Introducing random safety audits (RSA) in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)

Area of Science:

• Medical Quality Improvement
• Clinical Practice Standards

Background:

• Random safety audits (RSA) are recognized for enhancing clinical practice.
• The Medical Practitioners Act (MPA) of 2007 mandates specific standards for clinical practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of RSAs in improving hygiene, safe prescribing, oxygen pulse oximetry monitoring, and documentation.
• To assess compliance with the MPA 2007 requirements.

Main Methods:

• Conducted 19 data collection audits over a 3-month period.
• Audited areas included hygiene, safe prescribing, oxygen pulse oximetry monitoring, and documentation.
• Data analyzed to determine compliance rates before and after interventions.

Main Results:

• Achieved 100% compliance in hygiene and safe prescribing audits.
• Significant improvement in oxygen pulse oximetry monitoring compliance, from 15% to 56%.
• Documentation compliance, specifically the use of Physician IMC registration numbers, remained low at 56%.

Conclusions:

• RSAs effectively drive improvements in hygiene and prescribing practices.
• Identified a need for enhanced education regarding oxygen monitoring guidelines.
• While awareness of documentation requirements increased, practice changes were not observed, indicating a gap between knowledge and application.