Implementation Evaluation of an Early Notification Care Bundle for Patients with Hip Fracture (eHIP).

INTRODUCTION: Hip fracture in older adults results in significant mortality and is one of the costliest fall-related injuries. The Australian Commission for Quality and Safety in Health Care hip fracture clinical care standards consolidate the best available evidence for managing this patient group; however, uptake is variable. The aim of this study was to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of a multidisciplinary early activation mechanism and bundle of care (eHIP) on patient and health service outcomes. METHODS: This controlled pre- and post-test study was conducted from June 2019-June 2021 at a large regional hospital in Australia. We hypothesised that eHIP would result in at least 50% of hip fracture patients receiving six or more components of the ACSQHC Hip Fracture Clinical Care Standard. Secondary outcomes include hospital-acquired complication rates and acute treatment costs. RESULTS: There were 565 cases included for analysis. After implementation of eHIP (the post-period), 88% of patients received a correct activation of the eHIP pathway, sustained over 12 months. The proportion of patients receiving the primary outcome of six or more components increased from 36% to 49%. Care at presentation (pain and cognitive assessment) increased by 23%, and unrestricted mobilisation within 24 h improved by 10%. Prescription of appropriate analgesia improved 10-fold (5.2-57%), and patients receiving the gold standard fascia iliaca block increased from 68% to 88%. Acute treatment costs did not significantly change. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: eHIP, a hip fracture care program incorporating evidence-based behaviour change theory, resulted in sustained improvements to patient care as recommended by the ACSQHC Hip Fracture Clinical Care Standard.

Increasing accuracy in documentation through the application of a structured emergency nursing framework: A multisite quasi-experimental study.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To determine if the use of an emergency nursing framework improves the accuracy of clinical documentation. BACKGROUND: Accurate clinical documentation is a nursing professional responsibility essential for high-quality and safe patient care. The use of the emergency nursing framework "HIRAID" (History, Identify Red flags, Assessment, Interventions, Diagnostics, reassessment and communication) improves emergency nursing care by reducing treatment delays and improving escalation of clinical deterioration. The effect of HIRAID on the accuracy of nursing documentation is unknown. DESIGN: A quasi-experimental pre-post study was conducted and the report was guided by the strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology (STROBE) checklist. METHODS: HIRAID was implemented in four regional/rural Australian emergency departments (ED) using a range of behaviour change strategies. The blinded electronic healthcare records of 120 patients with a presenting problem of shortness of breath, abdominal pain or fever were reviewed. Quantity measures of completeness and qualitative measures of completeness and linguistic correctness of documentation adapted from the D-Catch tool were used to assess accuracy. Differences between pre-post groups were analysed using Wilcoxon rank-sum and two-sample t-tests for continuous variables. Pearson's Chi-square and Fisher exact tests were used for the categorical data. RESULTS: The number of records containing the essential assessment components of emergency care increased significantly from pre- to post-implementation of HIRAID. This overall improvement was demonstrated in both paediatric and adult populations and for all presentation types. Both the quantitative and qualitative measures of documentation on patient history and physical assessment findings improved significantly. CONCLUSION: Use of HIRAID improves the accuracy of clinical documentation of the patient history and physical assessment in both adult and paediatric populations. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The emergency nursing framework "HIRAID" is recommended for use in clinical practice to increase the documentation accuracy performed by emergency nurses.

Development of an Early Activation Hip Fracture Care Bundle and Implementation Strategy to Improve Adherence to the National Hip Fracture Clinical Care Standard.

OBJECTIVE: To develop and implement a multidisciplinary early activation mechanism and bundle of care (eHIP) to improve adherence to ACSQHC standards in a regional trauma centre. METHODS: Barriers to implementation were categorised using the Theoretical Domains Framework, then linked to specific strategies guided by the Behaviour Change Wheel and Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy (BCTT). The resulting implementation strategies were assessed using Affordable, Practical, Effective, Acceptable, had Side-effects (APEASE) criteria. RESULTS: Eighty-three barriers to implementation of the hip fracture care bundle were identified. The behaviour change wheel process resulted in the identification of 41 techniques to address these barriers. The predominant mechanisms to achieve this were development and implementation of 1) formal policy that outlines eHIP roles; 2) video promotion; 3) pager group; 4) fascia iliaca block enabling; 5) eMR modifications; 6) face-to-face reinforcement and modelling; 7) communication and prompts; 8) environmental restructuring. CONCLUSION: We applied behaviour change theory through a pragmatic evidence-based process. This resulted in a codesigned strategy to overcome staff and organisational barriers to the implementation of a multidisciplinary early activation mechanism and bundle of care (eHIP). Future work will include evaluation of the uptake and clinical impact of the care bundle.