2008 Best use of IM&T to promote patient safety

Winner

National Services Scotland

The Emergency Care Summary: a summary of patient information available 24/7

The Emergency Care Summary (ECS) system is a national patient safety project which aims to improve the safety, quality and outcome of consultations for patients who need treatment or advice when their own GP practice is closed. The summary is designed to provide a practical, accurate summary of key medical information for clinicians treating patients in unscheduled situations. The service is available round the clock to out-of-hours centres, accident and emergency departments and NHS24. The project was launched nationally in 2006 and represents one of the best advances in IM&T in Scotland. Early evaluation has shown that the Emergency Care Summary is of benefit to clinicians and patients in enhancing care and patient safety in unscheduled and emergency care.

Finalists

VitalPAC - University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust

The VitalPAC project has introduced an electronic form of the traditional paper observation chart which alerts staff automatically when a patient's condition deteriorates. The technology from TLC (The Learning Clinic) alerts staff when observations of vital signs need to be taken and can tell straight away whether patients are getting sicker. This enables critical care staff to intervene and prevent patients deteriorating to the point where they need to transfer to intensive care. The trust tested and piloted the system on one ward before implementing it into other areas in March. Initial findings show that VitalPAC is working well and making a huge difference for patients.

Using IT to reduce medication errors - Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

Pharmacists at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust collaborated with a company in developing a closed loop system to reduce the problem of medication errors. The system comprises electronic prescribing, automated ward-based dispensing, barcode patient identification and electronic medication administration records. Results have been encouraging. Prescribing errors were identified in 3.8% of 2450 medication orders before the new system and 2.0% of 2353 orders afterwards. Medication administration errors occurred in 7.0% of 1473 non-intravenous doses pre-intervention and 4.3% of 1139 afterwards. Patient identity was not checked for 82.6% of 1344 doses pre-intervention and 18.9% of 1291 afterwards.