3.The Tao of bao: a randomised controlled trial examining the effect of steamed bun consumption on night-call inpatient course and mortality.
Min-Han TAN ; Ziying LEE ; Beatrice NG ; Eng Swen SIM ; Ying Ying CHUA ; Mark TIEN ; Choon Jin OOI
Annals of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore 2008;37(3):255-253
BACKGROUNDMedical superstitions remain prevalent in today's stressful and technology driven healthcare environment. These irrational beliefs commonly involve night calls, which are periods of volatile workload. In Singapore and Hong Kong, it is commonly held that consumption of steamed buns ("bao") by on-call physicians is associated with increased patient admissions and mortality, due to a homonymous interpretation of the word "bao" in dialect.
MATERIALS AND METHODSA prospective unblinded randomised controlled trial with a permuted block randomisation design was performed on weekdays over 6 weeks. Steamed buns or control food were offered to the internal medicine night-call team of a tertiary-care hospital on a nightly basis. Information on admissions and mortality was collected from the hospital electronic database. Data on sleep patterns and shift duration were obtained by interview.
RESULTSThere were no significant differences in the median number of hours slept on days on "bao" administration versus "control" intervention (2 +/- median absolute variation of 1.5 h vs 2 +/- 1.5 h, P = 0.30) or in the number of hours spent in the hospital (30.8 +/- 1.9 h vs 30.5 +/- 2.2 h, P = 0.09). There were no significant differences in the median number of general ward admissions per night (n = 73 +/- 6 versus 71 +/- 7 admissions, P = 0.35), monitored care unit admissions (4 +/- 1.5 vs 4 +/- 1.5 admissions, P = 0.65) or inpatient mortality (2 +/- 1.5 vs 2 +/- 1.5 deaths per night, P = 0.47).
CONCLUSIONThe consumption of steamed buns ("bao") has no effect on inpatient admissions, mortality, or sleep duration on call. Regardless, our results indicate that the night call in Singapore remains a challenge in terms of workload and shift duration.
Food ; Hospital Mortality ; Humans ; Medical Staff, Hospital ; Night Care ; Patient Admission ; Superstitions ; Workload
4.Interim Singapore guidelines for basic and advanced life support for paediatric patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19.
Gene Yong-Kwang ONG ; Beatrice Hui ZHI NG ; Yee Hui MOK ; Jacqueline Sm ONG ; Nicola NGIAM ; Josephine TAN ; Swee Han LIM ; Kee Chong NG
Singapore medical journal 2022;63(8):419-425
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant challenges for the resuscitation of paediatric patients, especially for infants and children who are suspected or confirmed to be infected. Thus, the paediatric subcommittee of the Singapore Resuscitation and First Aid Council developed interim modifications to the current Singapore paediatric guidelines using extrapolated data from the available literature, local multidisciplinary expert consensus and institutional best practices. It is hoped that this it will provide a framework during the pandemic for improved outcomes in paediatric cardiac arrest patients in the local context, while taking into consideration the safety of all community first responders, medical frontline providers and healthcare workers.
Infant
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Child
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Humans
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Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation/methods*
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COVID-19/therapy*
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Pandemics
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Singapore
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Heart Arrest
Result Analysis
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