Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 31, 2025

Design to Implementation Study for Development and Patient Validation of Paper-Based Toehold Switch Diagnostics
Published on: June 17, 2022
Identifying avoidable switchboard delays in England's NHS hospitals: phase one of the national SWITCH project
R Ghelani1, E Maclean2, M Adra1
1The Royal London Hospital (Barts Health NHS trust), Whitechapel Rd, Whitechapel, London E1 1FR.
Background:
Inter-hospital communication frequently requires mediation via a switchboard. Identifying and eliminating switchboard inefficiencies may improve patient care.
Methods:
All 175 acute hospital switchboards in England were contacted six times. Call contents and duration were recorded. No clinician calls or bleeps were connected.
Results:
The mean delay before contacting a switchboard operative was 55±46 seconds. 115 hospitals (66%) used automated switchboards; 34 of these (30%) had infection control messages. Robot operators introduced an additional 40 second delay versus humans (mean 70.3±28 versus 29.8±23 seconds, p<0.0001). Multivariate analysis identified robot operators (HR 5.1, p<0.0001) and infection control messages (HR 2.9, p=0.003) as predictors of delays over 60 seconds.
Conclusions:
There are significant avoidable delays in contacting switchboard operatives across England. Quality improvement is underway.
More Related Videos
07:31Implementation of a Real-Time Psychosis Risk Detection and Alerting System Based on Electronic Health Records using CogStack
Published on: May 15, 2020
09:52Setting Up a Stroke Team Algorithm and Conducting Simulation-based Training in the Emergency Department - A Practical Guide
Published on: January 15, 2017
Related Concept Videos
Nursing Clinical Information System
A Nursing Clinical Information System (NCIS) is a specialized type of healthcare information system tailored to meet the unique needs of nursing practice. It incorporates the principles of nursing informatics to streamline information management and improve the quality of care delivery.
Critical attributes of NCIS include:
Planning Nursing Care I
SBAR I: Understanding the Concept
Standardized methods of communication have been developed to ensure that information is...
Secondary Healthcare System
Bus Impedance Matrix
In the first circuit, all machine voltage sources are short-circuited, leaving only the prefault voltage source at the fault location. The positive-sequence bus impedance matrix can be determined by solving the nodal equations,...
Pilot and Numeric Relaying