ThTP5.5 The Emergency laparotomy – “scans, tubes and scalpels”. A report from the UK’s first collaborative National Emergency Laparotomy Audit (NELA) training meeting

Background & Aims

Time-critical emergency laparotomies are routinely performed nationally. These complex patients often require multi-disciplinary discussion of pre-operative imaging and intra-operative and post-operative status. NELA is designed to improve patient outcomes, encouraging regular audit and quality improvement.

We report the outcomes of the UK’s first collaborative NELA training meeting from a Major Trauma Centre in London

This unique meeting aimed to:

Methods

Three complex laparotomy patients were discussed using case-based discussions involving General Surgery, Anaesthetics and Radiology and involving imaging, intra-operative photographs and anaesthetic information. Pre- and post-meeting participant questionnaires were disseminated for comparative analysis.

Results

39 attended the evening (50% radiologists, 25% surgeons, 25% anaesthetists); two thirds’ trainees. 100% attendee satisfaction rate was recorded. 46% of attendees were not aware of NELA prior to the meeting.

Post meeting, 95% of attendees were confident in their understanding of the NELA process. There was a 25% increase in the knowledge of NELA reporting outcome measures (to 95%) and 90% correctly named the specialities involved.

96% of attendees reported interest in attending a subsequent meeting.

Conclusion

Complex emergency patients require expert cross-specialty input to drive improvements in patient outcomes. We believe this to be the first multidisciplinary NELA education meeting. Improvement in attendee understanding demonstrates the success of shared learning via case-based discussion to improve patient care. We aim to continue local meetings with aspirations to future national events.