Objective: To develop, using an evidence‐based approach, a standardised operating protocol (SOP) and minimum dataset (MDS) to improve shift‐to‐shift clinical handover by medical and nursing staff in a hospital setting. Design, setting and participants: A pilot study conducted in six clinical areas (nursing and medical handovers in general medicine, general surgery and emergency medicine) at the Royal Hobart Hospital between 1 October 2005 and 30 September 2008. Data collection and analysis involved triangulation of qualitative techniques; 120 observation sessions and 112 interviews involving nurses and junior medical officers were conducted across the six clinical areas; information on more than 1000 individual patient handovers was analysed. Results: We developed an overarching four‐step SOP and MDS for clinical handover, summarised by the acronym “HAND ME AN ISOBAR”. This standardised solution supports flexible adaptation to local circumstances. Conclusion: A standardised protocol for clinical handover can be developed and validated across professional and disciplinary boundaries. It is anticipated that our model will be transferable to other sites and clinical settings.

The life of every living organism is sustained by the presence of oxygen and the acute deprivation of oxygen will, therefore, result in hypoxia and ultimately death. Although oxygen is normally present in the air, higher concentrations are required to treat many disease processes. Oxygen is therefore considered to be a drug requiring a medical prescription and is subject to any law that covers its use and prescription. Administration is typically authorized by a physician following legal written instructions to a qualified nurse. This standard procedure helps prevent incidence of misuse or oxygen deprivation which could worsen the patients hypoxia and ultimate outcome. Delaying the administration of oxygen until a written medical prescription is obtained could also have the same effect. Clearly, defined protocols should exist to allow for the legal administration of oxygen by nurses without a physicians order because any delay in administering oxygen to patients can very well lead to their death.

Mobile remote presence bots (MRP) have emerged as a potential way of addressing the “tyranny of distance” when having to attend meetings at far away locations. In this contribution we report on how we used an MRP to share with two cohorts of postgraduate students at a regional university the formal “conferencing” and the informal “mingling” that takes place at quality academic conferences and that many would consider essential for effective networking and knowledge sharing. Simultaneously, students were able to experience and explore what it meant to be “different” in a room full of people interacting in “regular” ways, observing the conference attendees reacting to the MRP aka “ipad on a stick” in ways from genuine interest to forced indifference.

AI augmented clinical diagnostic tools are the latest research focus in colorectal cancer (CRC) detection. While the opportunity presented by AI-enhanced CRC diagnosis is sound, this paper highlights how its effectiveness with respect to reducing CRC-related mortality and enhancing patient outcomes may be limited by the fact that patient participation remains extremely low globally. This paper builds a foundation to consider how human factors tend to contribute to low participation rates and suggests that a more nuanced socio-technical approach to the development, implementation and evaluation of AI systems that is sensitive to the psycho-social and cultural dimension of CRC may lead to tools that increase screening uptake.

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