PE R IOPE RAT IVE PRACT ICE
the risk assessment tool. In addition, the risk assessment will be incorporated into the existing pre-operative checklist, which will be further trialled to ensure its prominence is appropriate. Patient leaflets are also planned to be revised to inform patients of goals for managing their warmth before, during surgery and in recovery.
There will also be an on-line learning package devised for in-house staff. Link personnel in operating theatres complete the package of change, to keep a close eye on the quality improvement and to ensure that it becomes a normalised element of every surgical care pathway.
Small Steps Award
The hard work which went into the quality improvement initiative was rewarded by winning the Small Steps Award from OneTogether and it is hoped that the motivation of the team at Gloucestershire Hospitals Trust feel after their win will encourage others to engage with quality improvement work to benefit all of their patients.
During 2020 and possibly most of 2021, many surgical team members will have been redeployed to help with the COVID-19 pandemic and infection prevention specialist teams have also been stretched and working on new and challenging patient care. However, the fight against surgical site infections continues and there will be a Small Steps Award given by OneTogether experts in 2021. It will be awarded at the conference which is to be held in November in Birmingham.
Conclusion
Now is the time to review whether the changes made by your team can be summarised and an application made for the Award. If you have undertaken steps to improve the care of patients undergoing surgery, to reduce the risk of SSI, you are encouraged to apply. Further information will be available on the application process and on the conference from the OneTogether website in May 2021.
The Conference is an excellent opportunity for teams and individuals to focus on surgical site infection and to learn from others what they have achieved to reduce this largely preventable infection. It is free to attend and, in the past, has brought together hundreds of
Figure 1: Process map
clinicians. New resources which have been developed will be available to every delegate on incision management which covers wound closure, and comprehensive information on wound management pre-, intra and post- operatively.
(NICE) (2008; updated 2016) Hypothermia: prevention and management in adults having surgery (CG65) Accessed at
https://www.nice.org.uk/ guidance/cg65
CSJ
References 1 Department of Health England 2007 High Impact Intervention No4. Care bundle to prevent Surgical site Infection. Accessed at
http://mrsaactionuk.net/pdfs/ SSI%20Care%20Bundle.pdf
2 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
The incidence of perioperative hypothermia dropped by 20%. Documentation of intraoperative temperature increased from 43% to 95%.
MARCH 2021
3 Quality, Service Improvement and redesign Tools. Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycles and the model for improvement. Accessed at:
improvement.nhs.uk/ documents/2142/plan-do-study-act.pdf
4 OneTogether Perioperative Warming Quality Improvement Resource. How should you measure core temperature 4.1 cited in NICE Guidelines (2008 updated 2016) The management of Inadvertent perioperative hypothermia in adults. Accessed at
www.onetogether.
org.uk/resources
5 Ibid 6 NICE Preoperative tests for elective surgery NG 45. 2016 American Society of Anaesthesiologists. Physical Status Classification system. Accessed at
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng45/documents/ preoperative-tests-update-final-scope2
7 Ibid
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