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Showing results for tags 'ICU/ ITU/ HDU'.
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News Article
Staff suspended after ‘sleeping in patient’s bed’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Staff were suspended by their trust after they were found to have been sleeping in a patient’s bed, a Care Quality Commission (CQC) report has revealed. The regulator inspected acute wards for adults and psychiatric intensive care units at Black Country Healthcare Foundation Trust in February, after safeguarding concerns were raised. As HSJ revealed earlier this year, inspectors investigated a series of incidents, while a referral was also made to the police. As well as reports of staff using a mental health inpatient’s bed, there were complaints involving alleged inappropriate sexual behaviour and a governance breach. The concerns were said to relate to Hallam Street hospital in West Bromwich and Penn Hospital in Wolverhampton. The CQC inspection report said it inspected the service following allegations that “abuse had occurred” and a “multi-agency safeguarding meeting was convened to discuss the investigations of these”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 18 May 2023- Posted
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News Article
Critically ill patients ‘will inevitably die’ due to junior doctors’ strike
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
Critically ill patients “will inevitably die” because hospitals are having to cancel surgery as a direct result of next week’s junior doctors’ strike in England, leading heart experts have warned. There were bound to be fatalities among people with serious heart problems whose precarious health meant they were “a ticking timebomb” and needed surgery as soon as possible, they said. They added that patients would face an even greater risk than usual of being harmed or dying if their time-sensitive operation was delayed because NHS heart units would have too few medics available during the four-day stoppage by junior doctors to run normal operating lists. The trio of cardiac experts are senior doctors at the Royal Brompton and Harefield specialist heart and lung hospitals in London. Those facilities, plus the cardiac unit at St Thomas’ hospital in the capital, have between them postponed between 30 and 40 operations they were due to conduct next week on “P2” patients, whose fragile health means they need surgery within 28 days. “It is no exaggeration to say that delaying surgery for this group [P2s] will result in harm. For some, this may be life-changing. For others, it may mean premature death,” said Dr Richard Grocott-Mason, a cardiologist who is also the chief executive of the Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 4 April 2023- Posted
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- Workforce management
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News Article
Wards at Royal London Hospital mothballed amid concerns over fire safety
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Six wards in a busy London Hospital, added at a cost of £24 billion during the pandemic, are lying empty because the builders did not install sprinklers. With the NHS in crisis, the Royal London Hospital in east London, has had to mothball the space, which is large enough to take 155 intensive care beds, while officials work out what to do with it. They have no patients in it since last May. Source: The Sunday Times, 29 January 2023 Shared by Shaun Lintern on Twitter- Posted
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- Hospital ward
- Infrastructure / building / equipment
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News Article
Flu rise warning from NHS in England
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
There were more than 3,700 patients a day in hospital with flu last week - up from 520 a day the month before, the latest data from NHS England shows. Of these, 267 people needed specialised care in critical care beds last week. NHS England warns pressures on the health service continue to grow as viruses like flu re-circulate after a hiatus during the pandemic. Prof Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said: "Sadly, these latest flu numbers show our fears of a 'twindemic' have been realised, with cases up seven-fold in just a month and the continued impact of Covid hitting staff hard, with related absences up almost 50% on the end of November." He warned this was "no time to be complacent" with the risk of serious illness being "very real" and encouraged those eligible to take up their flu and Covid jabs as soon as possible. Admissions among children under 5 have been high this flu season, as well as among older people. Read full story Source: BBC News, 30 December 2022- Posted
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- Influenza / pneumonia
- Admission
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News Article
New research collaboration to improve patient safety
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
University College London Hospitals (UCLH) is to host to a new collaboration researching patient safety, after being awarded £3 million in funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research. The NIHR Central London Patient Safety Research Collaboration (PSRC) aims to improve safety in Surgical, Perioperative, Acute and Critical care (SPACE) services, which treat more than 25 million NHS patients annually. Perioperative care is care given at and around the time of surgery. Amongst the highest risk clinical settings are SPACE services because of the seriousness of the patients’ conditions and the complex nature of clinical decision making. Further risks arise at the transitions of care between SPACE services and other parts of the health and social care system. The research team led by UCLH and UCL will develop and evaluate new treatments and care pathways for SPACE services. This will include new interventions such as surgical and anaesthetic techniques, and new approaches to predicting and detecting patient deterioration. They will also help the NHS become safer for patients through the development of innovative approaches to organisational learning, and to how clinical evidence is generated. The PSRC’s learning academy will support the next generation of patient safety researchers through a comprehensive programme of funding, mentoring and peer support. The team includes frontline clinicians, policy makers and world-leading academics across a range of scientific disciplines including social and data science, mechanical and software engineering. Patients and the public representing diverse backgrounds are key partners in the collaboration. Professor Moonesinghe said: “We have a great multidisciplinary, multiprofessional team ready to deliver a truly innovative programme to improve patient safety in these high-risk clinical areas. As a uniquely rich research environment, UCLH and UCL are well placed to lead this work, and we are looking forward to collaborating with clinicians and patients across the country to ensure impact for the whole population which the NHS serves.”- Posted
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Content Article
AvMA case study - Evadney's story
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Inquests
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- Acute kidney injury
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Event
untilThe Safe Anaesthesia Liaison Group Patient Safety Conference will be held in collaboration with RA-UK. The first session will include engaging lectures around the current work of SALG, and the second session will focus on topical issues in relation to regional anaesthesia safety. There will be a prize session for accepted abstracts, with a poster section and oral presentations. This online conference is being organised by SALG co-chairs, Dr Peter Young from the Association of Anaesthetists, Dr Felicity Platt, Royal College of Anaesthetists and Nat Haslam, Regional Anaesthesia UK The day will provide valuable knowledge for doctors engaged in clinical anaesthesia, pain management and intensive care medicine, and who have an interest in improving patient safety. Register- Posted
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- Anaesthetist
- Anaesthesia
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Content Article
Key messages Service planning and commissioning of integrated care Formalisation of the service planning and commissioning of LTV services through an integrated network of care providers is required. The aim would be to reduce variability in access to areas such as therapy services in and out of hospital, facilitate discharge, enable respite care and simplify how ventilator equipment is purchased and serviced. Multidisciplinary care Improved access to an appropriate multidisciplinary care team is needed to ensure people on LTV and their parent carers can be supported in the community as well as during an admission to hospital. Emergency healthcare plans Templates for Emergency Healthcare Plans should be developed and standardised for people receiving LTV. They should provide information about what to do and who to contact in an emergency situation. They should form part of hand-held records that are fully accessible to the person receiving LTV, parent carers and the health and social care teams. Discharge planning Active discharge planning should start at the point of an admission and include all relevant members of the integrated care network to enable a prompt and safe discharge home or to other community services. The discharge plan should reflect any changes in respiratory care. Transition from child to adult services Transition planning should minimise disruption and prepare for any necessary changes that will occur. Effective leadership for planning transition of care should be encouraged to ensure children access adult LTV services easily. There should be no gap in the provision of LTV care.- Posted
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- ICU/ ITU/ HDU
- Ventilators
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News Article
Intensive care units for children not meeting standards, says NHSE report
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Three intensive care units for children are not meeting standards for co-located services, a national report has found. Royal Stoke University Hospital, Royal Brompton Hospital in London and Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, which all have “level three” paediatric intensive care beds for the most seriously ill patients, do not offer specialised paediatric surgery, according to a report from NHS England’s Getting it Right First Time (GIRFT) programme. The report, released in April, said specialised paediatric surgery “should be co-located on the same site” as a paediatric intensive care unit with level three beds and be “immediately available” to meet quality standards set by the Paediatric Intensive Care Society. The report also found the units do not offer services such as trauma, neurosurgery and bone marrow transplantation, which it says is a reflection of the variability and “the poor alignment” of specialised paediatric services at PICUs. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 23 May 2022- Posted
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- ICU/ ITU/ HDU
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Event
untilThis Webinar hosted by Hamilton Medical, will focus on the clinical use of intelligent ventilation software. Agenda Intro from Chair Luigi Camporata Presentation from Prof. Giorgio A. Iotti : “ The birth and growth of the visionary idea” Presentation from Laura Buiteman-Kruizinga: “Lung protective ventilation in the time of COVID-19” Followed by a Q&A Register for the webinar- Posted
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- Ventilators
- Medical device / equipment
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News Article
Families banned from Covid wards during lockdown ‘left with PTSD’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Relatives of intensive care Covid patients were left traumatised by being banned from visiting their seriously ill loved ones during the pandemic, a study has found. Researchers found two-thirds of family members of patients in intensive care were still suffering high levels of symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) three months after their relative was admitted. Symptoms of PTSD include flashbacks, nightmares and physical sensations such as pain, sweating, feeling sick or trembling. Before the Covid pandemic, symptoms of PTSD in family members of intensive care patients were between 15 and 30 per cent, depending on the condition. The team from the University of Colorado School of Medicine said visitation restrictions may have inadvertently generated a secondary public health crisis of stress-related disorders in family members of Covid patients. At the height of the pandemic, hospitals across Britain restricted access to patients, with many people forced to say goodbye to dying loved ones over Skype, or behind screens or windows. Even as late as last winter, a Telegraph investigation showed that a quarter of trusts were still imposing restrictions on visitors. The findings suggest that the rates of PTSD may be higher in relatives than in patients. A previous study by Imperial College and the University of Southampton found that only one-third of patients on ventilators suffer symptoms. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 25 April 2022- Posted
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- Relative
- ICU/ ITU/ HDU
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Content Article
Tools include: Assessment ICU assessment ICE assessment response guide Action plan template Implementing CUSP onboarding modules, laying a foundation to implement a program of preventing CLABSI and CAUTI CLABSI and CAUTI prevention modules, providing an introduction to the tiered interventions Playbook for preventing CLABSI and CAUTI in the ICU setting: connecting the dots between CUSP and the tiered interventions CLABSI and CAUTI learning tools APIC HAIs calculator tools Overcoming common challenges Team engagement tools Team functioning tools Overcoming clinical mindset tools Safety culture tools- Posted
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- ICU/ ITU/ HDU
- Urinary tract infections
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News Article
Severe shortage of nurses in UK children’s intensive care units
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Britain’s sickest children are being treated in intensive care units that are struggling with severe shortages of the specialist nurses needed to look after them, a report says. The shortages in the UK’s 30 paediatric intensive care units (PICUs) are so severe that healthcare assistants are covering the work of nurses in an attempt to ensure that staffing levels are maintained. Only one of the PICUs – at the James Cook University hospital in Middlesbrough – was found to have enough nurses to guarantee the standards of care expected. About 15,000 children and young people a year, often with life-threatening conditions, are cared for in PICUs. Clinical standards that prevail in PICUs require them to ensure that seven nurses are on duty for each bed in a 24-hour cycle. However, the report by the Paediatric Intensive Care Audit Network (PICANet), a group of experts from Leicester and Leeds universities, found that 29 of the 30 had too few nurses to do that, and that all 30 had vacancies, sometimes large numbers of them. “Parents will find this extremely alarming”, said Patricia Marquis, the Royal College of Nursing’s England director. “Most people wouldn’t believe that only one paediatric intensive care unit across the whole UK has enough staff to function properly, but this is the reality of the workforce crisis. Key roles in specialist nursing teams are lying vacant for years.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 23 January 2022- Posted
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- ICU/ ITU/ HDU
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News Article
Pilot scheme has 'changed critical care forever'
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A specialist service to transport critically ill and injured patients is being copied around England after the success of a trial in the South West. More than 700 patients have been transported since the pilot scheme began a year ago. Retrieve was set-up to transport the most seriously ill patients between intensive care units to take pressure off ambulance and hospital staff. Six other regions around England are now developing a similar service. "Everyone will have a service that looks similar to Retrieve by the end of next year which is amazing in the short period of time that we've been talking about it," said Dr Scott Grier, lead consultant for Retrieve. Dr Grier said critically unwell patients need to be transported between hospitals for various reasons, though frequently to be treated in a hospital specialising in the care they require. The service, which operates in Bristol, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, is funded by NHS England and Improvement South West and costs £3.2m a year. "It sounds expensive but it's an efficient service and every time we make a transfer we save the hospital and staff time and those hospitals can care for other people while we care for their patients on the move. "It's incredibly exciting because we have changed this area of critical care forever," added Dr Grier. Read full story Source: BBC News, 5 January 2021 -
Content Article
The campaign poster can be downloaded below and can be printed and displayed at bedsides and on notice boards.- Posted
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- Oxygen / gas / vapour
- Pandemic
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Content Article
Latest case studies: Urgent/emergency care Delayed oxygenation of neonate during resuscitation when oxygen not ‘flicked’ on Equipment falling onto critically ill patients during intrahospital transfers Misapplication of spinal collars resulting in harm from unsecured spinal injury Ensuring compatibility between defibrillators and associated defibrillator pads Ensuring pregnant women with COVID-19 symptoms access appropriate care General medicine Harm from catheterisation in patients with implanted artificial urinary sphincters Confusion between different strength preparations of alfentanil Ensuring compatibility between defibrillators and associated defibrillator pads Distinguishing between haemofilters and plasma filters to reduce mis-selection Variation in use of cardiac telemetry Ceftazidime as a 24-hour infusion Tacrolimus – risk of overdose when converting from oral to intravenous route Haloperidol prescribing for confused/agitated/delirious patients Ensuring oxygen delivery when using two step humification systems Intensive care Ventilator left in standby mode Equipment falling onto critically ill patients during intrahospital transfers Ensuring compatibility between defibrillators and associated defibrillator pads Distinguishing between haemofilters and plasma filters to reduce mis-selection Sudden patient deterioration due to secretions blocking heat and moisture exchanger filters Anaesthetic machines used as ventilators: issues with circuit set up Importance of ‘tug test’ for checking oxygen hose when transferring a patient to a portable ventilator Ensuring oxygen delivery when using two step humification systems Obstetrics and gynaecology/midwifery Harm from prescribing and administering Syntometrine when contraindicated to woman with significantly raised BP Delayed oxygenation of neonate during resuscitation when oxygen not ‘flicked’ on Unnecessary caesarean section for breech presentation if not scanned on the day HIV prophylaxis in women and new-borns Ensuring compatibility between defibrillators and associated defibrillator pads Ensuring the safe use of plastic cord clamps at caesarean section Warning on the use of ethyl chloride during fetal blood sampling Ensuring pregnant women with COVID-19 symptoms access appropriate care Risk of babies becoming unwell following move to virtual home midwifery visits Paediatrics and child health Ensuring compatibility between defibrillators and associated defibrillator pads Risk of babies becoming unwell following move to virtual home midwifery visits Unintentional perforation of oesophagus in neonates from invasive procedures Chemical burn to a neonate from use of chlorhexidine Other Ensuring compatibility between defibrillators and associated defibrillator pads Infrared temperature screening to detect COVID-19- Posted
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- Patient safety incident
- Investigation
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News Article
Trust in staffing crisis as eight ICU nurses quit in just two weeks
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Eight highly skilled intensive care (ICU) nurses have resigned from one trust in the past two weeks and more could follow, a leading nurse has warned. More resignations expected as working conditions remain unsustainable Belfast Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland has confirmed it is redeploying non-specialist nursing staff to fill the gaps in staffing on ICU wards, with experienced ICU nurses expected to provide supervision. RCN Northern Ireland director Rita Devlin said the college has heard others at the trust are ‘considering their position’. "These are highly skilled nurses who are difficult to replace and this is a very worrying situation," she said. "Nursing staff are doing everything they can to keep services going, but it is not sustainable to work under such pressure for long periods of time without a break." The resignations come just months after it was revealed that 182 nurses and 50 healthcare assistants had quit their jobs at the trust between January and July. Read full story Source: Nursing Standard, 23 November 2021- Posted
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- ICU/ ITU/ HDU
- Staff factors
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