Factors that influence hospital nurses' escalation of patient care in response to their early warning score: A qualitative evidence synthesis

Early warning tools and clinician 'agency' for strengthening safety culture: An integrative review

AIM

Identify and analyse literature investigating nurses' and midwives' use of early warning tools during the care of adult inpatients.

DESIGN

An integrative literature review.

METHODS

Whittemore and Knafl's (2005) framework guided this integrative review. PubMed, CINAHL, EMCARE and Google Scholar were systematically searched. The authors assessed the methodological quality of 21 papers meeting inclusion criteria and thematically analysed key data.

RESULTS

Three main themes were identified, each with further sub-themes.

CONCLUSION

Early warning tools operate within various systems and cultural contexts. However, their potential for improved patient safety may be hindered. Protocols influencing tool usage may make nurses and midwives distanced from patients and their expertise. For early warning tools to enhance patient safety, assessing their integration into practice is crucial to maximizing effectiveness.

IMPACT

This review emphasizes the importance of integrating human relationships with early warning tools for patient safety.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

This integrative literature review does not include patient or public input.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE/POLICY

Adapting early warning tools to balance standardization for safety and efficiency and promoting nurses' and midwives' expertise and autonomy is required to optimize delivery of quality care and uphold patient safety.

REPORTING METHOD

The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines were used.

Worry as Important "Feelers" in Clinical Anesthesia Practice: A Mixed-Methods Study

PURPOSE

Worry is an intuitive sense that goes beyond logical reasoning and is valuable in situations where patients' conditions are rapidly changing or when objective data may not fully capture the complexity of a patient's situation. Nurse anesthetists' subjective reasons for worry are quite vague as they are valued inconsistently and not accurately expressed. This study aimed to identify factors playing a role in the emergence of worry during anesthesia practice to clarify its concept.

DESIGN

Mixed-methods design consisting of quantitative online surveys followed by qualitative focus group interviews including Dutch nurse anesthetists.

METHODS

Both quantitative and qualitative thematic analyses were performed, followed by data and methodological triangulation to enhance the validity and credibility of findings and mitigate the presence of bias.

FINDINGS

Surveys (N = 102) were analyzed, and 14 nurse anesthetists participated in the focus group interviews. A total of 89% of the survey respondents reported that at least once have had the feeling of worry, of which 92% use worry during clinical anesthesia practice. Worry was mentioned to be a vital element during anesthesia practice that makes it possible to take precautionary actions to change the anesthetic care plan in a changing situation or patient deterioration.

CONCLUSIONS

While a clear definition of worry could not be given, it is a valuable element of anesthesia practice as it serves as a catalyst for critical thinking, problem-solving, clinical reasoning, and decision-making. Use of the feeling of worry alongside technological systems to make an informed decision is crucial. Technology has significantly improved the ability of health care providers to detect and respond to patient deterioration promptly, but it is crucial for nurse anesthetists to use their feeling of worry or intuition alongside technological systems and evidence-based practice to ensure quick assessments or judgments based on experience, knowledge, and observations in clinical practice.

Evaluating a novel, integrative dashboard for health professionals' performance in managing deteriorating patients: a quality improvement project

BACKGROUND

The quality of recording and documentation of deteriorating patient management by health professionals has been challenged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Non-adherence to escalation and documentation guidelines increases risk of serious adverse events. Electronic health record (EHR)-integrated dashboards are auditing tools of patients' status and clinicians' performance, but neither the views nor the performance of health professionals have been assessed, relating to management of deteriorating patients.

OBJECTIVE

To develop and evaluate a real-time dashboard of deteriorating patients' assessment, referral and therapy.

SETTINGS

Five academic hospitals in the largest National Health Service (NHS) trust in the UK (Barts Health NHS Trust).

INTERVENTION

The dashboard was developed from EHR data to investigate patients with National Early Warning Score (NEWS2)>5, assessment, and escalation of deteriorating patients. We adopted the Plan, Do, Study, Act model and Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence framework to evaluate the dashboard.

DESIGN

Mixed methods: (1) virtual, face-to-face, interviews and (2) retrospective descriptive EHR data analysis.

RESULTS

We interviewed three nurses (two quality and safety and one informatics specialists). Participants perceived the dashboard as a facilitator for auditing NEWS2 recording and escalation of care to improve practice; (2) there is a need for guiding clinicians and adjusting data sources and metrics to enhance the functionality and usability. Data analysis (2019-2022) showed: (1) NEWS2 recording has gradually improved (May 2021-April 2022) from 64% to 83%;(2) referral and assessment completion increased (n: 170-6800 and 23-540, respectively).

CONCLUSION

The dashboard is an effective real-time data-driven method for improving the quality of managing deteriorating patients. Integrating health systems, a wider analysis NEWS2 and escalation of care metrics, and clinicians' learning digital solutions will enhance functionality and experience to boost its value. There is a need to examine the generalisability of the dashboard through further validation and quality improvement studies.

The Impact of Mode of Birth on Childbirth-Related Post Traumatic Stress Symptoms beyond 6 Months Postpartum: An Integrative Review

(1) Background: A traumatic birth can lead to the development of childbirth-related posttraumatic stress symptoms or disorder (CB-PTS/D). Literature has identified the risk factors for developing CB-PTS/D within the first six months postpartum thoroughly. However, the impact of mode of birth on CB-PTS/D beyond 6 months postpartum is scarcely studied. (2) Methods: A systematic search of the literature was conducted in the databases PubMed, Embase and CINAHL and PRISMA guidelines were followed. Studies were included if they reported the impact of mode of birth on CB-PTS/D beyond 6 months postpartum. (3) Results: In total, 26 quantitative and 2 qualitative studies were included. In the quantitative studies the percentage of women with CB-PTS/D ranged from 0.7% to 42% (between six months and five years postpartum). Compared with vaginal birth, operative vaginal birth, and emergency caesarean section were associated with CB-PTS/D beyond 6 months postpartum. Qualitative studies revealed that some women were suffering from CB-PTS/D as long as 18 years after birth. (4) Conclusions: Long- term screening of women for PTSD in the postnatal period could be beneficial. More research is needed on models of care that help prevent CB-PTS/D, identifying women at risk and factors that maintain CB-PTS/D beyond 6 months postpartum.