Monitoring During Transport

Executive Summary of the Spanish Society of Anesthesiology, Reanimation and Pain Therapy (SEDAR) Spanish Society of Emergency and Emergency Medicine (SEMES) and Spanish Society of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery (SEORL-CCC) Guideline for difficult airway management

The Airway section of the Spanish Society of Anesthesiology, Reanimation and Pain Therapy (SEDAR), Spanish Society of Emergency and Emergency Medicine (SEMES) and Spanish Society of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery (SEORL-CCC) present the Guidelines for the integral management of difficult airway in adult patients. This document provides recommendations based on current scientific evidence, theoretical-educational tools and implementation tools, mainly cognitive aids, applicable to the treatment of the airway in the field of anesthesiology, critical care, emergencies and prehospital medicine. Its principles are focused on the human factors, cognitive processes for decision-making in critical situations and optimization in the progression of the application of strategies to preserve adequate alveolar oxygenation in order to improve safety and quality of care.

Reliability and validity assessment of the Chinese version of the Intrahospital Transport Safety Scale (IHTSS) in intensive care units

BACKGROUND

Intrahospital transport of critically ill patients is a common practice in intensive care units (ICUs), where patients' safety is constantly challenged in high-intensity and dynamic environments. While Intrahospital Transport Safety Scale (IHTSS) is widely used internationally to evaluate the intrahospital transport safety, it has not been introduced in China.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the IHTSS scale among critical care nurses in China.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted using a cluster sampling method. A total of 544 critical care nurses from 25 ICUs in 10 tertiary hospitals were recruited. We employed exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine the questionnaire's underlying factor structure, ensuring construct validity. Additionally, internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient, test-retest reliability, and corrected item-total correlation.

RESULTS

The Chinese version of the scale displayed robust psychometric properties, with a Cronbach's α coefficient of 0.976, a split-half reliability of 0.906, and a test-retest reliability of 0.856. EFA revealed a robust four-factor model that accounted for 75.970% of the variance, with the factor loadings of the items ranging from 0.433 to 0.951. CFA indicated a strong model fit, with a chi-square to degrees of freedom ratio (CMIN/DF) of 2.765, comparative fit index (CFI) of 0.943, incremental fit index (IFI) of 0.943, and goodness-of-fit index (GFI) of 0.845, supporting the efficacy of the four-factor model in assessing intrahospital transport safety for critically ill patients.

CONCLUSION

The Chinese version of the IHTSS demonstrated favourable reliability and validity among critical care nurses in China, making it a suitable tool for measuring the level of intrahospital transport safety for critically ill patients.

Spanish Society of Anesthesiology, Reanimation and Pain Therapy (SEDAR) Spanish Society of Emergency and Emergency Medicine (SEMES) and Spanish Society of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery (SEORL-CCC) Guideline for difficult airway management. Part II

The Airway Management section of the Spanish Society of Anesthesiology, Resuscitation, and Pain Therapy (SEDAR), the Spanish Society of Emergency Medicine (SEMES), and the Spanish Society of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery (SEORL-CCC) present the Guide for the comprehensive management of difficult airway in adult patients. Its principles are focused on the human factor, cognitive processes for decision-making in critical situations, and optimization in the progression of strategies application to preserve adequate alveolar oxygenation in order to enhance safety and the quality of care. The document provides evidence-based recommendations, theoretical-educational tools, and implementation tools, mainly cognitive aids, applicable to airway management in the fields of anesthesiology, critical care, emergencies, and prehospital medicine. For this purpose, an extensive literature search was conducted following PRISMA-R guidelines and was analyzed using the GRADE methodology. Recommendations were formulated according to the GRADE methodology. Recommendations for sections with low-quality evidence were based on expert opinion through consensus reached via a Delphi questionnaire.

Experiences of rural nurses with emergency patient transport in a resource limited setting

BACKGROUND

Registered nurses are primary care providers during most patient transfers from rural areas. Various local conditions and circumstances impact the provision of nursing care prior to and during transportation. These include clinic staffing, uneven access to functioning equipment and other necessary infrastructure across settings, the wide-ranging clinical need for specialty care, and complex social and interpersonal circumstances that play a role in care-seeking and transport decision-making. This study explored the experiences of nurses with emergency patient transport in rural health facilities in Botswana.

METHOD

A qualitative descriptive approach was used using a semi structured interview. Twenty-six registered nurses from four remote, isolated rural health districts in Botswana participated in this study. Purposive convenience sampling technique was employed.

RESULTS

The ten main themes under transporter were infringement of scope of practice, inadequate knowledge and skills, distressful practice, restriction from making decisions, challenges with staffing, Ineffective facilities clustering, lack of support from the managers, shortage of technology and tools, non-enabling infrastructure, and transport related tasks.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The perceived ineffective emergency transfer of patients was associated with work system shortfalls. The work system needs to be balanced and consider the requirements of the various stakeholders involved in the processes for optimal performance of patient transport.

Proactive risk assessment of intrahospital transport of critically ill patients from emergency department to intensive care unit in a teaching hospital and its implications

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To explore the effects of the health failure mode and effect analysis (HFMEA) used in intrahospital transport (IHT) of critically ill patients from emergency department (ED) to the intensive care unit (ICU).

BACKGROUND

Patients who were transported from ED to ICU is highly critical. IHT of these patients is potentially risky, which may associate with adverse events (AEs). The concern of safe IHT can be addressed by performing proactive risk assessments using HFMEA and implementing the findings after the ED of our hospital being reconstructed.

DESIGN

A qualitative action research study combined with a quantitative cross-sectional method.

METHODS

According to the HFMEA method, the failure modes of IHT were identified and analysed, and the effect of alterations was verified. We built a project team, drawn up a IHT flow chart, defined steps of IHT, classified the failure modes, calculated risk priority number and analysed by the decision tree, then formulated an action plan and verified the effects of the alterations. Incidence of AEs of transport was compared before and after HFMEA.SQUIRE 2.0 checklist was chosen on reporting the study process.

RESULTS

The HFMEA outlined a total of 5 major steps and 16 sub-steps in the IHT process. From this, 64 potential failure modes were identified, with 17 modes having a RPN score higher than 8. Determined by the decision tree, there were 20 priority control failure modes, of which 16 involved 8 IHT alterations. Notable work-flow alterations included use of a three-stage hierarchical transport strategy based on patients' condition assisted by the intelligent assessment system. Incidence of AEs was significantly decreased from 19.64% to 7.14% after the implementation of HFMEA (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Application of the HFMEA in optimising IHT process can improve the safety of transportation, which is worthy of promotion. Hierarchical transport scheme can reduce the incidence of AEs in IHT of critical emergency patients, which mainly includes the integration and construction of the transport team, equipment configuration and patient information system based on the classification of patients' condition.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Nurses play a crucial role in the IHT process. HFMEA can be adopted for proactive risk assessment of critically ill patients' IHT from ED to ICU which involves multiple processes. The IHT hierarchical strategy based on the results of failure mode analysis should be more widely used to further verify its clinical effects.