department of Health
with the interested parties are presently investigating the
implications of this directive in an attempt to identify the issues
which need to be addressed in order to be compliant with the
directive.
Future Plans
Further development of software for the RAID Computer
dosing program.
Mr. Frank Dennehy was appointed as Surveillance Scientist.
Ms.Ann Flynn and Ms.Alison Maguinness were appointed as
Clinical Nurse Specialists in Infection Control.
Service Developments/ Activities
Nuclear Medicine Laboratory
New Staff
Anne-Marie Glynn BSc joined our staff as a basic-grade
biochemist.
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It is intended to introduce the next version of the laboratory
computer software in the coming year, this will facilitate the
availability of blood by electronic issue and will also improve
traceability by computerising another step in the transfusion
chain.The hospital Transfusion Committee is actively pursuing
barcoding of patient wristbands and staff identification badges,
this will further improve safety in blood transfusion.
Haematology Department
Staff
Ms Elaine Tallon took up the position of Anticoagulant Nurse
Specialist in Anticoagulant Monitoring Service and liases with
patients,GPs and hospital doctors. Ms Hazel Black took up a
L a b o ra t o ry Aide position in Haematology.
Service Development/ Activities
The range and complexity of tests provided by the
Haematology Laboratory continues to expand in the areas of
immunophenotyping and thrombophilia screening. The protocol
for leukaemia typing has been expanded to include 3-colour
analysis. This allows for more specific typing of tumour cells and
the detection of minimum residual disease. Since the
introduction of the guidelines for investigation of venous
thromboembolism by the Venous Thromboembolism (VTE)
group, the demand for D-Dimer assay has continued to rise,
with an 18% increase over 2002.
The number of patients attending the Anticoagulant Monitoring
Service continues to increase with approximately 1000 patients
being monitored.The computerised dosing system RAID has
streamlined the service and allows for more consisted dosing.
Achievements/ Conferences Attended
Dr. Donald McCarthy became the President of the
Haematology Association of Ireland.
Dr. Karen Murphy became the National Specialist Director for
Haematology.
Histopathology Department
Staff
June Donnelly joined the secretarial staff.Julie Gorman was
appointed as a Research Scientist with the Colorectal Research
Group, funded through a grant from the St Luke’s Institute for
Cancer Research.Shane Sullivan was appointed to a Research
Scientist/Postgraduate Trainee Medical Scientist with the
Colorectal Research Group.
Service Developments
The new mortuary, commissioned in August, is a state of the
art facility, and includes an isolation room and high-quality
teaching facilities. A ThinPrep instrument was purchased to allow
for the automation and optimal preparation of cytology
specimens.
Outstanding/Significant Achievements
John Harford successfully completed the Diploma in Healthcare
Management with the Institute of Public Administration
Future Plans
Introduction of fluorescence ISH for analysis of predictive
markers including HER2 in breast cancer.
Immunology Laboratory
Staff
Paul Mc Ardle joined the staff in November.
Conferences
"Automation in Immunology" organised by the Academy of
Medical Laboratory Science, was attended by M.T. Cronin and
E.Hannigan.
M.T. Cronin attended a "Sebia" User Group Meeting outlining
developments in Immunofixation techniques.
E.Hannigan attended the UK NEQAS User Group Meetings
held in the North General Hospital in Sheffield in October 2003.
The Surveillance Scientist is responsible for the collection and
analysis of antimicrobial resistance data, (SARI),the reporting of
infectious disease data,(EARSS,CIDR) and the production of
regular microbiological data reports as required.
In collaboration with the Pharmacy Department,the
Microbiology Laboratory began a validation of the processes
and facilities in the new pharmacy clean room facility, and
continues to provide an environmental monitoring service on a
daily basis.
Outbreaks of norovirus infection brought its own workload
increase as did the MRSA screening programme which was
tailored to maximise the yield of this organism.
Two large outbreaks of norovirus infection and the international
SARS outbreak posed the greatest challenge during the year.
Educational sessions and Infection Control audits were
extended to cover all areas,and the team joined the St
Vincent’s Healthcare Group Environment Quality Improvement
Team working towards hospital accreditation.
Future Plans
Microbiology hopes to be inspected for CPA accreditation
within the new facility.The adoption of antibiotic sensitivity
methods to meet NCCLS standards will begin immediately as
well as development of microbiological PCR techniques within
the Molecular Biology Laborator y. Environmental monitoring is a
developing area and we hope to provide a more
comprehensive service to the users of our service.
Microbiology – Professorial Unit
Achievements
Prof.William Hall;Adjunct Professor,The Rockefeller University,
New York,USA.Elected to the Board of the Institute of Human
Virology, Baltimore, USA, and elected to the Membership
committee, Kunkel Society, Rockefeller University, New York,
USA.
Outstanding/Significant Achievements
Dr. Joe Duffy was made an Adjunct Professor in the Medical
Faculty at University College Dublin.Prof.Duffy was also invited
to Chair the National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry (USA)
Panel to establish new guidelines for the Clinical Use of Markers
in Breast Cancer.
Prof.Joe Duffy was invited to speak at a number of
international meetings in 2003, including:
Association of Clinical Biochemist (UK) Focus Meeting
Manchester:Title of Lecture, Evidence for the use of tumor
markers.
XXXI International Society for Oncodevelomental Biology and
Medicine (ISOBM) Edinburgh:Title of Lecture, uPA and PAI-1:
validated prognostic markers in breast cancer.
Continuing Education Meeting in Clinical Biochemistry
Windermere (UK):Title of lecture, Prostate cancer: to screen or
not screen ?.
Association of Clinical Biochemists Ireland,Annual Conference
Dublin:Title of lecture:Tumor markers,current and future uses.
Publications
O’Donovan N, Crown J,Stunell H, Hill A,McDermott E,
O’Higgins N, Duffy MJ. Caspase 3 in breast cancer. Clin Cancer
Res 2003;9:783-742.
Duffy MJ,van Dalen A,Haglund L,Klapdor R, Lamerz R,
Nilsson O, Sturgeon C,Topolcan O. Clinical Utility of
biochemical markers in colorectal cancer : European
Group on Tumour Markers (EGTM) Guidelines. Eur J
Cancer 2003;39:718.
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Mr. Ivan Shirley became a member of the Steering Committee
of the Irish External Quality Assessment Scheme.
The following attended at and contributed to posters presented
at the Haematology Association of Ireland: B. Collins, C. Fleming,
I.Shirley, C. Waldron and P. Crosby.
Microbiology Laboratory
Staff
Ms.Anne Brady and Ms. Elaine Garvey were promoted to
Senior Medical Scientists.Ms.Deirdre Keating and Ms.Elizabeth
Doyle took up permanent medical scientist posts in September.
Prof.William Hall is on the editorial boards of:AIDS Research
and Human Retroviruses,Neuropathology, Journal of
Neurovirology and Journal of the Acquired Immunodeficiency
Syndrome (JAIDS).