Reducing the time to activation of the emergency call system in operating theatres: effect of installing vertical red line indicators.

BACKGROUND: The 7th National Audit Project of the Royal College of Anaesthetists (NAP7) recommended that an emergency call system be immediately accessible in all anaesthesia locations. It is essential that all theatre team members can rapidly call for help to reduce the risk of patient harm. However, the ability of staff to activate this system in a timely manner can be affected by cluttered or unfamiliar environments and cognitive overload. One proposed strategy to enable rapid identification and activation of emergency call systems is to install a red vertical painted stripe on the wall from the ceiling to the activation button. We investigated the effect of introducing this vertical red line on activation times in operating theatres in the UK and Australia. METHODS: Operating theatre team members, including anaesthetists, surgeons, anaesthetic nurses, surgical and theatre nurses, operating theatre practitioners, and technicians, were approached without prior warning and asked to simulate activation of an emergency call. Vertical red lines were installed, and data collection repeated in the same operating theatres 4-12 months later. RESULTS: After installation of vertical red lines, the proportion of activations taking >10 s decreased from 31.9% (30/94) to 13.6% (17/125, P=0.001), and >20 s decreased from 19.1% (18/94) to 4.8% (6/125, P<0.001). The longest duration pre-installation was 120 s, and post-installation 35 s. CONCLUSIONS: This simple, safe, and inexpensive design intervention should be considered as a design standard in all operating theatres to minimise delays in calling for help.

The impact of frailty on death, discharge destination and modelling accuracy in patients receiving organ support on the intensive care unit.

Background: This study aims to identify any effect of frailty in altering the risk of death or poor outcome already associated with receipt of organ support on ICU. It also aims to assess the performance of mortality prediction models in frail patients. Methods: All admissions to a single ICU over 1-year were prospectively allocated a Clinical Frailty Score (CFS). Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the effect of frailty on death or poor outcome (death/discharge to a medical facility). Logistic regression analysis, area under the Receiver Operator Curve (AUROC) and Brier scores were used to investigate the ability of two mortality prediction models, ICNARC and APACHE II, to predict mortality in frail patients. Results: Of 849 patients, 700 (82%) patients were not frail, and 149 (18%) were frail. Frailty was associated with a stepwise increase in the odds of death or poor outcome (OR for each point rise of CFS = 1.23 ([1.03-1.47]; p = .024) and 1.32 ([1.17-1.48]; p = <.001) respectively). Renal support conferred the greatest odds of death and poor outcome, followed by respiratory support, then cardiovascular support (which increased the odds of death but not poor outcome). Frailty did not modify the odds already associated with organ support. The mortality prediction models were not modified by frailty (AUROC p = .220 and .437 respectively). Inclusion of frailty into both models improved their accuracy. Conclusions: Frailty was associated with increased odds of death and poor outcome, but did not modify the risk already associated with organ support. Inclusion of frailty improved mortality prediction models.