Martha's Rule in a Paediatric ED: A pre- and post-implementation Survey

Martha's Rule is a patient safety initiative introduced in the NHS which provides patients and families with a way to seek an urgent review if they or their loved one's condition deteriorates. This study aimed to capture staff opinions regarding the effect of the policy on staff workload and department flow.

Pre- and post-implementation questionnaires were circulated to CED senior staff members by e-mail.

In the pre-implementation questionnaire (17 responses, 50% response rate), all senior staff surveyed believed the change would increase clinician workload and 88% believed it would negatively impact patient flow. At 6-months post-implementation, 87% of senior staff surveyed (15 responses, 44% response rate) believed that the change had not increased clinician workload or negatively impacted patient flow.

These early results suggest that perceived worries about the impact of implementation of Martha's rule on workload and patient flow in the CED setting may not be seen in practice.