AIM The primary aim of the study was to investigate pain relief after more than 24 h of preoperative skin traction (because of delay in surgery due to comorbidities and system issues) in patients with intertrochanteric fractures. METHOD We performed a retrospective comparative cohort study of 56 patients who underwent intramedullary nailing for the treatment of intertrochanteric fractures and who had waited for surgery for more than 48 h after admission due to comorbidities or system issues. Preoperative therapy was randomly selected with a ratio of one to two and patients classified as skin traction (n = 18) or no traction (n = 38). The Verbal Rating Scale (VRS) was used to assess pain at 12-60 h post-admission. RESULTS There was no significant difference in VRS at 12 h after admission (1.1 ± 1.0 vs. 0.8 ± 0.9, p = 0.73), but patients who received skin traction had a lower VRS pain score at 24-60 h after admission compared to those with no traction (24 h, 0.4 ± 0.8 vs. 1.1 ± 1.0, p  less then  0.05; 36 h, 0.2 ± 0.5 vs. 0.9 ± 0.9, p  less then  0.05; 48 h, 0.2 ± 0.4 vs. 0.8 ± 0.9, p  less then  0.05; 60 h, 0.2 ± 0.4 vs. 0.9 ± 0.9, p  less then  0.05). CONCLUSION Skin traction for patients with intertrochanteric fractures for more than 24 h preoperatively resulted in a lower VRS pain score. Therefore, more than 24 h of preoperative skin traction for patients with intertrochanteric fractures may give effective pain relief in situations where surgery is delayed. OBJECTIVES To map out the total use of long-term care (LTC; ie, home care or institutional care) during the last 2 years of life and to investigate to what extent gender differences in LTC use were explained by cohabitation status and age at death. DESIGN The National Cause of Death Register was used to identify decedents. Use of LTC was based on the Social Services Register (SSR) and sociodemographic factors were provided by Statistics Sweden. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS All persons living in Sweden who died in November 2015 aged ≥67 years (n = 5948). METHODS Zero inflated negative binomial regression was used to estimate the relative impact of age, gender, and cohabitation status on the use of LTC. RESULTS Women used LTC to a larger extent [odds ratio (OR) 2.17, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.92-2.50] and for a longer period [risk ratio (RR) 1.14, 95% CI 1.11-1.18] than men. When controlling for age at death and cohabitation status, gender differences in LTC attenuated (OR 1.47, 95% CI 1.28-1.72) and vanished in regard to the duration. In the controlled model, women used LTC for 15.6 months (95% CI 15.2-16.0) and men for 14.1 months (95% CI 13.7-14.5) out of 24 months. The length of stay in institutional care was 7.2 (95% CI 6.8-7.5) and 6.2 months (95% CI 5.8-6.6), respectively. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS A substantial part of women’s greater use of LTC was due to their higher age at death and because they more often lived alone. Given that survival continues to increase, the association between older age at death and LTC use suggests that policy makers will have to deal with an increased pressure on the LTC sector. Yet, increased survival among men could imply that more women will have access to spousal caregivers, although very old couples may have limited capacity for extensive caregiving at the end of life. INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND Management of a quality assurance program in diagnostic imaging involves a variety of machine types, multiple vendors, and a large number of frontline staff who have different specializations. Standardizing tests across multiple platforms in the face of vendor recommendations, regulatory requirements, and professional practice protocols can present challenges to maintain a robust and coherent quality assurance program. The current work presents a unique application of an existing tool that can be used to manage a comprehensive quality assurance program in a diagnostic imaging department. MATERIALS AND METHODS QATrack+ is an open source, quality assurance platform originally developed for and currently widely used in radiation therapy departments. read more The use of QATrack+ for quality assurance program management within a large diagnostic imaging department is a novel use of this tool. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION QATrack+ was successfully implemented in a large, multisite diagnostic imaging departolvement in the quality assurance program by all staff. INTRODUCTION Emotional intelligence (EI) is a person’s ability to control their emotions and be empathetic and it influences how a person interacts with others. EI has been linked to strong job performance parameters such as leadership, and is an important attribute for health leaders, including chief radiographers. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between EI scores and leadership attributes of Australian chief radiographers. METHODS A pilot study with a cross-sectional survey design was used. A convenience sample of potential participants (n = 70) were contacted and given unique codes to access the United Kingdom’s National Health Service Leadership Self-Assessment Tool (LSAT) and the Trait-EI Questionnaire Short-Form (TEIQue-SF). Demographic information was collected on age, years of experience, and hospital size. In total, 22 chief radiographers from NSW and Victoria from a variety of medical imaging departments completed the TEIQue-SF, and 18 completed both questionnaires. Spearman’s rank-order correlation and Kruskal-Wallis H test were used for analysis. RESULTS Chief radiographers from larger hospitals (>500 beds, n = 6) had lower scores for the TEIQue-SF sociability factor than smaller hospitals (P = .057; n = 22). Chief radiographers with less then 10 years’ experience (n = 6) had higher scores for the LSAT “Developing Capability” dimensions than those with more experience (P = .043; n = 18). CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrated relationships between years of experience, hospital size, EI, and leadership behaviours of Australian chief radiographers. Overall, increasing years of experience as a chief radiographer was associated with a reduction across some EI and LSAT factors. The findings could be used as a starting point to provide increased support to senior leaders of the profession to aid leadership and job performance.