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Environmental reporting is a realistic alternative for mines to prioritise operational changes in crucial environmental areas. Gold mines report to multiple platforms – i.e., integrated reporting. All these platforms have created the need for effective environmental data management. A methodology was developed in which the environmental performance data for numerous operations is centralised. A standardised reporting procedure was developed for each environmental data category that includes the different stakeholders’ needs. Focus was also placed on reducing the data transfer errors due to the importance of data accuracy. The methodology is based on the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle and was implemented at a gold mining company. After implementation, the rate of transfer error that would have been recorded in the data was reduced from 20 percent to four percent. This error rate was recorded before an external audit took place.

Since the introduction of antiretroviral therapy (ART) life expectancy has increased and people living with HIV are subsequently not only concerned with survival, but also with their health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Eighty three ART experienced patients at a tertiary hospital clinic participated in a cross-sectional study. A questionnaire-administered interview was used to measure self-reported adherence and HRQoL. The majority of participants (n=83) were female (80.7%). HRQoL mean scores (on a scale of 4-20) were highest for the spirituality/religion/personal beliefs domain (15.56±3.56) and lowest for the environment domain (14.36±2.70). Full-/part-time employed versus unemployed patients reported significant better HRQoL mean scores in the level of independence (p=0.042) and environment (p=0.002) domains. Educated participants had better mean scores in QoL for psychological (p=0.017) and social (p=0.007) domains. Patients who perceived their health status to be very good/good reported significant better QoL in the physical (p=0.005), psychological (p=0.002), level of independence (p=0.001), social (p=0.005) and environment (p<0.001) domains. Patients with ≥95% adherence reported better HRQoL mean scores in all the domains. Results indicated that adherence to ART, fulltime employment and perceptions of good health had a considerable positive impact on QoL and satisfaction with health. Interventions should address areas of need with the overall aim of improving QoL. Future studies should monitor QoL for patients on ART in a larger sample and over a period of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An outbreak of invasive candidiasis in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital in Ga-Rankuwa necessitated evaluation of the antibiotic prescribing practices in the unit. A selective randomised sample of 100 patients was followed up over a nine-month period to evaluate prescribing patterns. The existing antibiotic policy was used to compare the prescription practices and use of antibiotics. The frequency of use, number of antibiotics per patient and duration of use were documented. Of the 100 patients followed, 95 were prescribed intravenous antibiotics. All prescribed antibiotics for 77 patients are listed in the antibiotic policy. Nineteen different antibiotics were prescribed, and 11 of the 19 prescribed antibiotics appear in the antibiotic policy. Most patients received more than two antibiotics during their stay, as the average number of antibiotics used per patient during the study period was 3.4. The average duration of use for all antibiotics, except cefepime and ceftriaxone, was for longer than seven days. Although antibiotics were used according to the ward protocol in the majority of patients, deviations from the protocol were associated with patients' clinical condition and/or results from blood cultures. The duration of antibiotic use needs to be monitored to prevent unnecessary prolonged use, as in this investigation. An antibiotic policy may be useful to guide and measure rational antibiotic therapy in a NICU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pharmacy has evolved over several centuries from the traditional role of dispensing and compounding a physician's order, to include modern day services, such as patient care. The underlying philosophy of clinical pharmacy is pharmaceutical care. This is a patientcentred approach which addresses all possible pharmaceutical interventions in the context of a fully integrated multidisciplinary plan of care. The most effective pharmaceutical care is achieved when pharmacists become part of the clinical team caring for patients. Clinical pharmacists are not currently part of ward staff in South Africa, as seen in the USA or the UK. This may be because of human resources and an inadequate number of trained clinical pharmacists. This has an impact on the effectiveness of the pharmacist, as he or she should be based in the wards so as to become an effective member of the healthcare team. A high-impact unit that would benefit greatly from pharmaceutical care is the neonatal intensive care unit, which has been shown to be highly vulnerable to medication errors, and in which a clinical pharmacist could play a role in decreasing medication errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]