Improving the clinical monitoring of extrapyramidal symptoms: a local quality improvement project

Extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS) can cause significant morbidity and impact negatively on patients' quality of life. Clinical guidelines provide recommendations regarding screening frequency and the use of structured tools to ensure adequate monitoring of EPS. Despite this, the literature indicates that the documentation and monitoring of EPS remain suboptimal.

To devise an intervention that would lead to the improvement in the documentation and hence monitoring of EPS.

An initial paper chart survey was conducted to assess the current extent of documentation and monitoring of EPS carried out in patient files of three distinct settings in our Mental Health Service (MHS): inpatient, rehabilitation, and assertive outreach. An intervention aimed at improving practice was subsequently designed and implemented. This involved adoption by the MHS of a new EPS monitoring tool and delivery of an educational session regarding its use. The extent of documentation and monitoring of EPS was re-surveyed post-intervention.

Initially, only 14.8% of inpatient records contained evidence of EPS documentation while no evidence at all was found across the other two MHS settings. Following the intervention, there was evidence of guideline concordant EPS monitoring using a structured tool in the clinical records of 75% of inpatients, 79.6% in the rehabilitation setting, and 18% in the assertive outreach programme.

Documentation of EPS monitoring improved significantly across several settings affiliated with a Dublin North City MHS following the systematic adoption of the Extrapyramidal Symptom Scale (EPSS) and clinician education regarding its use.