Alhmoud, Baneen;
Bonicci, Timothy;
Patel, Riyaz;
Melley, Daniel;
Hicks, Louise;
Banerjee, Amitava;
(2023)
Implementation of a digital early warning score (NEWS2) in a cardiac specialist and general hospital settings in the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study.
BMJ Open Quality
, 12
(1)
, Article e001986. 10.1136/bmjoq-2022-001986.
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Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate implementation of digital National Early Warning Score 2 (NEWS2) in a cardiac care setting and a general hospital setting in the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN: Thematic analysis of qualitative semistructured interviews using the non-adoption, abandonment, scale-up, spread, sustainability framework with purposefully sampled nurses and managers, as well as online surveys from March to December 2021. SETTINGS: Specialist cardiac hospital (St Bartholomew's Hospital) and general teaching hospital (University College London Hospital, UCLH). PARTICIPANTS: Eleven nurses and managers from cardiology, cardiac surgery, oncology and intensive care wards (St Bartholomew's) and medical, haematology and intensive care wards (UCLH) were interviewed and 67 were surveyed online. RESULTS: Three main themes emerged: (1) implementing NEWS2 challenges and supports; (2) value of NEWS2 to alarm, escalate and during the pandemic; and (3) digitalisation: electronic health record (EHR) integration and automation. The value of NEWS2 was partly positive in escalation, yet there were concerns by nurses who undervalued NEWS2 particularly in cardiac care. Challenges, like clinicians' behaviours, lack of resources and training and the perception of NEWS2 value, limit the success of this implementation. Changes in guidelines in the pandemic have led to overlooking NEWS2. EHR integration and automated monitoring are improvement solutions that are not fully employed yet. CONCLUSION: Whether in specialist or general medical settings, the health professionals implementing early warning score in healthcare face cultural and system-related challenges to adopting NEWS2 and digital solutions. The validity of NEWS2 in specialised settings and complex conditions is not yet apparent and requires comprehensive validation. EHR integration and automation are powerful tools to facilitate NEWS2 if its principles are reviewed and rectified, and resources and training are accessible. Further examination of implementation from the cultural and automation domains is needed.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Implementation of a digital early warning score (NEWS2) in a cardiac specialist and general hospital settings in the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1136/bmjoq-2022-001986 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2022-001986 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | attitude of health personnel, clinical decision-making, implementation science, nurses, qualitative research, Humans, COVID-19, Early Warning Score, Pandemics, Hospitals, General, Delivery of Health Care |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Health Informatics |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10166846 |
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