182 The impact of COVID-19 on communication in theatres. (16th November 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Banfield, Danielle; Patel, Ashish; Humphreys, Alexandra; Bennett, Joanne
• Is Part Of: BMJ leader. Volume 4(2020)Supplement 1
• Page Start: A68
• Page End: A69
• Publication Date: 2020-11-16
• Subjects: Medical personnel -- Periodicals; Leadership -- Periodicals; Medicine -- Practice -- Management -- Periodicals; Health services administration -- Periodicals; 610.68
• DOI: 10.1136/leader-2020-FMLM.182
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2398-631X

Abstract

Abstract : Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation trust comprises sites in Cheltenham and Gloucester (GRH). As part of the COVID-19 response, emergency services were temporarily reconfigured to GRH. This was rapidly implemented, to maximise patient safety whilst managing high patient volumes and potentially high levels of staff sickness. In theatres, communication is critical to safe working. Much has been done in our Trust to improve theatre briefings. We aimed to assess how communication in theatres was impacted by changes made to working patterns during COVID-19. A SurveyMonkeyTM collected demographics, and Likert scale responses assessing team working, communication, briefings, and staff well-being. The survey was distributed to all surgical specialties, anaesthetic, and theatre staff. A total of 100 responses were collected over 5 weeks. The survey confirmed that COVID-19 had a significant impact on working structures. 60% of respondents worked in different teams, and 44% felt outside of their comfort zone. 72% found communication more difficult, with 92% attributing this to PPE. The majority (72%) felt briefings covered specific C-19 related issues and they could raise concerns (77%). However, only 26% of respondents felt this was true for emergency briefings. This is the focus of our initial change. We plan to improve briefings whilst re-engaging those stakeholders who were less involved during the early phase of the initial pandemic. Our high volume of emergency work means that we can implement rapid PDSA cycles following focused discussion groups. Some simple changes have already been made, including introduction of a dedicated pager for the operating general surgeon, and allocation of a CEPOD co-ordinator to attend morning handover. We plan to repeat the survey in 6 weeks. We will also conduct interviews with staff which, in addition to evaluating service improvement, will give vital information to guide ongoing refinements.