Anaesthesia
-
Multicenter Study
The influence of various graphical and numeric trend display formats on the detection of simulated changes.
Integration of a large amount of information is important in anaesthesia but there is little research to guide the development of data displays. Anaesthetists from two hospitals participated in five related screen based simulation studies comparing various formats for display of historical or 'trend' data. Participants were asked to indicate when they first noticed a change in each displayed variable. ⋯ If the same number of data points were included, there was no difference between graphical and numerical displays of historical data. There was no difference in accuracy between graphical or numerical displays. These results suggest that the way trend data is presented can influence the speed of detection of changes.
-
Multicenter Study
Review of patient safety incidents submitted from Critical Care Units in England & Wales to the UK National Patient Safety Agency.
We reviewed and classified all patient safety incidents submitted from critical care units in England and Wales to the National Patient Safety Agency for the first quarter of 2008. A total of 6649 incidents were submitted from 141 organisations (median (range) 23 (1-268 incidents)); 786 were unrelated to the critical care episode and 248 were repeat entries. ⋯ There were 2789 incidents classified to more than one main group. The incident analysis highlights ways to improve patient safety and to improve the classification of incidents.
-
Multicenter Study
A national survey of support and counselling after maternal death.
The 2000-2002 Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health report highlighted several cases of maternal death where the staff who had been involved, were not offered support. The report recommended that 'Trusts must make provision for the prompt offer of support and/or counselling for all staff who have cared for a woman who has died.' We conducted a postal survey to firstly establish whether Trusts had implemented this, and also to ascertain the experience of consultant obstetric anaesthetists. ⋯ Furthermore, 69% were unaware of policies within their own Trusts for the provision of support services. We suggest that a formal structure should exist within all units that offers confidential support services and/or debriefing facilities to all staff involved in a maternal death or other traumatic event.