Where did November go to?

Well the month is nearly over and I haven't been on here for while.....been busy this month travelling quite a bit.  Went with my husband to Washington D.C. where the annual conference for the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene was being held.  Amongst many sights, I visited the Washington National Cathedral and was stunned by the number of beautiful stained glass windows in the building in particular.   It was a very sunny day so the natural light pouring through the windows created an amazing effect.

QR Codes

QR Code is an abbreviation for 'Quick Response Code' which is the trademark for a two dimensional barcode originally developed for the car trade in Japan!  You may have seen these images of square black dots arranged in a square shape on a white background on adverts in magazines, bill boards etc.  If you have an Android, Blackberry or Apple iOS phone you can download a free QR reader which will read the code and then take your device to the item it is storing the information data about.  So for example, if your reader was to scan the first QR code inserted below - it would take you directly to the Vaccine Timeline chart on my last blog!  Just a bit of fun but also a quick way of accessing resources!

Here's another one - where does this take you ?  

Updated chart for the timeline of vaccines in the UK

I was very excited to see an updated chart of the 'Historical vaccine development and introduction of vaccines in the UK' when browsing the Public Health England website today.  Published on 4th October 2013, it includes all the recent vaccines added into the UK programmes. These are making us particularly busy in General Practice right now in the midst the flu campaign as well.  Practice Nurses are coping with all of this alongside their normal workload - I know many are finding it particularly stressful but thank you for doing an amazing job out there!  For a copy of the chart just click the image below.

Travelling Well - or not?

The video below is the brainchild of Dr Deb, a Travel Medicine expert who has been practising since 1988.  The 16 minute film covers aspects of travel related illness in a comprehensive but light hearted way that is very easy and enjoyable to watch.  With a cast of many, one is Dr Reggie Cooke who I met in about 1997 at the first conference of the British Travel Health Association.  From Northern Ireland, Reggie has now moved to Australia and is working in Dr Deb's clinic, utilising his travel medicine skills!  I've also put this video link on the video page of  my website - see here or also click the image below to start up the film.

World Rabies Day today!

World Rabies Day is observed each year on 28 September - on the anniversary of the death of Louis Pasteur who developed the first efficacious rabies vaccine with his colleagues.  This day is the 7th of these such events and it aims to raise awareness about the impact of rabies on human beings and animals, and provide information on how to prevent the disease.  The Global Alliance for Rabies Control is the leading organization working for the global prevention of rabies.  They have some powerful information on their website and some helpful educational videos - see here or click on image of the home page below.

Global Alliance fot Rabies Control 

New EMC has gone live!

The Electronics Medicines Compendium has been promising the launch of new features on their website for a while now and it has just gone live.  You need to register but once done (it was a very simple process) you then can use facilities to 'Bookmark Medicines', 'Save Searches' and 'Receive updates about the EMC'.  I'm trying to update my malaria chemoprophylaxis chart so have already book marked the relevant drugs, a very handy feature.  Click on the image below to register!  

New website from Sanofi Pasteur MSD for travel health and also flu!

Sanofi Pasteur MSD (SPMSD) have created a new informative, visually attractive and easy to navigate website for travellers at www.areyouready2go.co.uk Aimed at saving time in the pre travel health consultation, the website gives travellers the opportunity to compile relevant information about their forthcoming trip before arriving for their appointment in the clinic.  A section entitled 'my records' is yet to be launched online but will provide a record of previous vaccinations and be able to set up handy e-mail or text message reminders for the next appointment.  A separate section for healthcare professionals will also provide information about SPMSD vaccines, e learning content on travel and useful links.  Click on the image below to see the website.

A website all about flu is also available.  This includes a very useful section about 'How the immune system works'.  To go directly to this section click HERE and to go to the home page of the website, click on the image below.