BMJ quality & safety
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BMJ quality & safety · Sep 2011
The introduction of a surgical safety checklist in a tertiary referral obstetric centre.
BACKGROUND Surgery-related adverse events remain a significant and often under-reported problem. In a recent study, the introduction of a perioperative checklist by the WHO reduced deaths and complications by 46% and 36% respectively. The authors wished to evaluate the introduction of a surgical safety checklist in a busy obstetric tertiary referral centre by assessing staff attitudes, checklist compliance and effects upon patients. ⋯ Although the majority of patients were aware of the checks being performed, this did not provoke anxiety. CONCLUSION Following consultation with staff and patients, the authors managed to institute and sustain the performance of a surgical safety checklist for elective cases in obstetric theatres. While significant progress has been made, the authors recognise that further work is required in order to further evaluate and optimise this process.
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BMJ quality & safety · Sep 2011
Using prospective clinical surveillance to identify adverse events in hospital.
BACKGROUND To improve patient safety, organisations must systematically measure avoidable harms. Clinical surveillance-consisting of prospective case finding and peer review-could improve identification of adverse events (AEs), preventable AEs and potential AEs. The authors sought to describe and compare findings of clinical surveillance on four clinical services in an academic hospital. ⋯ No services shared the most frequent AE type. CONCLUSIONS Using clinical surveillance, the authors identified a high risk of AE and significant variation in AE risks and subtypes between services. These findings suggest that institutions will need to evaluate service-specific safety problems to set priorities and design improvement strategies.
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BMJ quality & safety · Sep 2011
ReviewRigour of development does not AGREE with recommendations in practice guidelines on the use of ice for acute ankle sprains.
OBJECTIVE This study evaluated whether the Appraisal of Guidelines Research and Evaluation (AGREE) rigour of development score of practice guidelines on ice for acute ankle sprains is related to the convergence between recommendations. DESIGN The authors systematically reviewed guidelines on ice for acute ankle sprains. Four appraisers independently used the AGREE instrument to evaluate the rigour of development of selected guidelines. ⋯ The median evidence citation score in the guidelines was 7% (IQR 0 to 61). CONCLUSIONS There is no relationship between the rigour of development score and the recommendations in guidelines on ice for acute ankle sprains. The guidelines suffered from methodological problems which were not captured by the AGREE instrument.
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BMJ quality & safety · Sep 2011
Introduction of a new observation chart and education programme is associated with higher rates of vital-sign ascertainment in hospital wards.
INTRODUCTION Local and national awareness of the need to improve the recognition and response to the clinical deterioration of hospital inpatients is high. The authors designed and implemented a programme to improve recognition of deteriorating patients in their hospital; a new observation chart for vital signs was one of the major elements. The aim of the study is to evaluate the impact of the new chart and associated education programme on the completeness of vital-sign recording in ward areas. ⋯ Basic neurological observation for all patients was introduced in the new chart; the uptake of this was very good (93.1%). Ascertainment rates of blood pressure and oxygen saturation also increased by small but significant amounts from good baseline rates of 97% or higher. CONCLUSION The introduction of a new observation chart, and education regarding its use and importance, was associated with a major improvement in the recording of respiratory rate and other vital signs.
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BMJ quality & safety · Sep 2011
Rebound in ventilator-associated pneumonia rates during a prevention checklist washout period.
OBJECTIVE To describe the washout effect after stopping a prevention checklist for ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). METHODS VAP rates were prospectively monitored for special cause variation over 42 months in a paediatric intensive care unit. A VAP prevention bundle was implemented, consisting of head of bed elevation, oral care, suctioning device management, ventilator tubing care, and standard infection control precautions. ⋯ In the flowsheet phase, the VAP rate dropped to 0.8 infections per 1000 ventilator days (p<0.047). CONCLUSIONS Salient cues to drive provider behaviour towards best practice are helpful to sustain process improvement, and cessation of such cues should be approached warily. Initial education, year-long habit formation, and effective early implementation demonstrated no appreciable effect on the VAP rate during the checklist washout period.