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Surgical suite to pediatric intensive care unit handover protocol: implementation process and long-term
Tracie Northway1, Gordon Krahn, Kristine Thibault
1Critical Care Unit, BC Children's Hospital and Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children, The University of British Columbia, British Columbia Canada (Mss Northway, Thibault, and Yarske, and Mr Krahn, and Drs Kissoon and Collet); Child & Family Research Institute, Vancouver, Canada (Drs Kissoon, Yuskiv, and Collet); and Department of Pediatrics, The University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada (Dr Kissoon and Collet).
Insights
A standardized transfer protocol significantly reduced patient handover defects in pediatric intensive care units long-term. This quality improvement initiative demonstrated sustained success over 24 months.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Quality Improvement
- Patient Safety
- Pediatric Critical Care
Background:
- Ineffective patient transfer protocols can lead to critical defects.
- Standardizing the transfer process is crucial for pediatric intensive care units (PICUs).
- Long-term sustainability of process improvements requires rigorous assessment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the long-term sustainability of a standardized transfer protocol.
- To assess the impact of a rapid process improvement technique on handover defects.
- To identify effective strategies for maintaining quality improvements in patient transfers.
Main Methods:
- Implementation of a standardized transfer protocol using rapid process improvement.
- Utilized video recording to identify and address handover defects.
- Long-term monitoring of defect rates at 0, 12, and 24 months postimplementation.
Main Results:
- The mean defect rate per handover decreased from 13.2 to 0.3 at 24 months.
- Sustained significant reduction in defects was observed over the 24-month period.
- Video recording facilitated staff engagement in defect resolution.
Conclusions:
- Standardized transfer protocols are sustainable and effective in reducing defects long-term.
- Continuous assessment and staff engagement are key to maintaining quality improvements.
- This strategy offers a model for enhancing patient safety in pediatric critical care settings.
Abstract:
The article reports the long-term sustainability of a standardized transfer protocol from cardiac surgical suite to the pediatric intensive care unit. Using rapid process improvement technique, the original mean defect rate per handover decreased from 13.2 to 0 and 0.3, 12, and 24 months postimplementation, respectively. This study stresses the importance of long-term assessment to control for possible observation biases; it also illustrates a successful implementation strategy that used video recording to engage staff in identifying solutions to the observed defects.
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