The Health News – 17 June 2016

Overview:
• Ten leukaemia patients at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and Flinders Medical Centre were under-dosed with a chemotherapy drug over a six-month period. The mistake was identified in mid-January 2015, but one of the patients continued to receive the incorrect dose even after that date. A parliamentary committee was told the problem should have been immediately logged in SA Health’s Safety Learning System (SLS).

• A group of five mates, most of them teachers, are preparing to climb Mount Kosciuszko in July in nothing but their cossies to raise $100,000 for childhood depression for beyondblue.

• The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) had previously rated coffee as "possibly carcinogenic" but changed its mind. It says its latest review found no conclusive evidence for a carcinogenic effect of coffee drinking and pointed to some studies showing coffee may actually reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancer.

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the  17th of June 2016. Read by Rebecca Foster. Health News

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-16/medical-staff-lacked-log-ins-to-key-reporting-system/7517758

Some medical staff could not access an electronic incident reporting system aimed at red-flagging errors because they did not have the correct logins, a South Australian inquiry into a chemotherapy bungle has heard.

Ten leukaemia patients at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and Flinders Medical Centre were under-dosed with a chemotherapy drug over a six-month period.

The mistake was identified in mid-January 2015, but one of the patients continued to receive the incorrect dose even after that date.

A parliamentary committee was … told the problem should have been immediately logged in SA Health’s Safety Learning System (SLS).

“This did not occur. I find this lack of action deplorable,” outgoing SA Health chief executive David Swan told the committee.

“As a result of this incident not being logged in the SLS, Flinders Medical Centre did not become aware of the error until 30th of January 2015.

“This resulted in one of the patients receiving an incorrect dosage of [the] [chemotherapy drug] ….after the error had been identified at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.”

Central Adelaide Local Health Network chief executive Julia Squires said one problem that had since been identified was that some staff could not log into the SLS.

“We’ve put that right. They all know now how to access [it].”

Ms Squires said another change since implemented meant “SLS reports do now refer to whether or not patients have been informed where there’s been an issue”.

The 10 affected patients were given one daily dose of the drug when they should have been given two, and have now received compensation offers from the State Government.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-16/teachers-trek-mt-kosciuszko-to-raise-money-depression/7515806

It was an unusual sight: a group of men standing in Melbourne’s Federation Square on a chilly winter morning wearing not much at all.

A group of five mates, most of them teachers, are preparing to climb Mount Kosciuszko in July in nothing but their cossies to raise $100,000 for childhood depression for beyondblue.

Sydney teacher Blake Leonard said as teachers they see depression and anxiety on a daily basis, so when they saw the story of The Iceman Wim Hof online they knew they were on to a good idea.

Mr Hof holds 26 world records for extreme challenges in the cold, including standing in ice for two hours, swimming underneath thick ice and climbing Mount Everest and Mount Kilimanjaro in shorts.

He is helping them train for the Kossie in Cossies campaign.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-16/coffee-can-cause-cancer-only-if-it-is-very-hot-says-who-agency/7515120

There is no conclusive evidence that drinking coffee causes cancer, the World Health Organisation’s cancer agency says in a reversal of its previous warning, but it also says all “very hot” drinks are probably carcinogenic.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) had previously rated coffee as “possibly carcinogenic” but changed its mind.

It says its latest review found “no conclusive evidence for a carcinogenic effect” of coffee drinking and pointed to some studies showing coffee may actually reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancer.

“[This] does not show that coffee is certainly safe … but there is less reason for concern today than there was before,” Dana Loomis, the deputy head of the IARC’s Monograph classification department, told a news conference.

At the same time, however, the IARC presented other scientific evidence which suggested drinking anything very hot — about 65 degrees Celsius or above — including water, coffee, tea and other beverages, probably does cause cancer of the oesophagus.

In its evaluation of very hot drinks, IARC said animal studies suggested carcinogenic effects probably occurred at drinking temperatures of 65 Celsius or above.

Some experiments with rats and mice found “very hot” liquids, including water, could promote the development of tumours, it said.