NELA eNewsletter - 24th Edition November 2015
National Emergency Laparotomy Audit
Patient Data Collection
As we are now less than two weeks away from the end of November and the end of year 2 patient data collection. We would like to once again reiterate the importance of completing and locking all cases on the web tool that were entered during the second year of the audit. Our second Patient Report will focus on procedures that took place from December 2014 until the last day of November 2015 and we are giving hospitals until Friday the 15th of January 2016 to ensure that all these cases are locked and exportable by the Project Team.
There are currently over 6,100 unlocked Year 2 cases on the web tool, cases that at this time would not be eligible for inclusion in the audit. Hours of hard work have gone into collecting and entering patient data for these cases and so it's extremely important for us that this work does not go to waste.
We're therefore asking you to, over the next few weeks, please go through your hospital's incomplete cases so as to complete and lock as many of them as possible. Many of you will also have patient cases that are eligible for inclusion but have not yet been entered on the web tool; it is imperative that these are also included and completed as soon as possible so that you have time to lock them before the mid-January deadline.
Additionally please keep in mind that as we begin the process of chasing down and completing the last of the incomplete cases on the web tool, the 1st of December 2015 also marks the beginning of the third year of the patient audit. Remember that NELA is an ongoing audit and that the data collection process is scheduled to continue as usual going into 2016.
Updated RAG Table and Patient Leaflets
An updated copy of the RAG table found in Appendix 2 of the Patient Report is now available. The RAG table is in excel format, meaning that it's now easier than ever to see how your site performed in the key process measures during Year 1 of the Patient Audit and how your exact numbers compare to those of your fellow audit participants. For a copy of the RAG table please see the Reports page on the NELA website, here.
Several weeks ago, in our continual effort to share good practice among all the audit participants, we asked for your assistance in putting together a resource of examples of 'Patient Leaflets', specifically those relating to patients who have undergone emergency laparotomy. We would like to thank those who have already responded.
If your hospital has an emergency laparotomy patient leaflet in use and you are happy for it to be shared on our website with your fellow NELA hospitals we ask that you please send it into the audit helpdesk. Anything you feel could be useful to a hospital looking to create a patient leaflet we would love to see. This will hopefully result more hospitals being able to offer patients information on the procedure they are about to undergo.
NELA Sponsored Trainee Poster Prize at the ASGBI International Surgical Congress
We are delighted to announce that NELA and the ASGBI will be awarding a Trainee prize at the 2016 International Congress taking place in Belfast. This will be for the best submission using your hospital's NELA data; particularly favoured will be those which bring about an improvement in care. Adjudication will be by the Association's Scientific Committee with input from NELA, and the paper will be presented during the 'Short Papers of Distinction' session.
The intention is that this prize will encourage trainees to get involved in driving improvements in the delivery of care to patients undergoing emergency laparotomy. It also has the added benefit of helping trainees understand the difference between audit and quality improvement and show evidence of active participation in a Quality Improvement project. The criteria for a successful poster will be judged on, whether it demonstrates use of local NELA data, whether it uses established QI methodology, has multidisciplinary involvement and whether it demonstrates an improvement in care, which could be improvements in process or outcome.
The closing date for abstract submissions is midnight on Monday 4th January 2016 and a cash prize will be awarded to the winner. For more information on and to submit an Abstract please see the news item on the NELA website, here.
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:
• Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) Recent Advances in Anaesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Management
2-4 December 2015, Birmingham
Mike Grocott (NELA Chair) Speaking
• Society of Anaesthesia of Southwest Region (SASWR) Meeting
3-4 December 2015, Bath
Nick Lees (NELA Clinical Reference Group member) 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
• Dec 2015: 3rd year of data collection for patient audit commences
Contact info:
If you have any questions or would like to contact the project team email - info@nela.org.uk
