NELA eNewsletter - 23rd Edition August 2015
National Emergency Laparotomy Audit
Patient Data Collection
As we are now well and truly into the second half of Year 2 of the NELA Patient Audit it's time to begin focusing heavily on case ascertainment and the collection of the data which will be used to write our next Patient Report. While we are pleased with the amount of patients being entered onto the system, it's just as important to insure that the cases being entered are also being completed and locked. Remember a patient can only be included in the audit if their case on the web tool is locked, meaning that all cases that remain incomplete on the system will go to waste.
As of this morning there are over 5,200 incomplete cases on the system for Year 2. Complete information will be available for the majority of these cases meaning they can now be locked. The longer a case remains incomplete on the web tool the harder it then becomes to track down and enter the data for it. We wholeheartedly advise you therefore to have a look at how many of your site's older cases remain incomplete on the web tool so as to begin the process of completing and locking them.
One of the most important lessons learnt from the Year 1 Patient Report is how the crucial the need for continual extensive and accurate patient data collection is. A report examining the state of emergency surgery in England and Wales can only do so if the patient information on which the analysis is based is as representative as possible, so we're relying on your continual hard work to ensure that we can succeed in our task.
First NELA Patient Report
If you have not already had the chance to do so we strongly encourage you to have a look at the First NELA Patient Report published on the 30th of June 2015. It focuses on over 20,000 patient cases submitted over an eleven month period from January to November 2014 by 191 hospitals participating in the audit. The Report breaks down key outcomes and results by region and hospital so that sites can see how they compare to other hospitals participating in the audit.
Over the next few weeks take the time to have a look at your individual site's results and to see how they compare to those of other hospitals in your region taking part in the audit. The full Report and the Executive Summary can be found under the Reports page of our website here.
NELA Sponsored Trainee Poster Prize at the AAGBI Winter Scientific Meeting
As we've already announced the NELA Project Team will be sponsoring a Trainee poster prize at the upcoming Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (ASGBI) Winter Scientific Meeting taking place from 13-15 January 2016. This is for the best poster that uses local hospital NELA data to bring about an improvement in the quality of care.
The event's organisers are now accepting abstract submissions and so we would like to draw the attention of those interested in applying to the event's submission page, here. The Project Team is greatly looking forward to viewing the submissions and seeing how NELA data is being used locally to drive quality improvement. Remember the closing date for abstract submissions is 23:59 on Monday 31 August 2015 and a cash prize will be awarded to the winner.
Upcoming Events Featuring NELA Speakers
The following events will also feature members of the NELA Project Team speaking about and answering questions on the audit:
• Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (AAGBI) Annual Congress
22-25 September 2015, Edinburgh
Dave Murray (Clinical Lead) Speaking
• Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (AAGBI) Core Topics Conference
8 October 2015, Leicester
Emma Davies (Surgical Research Fellow) Speaking
• Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) Recent Advances in Anaesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Management
2-4 December 2015, Birmingham
Mike Grocott (NELA Chair) Speaking
• Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (AAGBI) Winter Scientific Meeting
13-15 January 2016, London
Dave Murray (Clinical Lead) Speaking & NELA Trainee Prize
Additional Useful Tools on NELA Website
• Participant Manual - A compilation of all useful NELA background information and documents, the perfect introductory tool for a hospital user new to the audit
• Audit Protocol Document - Provides an outline on the structure of the audit, as well as all professional stakeholders involved
• Outlier Policy - Sets out the process by which participating hospital performance will be assessed and the process the NELA Project Team will follow to manage any hospital that is found to fall outside the expected range of performance and therefore flagged as an outlier
• Organisational Audit Action Plan - Provides an action plan to assist hospital sites in ensuring they are meeting all recommendations laid out in the NELA Organisational Report
• Set of Slides - A PowerPoint presentation focusing on the key findings of the NELA Organisational Report and how the report strongly emphasises the need for patient data to be collected and analysed
• Top Tips - List compiled of some of the most useful and effective advice that was sent into us by a number of the top performing NELA sites
• Frequently Asked Questions - Constantly updated FAQs reflect the most common and recent queries we receive from hospital staff and web tool users
• Help Box Text - Provides additional assistance for filling in each of the data collection questions and can also be found on the web tool by clicking on the 'H' button to the right of every question
• Proforma - A PDF copy of the latest Proforma, the online data collection questionnaire, that can be printed and filled out with patient information in real time, making it then easier to transfer all the information onto the online web tool
• Updated Inclusion & Exclusion Criteria
• NELA Poster & Leaflet - To publicise the audit amongst staff and patients in the hospital
• OPCS Labels - For procedure items in the NELA dataset
• Process Outcome Measures
• Organisational Audit Link to Standards
Certificate of Participation
To receive your copy of the NELA Certificate of Participation please contact your hospital's Local Administrator to request that a certificate be issued for you.
Organisational Audit Report
To download a copy of the full NELA Organisational Report as well as the Executive Summary please click here.
Sign up to receive the NELA newsletter
The NELA project team will be regularly publishing a newsletter informing those interested and/or participating in the audit on the latest developments.
If you would like to receive the newsletter for regular updates please sign up to the mailing list here.
NELA Twitter
The National Emergency Laparotomy Audit has launched its own twitter account. This will provide updates, news and links to important information on the NELA website. You can follow us @NELANews
Key dates
• Complete: Organisational audit
• Jan 2014: 1st year of data collection for patient audit commenced
• May 2014: Organisational Audit Report published
• Dec 2014: 2nd year of data collection for patient audit commences
• June 2015: First Patient Report published
Contact info:
If you have any questions or would like to contact the project team email - info@nela.org.uk
