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Naturentfremdung
(2018)
Objectives: To measure and assess the economic impact of adherence to a single quality indicator (QI) regarding weaning from invasive ventilation.
Design: Retrospective observational single-centre study, based on electronic medical and administrative records.
Setting: Intensive care unit (ICU) of a German university hospital, reference centre for acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Participants: Records of 3063 consecutive mechanically ventilated patients admitted to the ICU between 2012 and 2017 were extracted, of whom 583 were eligible adults for further analysis. Patients’ weaning protocols were evaluated for daily adherence to quality standards until ICU discharge. Patients with <65% compliance were assigned to the low adherence group (LAG), patients with ≥65% to the high adherence group (HAG).
Primary and secondary outcome measures: Economic healthcare costs, clinical outcomes and patients’ characteristics.
Results: The LAG consisted of 378 patients with a median negative economic results of −€3969, HAG of 205 (−€1030), respectively (p<0.001). Median duration of ventilation was 476 (248; 769) hours in the LAG and 389 (247; 608) hours in the HAG (p<0.001). Length of stay (LOS) in the LAG on ICU was 21 (12; 35) days and 16 (11; 25) days in the HAG (p<0.001). LOS in the hospital was 36 (22; 61) days in the LAG, and within the HAG, respectively, 26 (18; 48) days (p=0.001).
Conclusions: High adherence to this single QI is associated with better clinical outcome and improved economic returns. Therefore, the results support the adherence to QI. However, the examined QI does not influence economic outcome as the decisive factor.
Introduction Postoperative delirium (POD) is seen in approximately 15% of elderly patients and is related to poorer outcomes. In 2017, the Federal Joint Committee (Gemeinsamer Bundesausschuss) introduced a ‘quality contract’ (QC) as a new instrument to improve healthcare in Germany. One of the four areas for improvement of in-patient care is the ‘Prevention of POD in the care of elderly patients’ (QC-POD), as a means to reduce the risk of developing POD and its complications.
The Institute for Quality Assurance and Transparency in Health Care identified gaps in the in-patient care of elderly patients related to the prevention, screening and treatment of POD, as required by consensus-based and evidence-based delirium guidelines. This paper introduces the QC-POD protocol, which aims to implement these guidelines into the clinical routine. There is an urgent need for well-structured, standardised and interdisciplinary pathways that enable the reliable screening and treatment of POD. Along with effective preventive measures, these concepts have a considerable potential to improve the care of elderly patients.
Methods and analysis The QC-POD study is a non-randomised, pre–post, monocentric, prospective trial with an interventional concept following a baseline control period. The QC-POD trial was initiated on 1 April 2020 between Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the German health insurance company BARMER and will end on 30 June 2023. Inclusion criteria: patients 70 years of age or older that are scheduled for a surgical procedure requiring anaesthesia and insurance with the QC partner (BARMER). Exclusion criteria included patients with a language barrier, moribund patients and those unwilling or unable to provide informed consent. The QC-POD protocol provides perioperative intervention at least two times per day, with delirium screening and non-pharmacological preventive measures.
Ethics and dissemination This protocol was approved by the ethics committee of the Charité-Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany (EA1/054/20). The results will be published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal and presented at national and international conferences.
A brief questionnaire for measuring alarm fatigue in nurses and physicians in intensive care units
(2023)
When exposed to hundreds of medical device alarms per day, intensive care unit (ICU) staff can develop “alarm fatigue” (i.e., desensitisation to alarms). However, no standardised way of quantifying alarm fatigue exists. We aimed to develop a brief questionnaire for measuring alarm fatigue in nurses and physicians. After developing a list of initial items based on a literature review, we conducted 15 cognitive interviews with the target group (13 nurses and two physicians) to ensure that the items are face valid and comprehensible. We then asked 32 experts on alarm fatigue to judge whether the items are suited for measuring alarm fatigue. The resulting 27 items were sent to nurses and physicians from 15 ICUs of a large German hospital. We used exploratory factor analysis to further reduce the number of items and to identify scales. A total of 585 submissions from 707 participants could be analysed (of which 14% were physicians and 64% were nurses). The simple structure of a two-factor model was achieved within three rounds. The final questionnaire (called Charité Alarm Fatigue Questionnaire; CAFQa) consists of nine items along two scales (i.e., the “alarm stress scale” and the “alarm coping scale”). The CAFQa is a brief questionnaire that allows clinical alarm researchers to quantify the alarm fatigue of nurses and physicians. It should not take more than five minutes to administer.