BMJ quality & safety
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BMJ quality & safety · Oct 2011
Quality improvement project to reduce perioperative opioid oversedation events in a paediatric hospital.
Narcotics are responsible for many adverse drug events in children and there has been an increase in opioid oversedation events in hospitalised patients. ⋯ Opioid-related oversedation events decreased over the course of the study. Because the perioperative period is an especially likely time for opioid oversedation events, strict opioid prescribing practices, while maintaining adequate pain control and improved sedation assessment during the perioperative period, were emphasised. The restructured pain service and increased visits by pain team experts were also associated with the reduction in oversedation events.
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BMJ quality & safety · Oct 2011
Patient safety factors in children dying in a paediatric intensive care unit (PICU): a case notes review study.
To identify patient safety factors in pre-hospital and hospital management of critically ill children dying in a paediatric intensive care unit (PICU). ⋯ Adverse events in pre-PICU hospital care were common in children who subsequently died in PICU. CIs occurred throughout the patient journey. Interventional studies of healthcare organisation and delivery are necessary to identify appropriate strategies to improve patient 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
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
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.