1076 Staff Perceptions on Electronic Patient List Management: Introducing the General Surgery Care Teams to Improve Patient Safety
Z Hinchcliffe, N Bruggemann, O Hague, J Low, C Sohrabi, W Kenworthy, N Sengupta- Surgery
Abstract
Aim
Electronic patient lists are widely used across NHS England and commonly rely on staff manually updating lists to guide inpatient ward-rounds, creating potential for human errors. Locally, lists are extracted from Electronic Patient Record (EPR), whereby doctors are responsible for ‘coding’ patients under ‘general surgeon’ at admission. Errors in this process lead to “missed” patients, raising concerns for patient safety. This study aimed to assess staff perceptions surrounding this system to help implement the new EPR General Surgery Care Team.
Method
Perceptions were analysed using an online anonymous questionnaire, distributed via a messaging group. Questions were categorised into ‘ease of use’, ‘time-efficiency’ and ‘safety’, and assessed using a Likert Scale (1-5). Open questions screened for list-related examples of poor patient care and areas for improvement.
Results
Twelve responses were analysed: 7 (58.3%) Foundation Year 1, 4 (33.4%) Senior House Officers and 1 (8.3%) Registrar. Eleven (91.7%) responses reported the system to be inefficient and 7/12 (58.3%) difficult to use (scoring Likert 4-5). 100% believed the system disturbed patient care (Likert 3-5), describing it as “complicated”, “time-consuming” and “messy to use”. This “compromises patient safety” and “increases junior workload”. Nine (75%) responses identified specific examples where the system directly affected care, including patients “missed” from ward-rounds, delayed management, and adverse outcomes.
Conclusions
The ‘old’ list management system was complex and slow to use, directly compromising patient care. Further qualitative data is required to continue improving the General Surgery Care Team List, implemented using this feedback, to optimise patient safety.