Implementation of a combined Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Treatment Escalation Plan document in a District General Hospital

Documentation of appropriate escalation of treatment was identified as a problem for junior doctors and Critical Care Outreach Nurses at Musgrove Park Hospital. An audit of resuscitation and escalation documentation of all wards found that of the patients who were not for Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (and therefore not for full escalation of care), 78.4% had no documentation of the appropriate level of escalation of treatment should they deteriorate. The majority of junior doctors had experienced cases where they felt that inappropriate treatment had been given, where no escalation plan was documented. Using several Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycles, drawing tools used in other trusts and departments, and the views of clinicians, we developed a treatment escalation plan (TEP) tool, to be included in the resuscitation form. This included consideration of referral to critical care, ward based non-invasive ventilation, and appropriate use of intravenous or oral antibiotics. This then prompted the responsible clinician to consider and document appropriate escalation of treatment. The CPR-TEP form was trialed using a quasi-experiment design allowing the aim to be tested using two groups - intervention and control. All patients in the intervention group were not for CPR and therefore had their TEP-CPR form filled in fully (n=68). The control group consisted of patients who were not for CPR but who did not have a TEP form filled in (n=36). The appropriateness of OOH (out of hours) treatment in those patients who experienced clinical deterioration was judged by questionnaire-based feedback from the in-hours team the following morning. Levels of inappropriate treatment between the two groups were compared to test the aim. At the end of the study period, questionnaire feedback indicated that 11.1% of patients in the group with the new CPR-TEP document had received inappropriate OOH care compared to 44.4% of patients in the group without the document. Using the TEP alongside resuscitation documentation prompts the responsible clinician to consistently consider and document the appropriate escalation of care for their patient, improving communication with the out of hours team and appropriate escalation of care in the event of patient deterioration.