Improving antibiotic administration in acute admission settings

Improving antibiotic administration in acute admission settings featured image
Advancing Quality (AQ) is a North West initiative supporting improvement in the clinical care of our patients, reducing variation and saving lives, keeping in line with current research and NICE guidelines.

One of clinical focus groups, pneumonia looks to measure Antibiotic Administration within 4 hours of hospital arrival. As part of the improvement group we asked:
  • How do we improve our antibiotic administration when we have a four hour target in ED?
  • How do we improve our antibiotic administration when our doctors and nurses are too busy to have a face to face conversation about patient’s treatment?
  • How do we improve our antibiotic administration when we have moved from hand written medication prescriptions to an electronic pharmacy system?
The answer needed to be simple and cost effective - RED STAT CARDS.

These A4 RED laminated cards placed standing in portrait with the patients notes are a FAB highly visible prompt for nurses. Our nurses and doctors love them as it supports communication in areas where they are the busiest in the hospital.

Our data suggests an improvement: 66.7% in October 2015 before introduction, 75.2% in February four months after introduction. This has achieved sustainability with 74.6% in July. Having an increase of almost 10% is a win we celebrate, but we strive to aim for 100%.
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