News

Wednesday 13 January 2010

Powys Health Board computerises recording of bed sore incidents and treatment

Powys Teaching Healthcare Board (THB) is using DatixWeb incident management software to record and report on incidents of pressure sores across its hospital wards and community nursing teams.

Staff are recording and monitoring details on pressure damage, as well as alerting the clinical teams as to what action to take. Since starting to use the system, Powys claims that it has been able to improve the care for patients at risk of pressure damage and enable the appropriate treatment advice to be provided in days instead of weeks.

Resident nurses in hospitals and the community now use Datix to note patients with bed sores, (ranked 1- 4 in severity). The THB also has three specialist Tissue Viability Nurses (TVNs), who advise on wound care and help patients to avoid pressure sores and ulcers.

As soon as an incident is reported in the system, the TVN is notified who then advises semi-specialised nurses, called Link Nurses, on the correct dressings and treatment. Additional details to prevent and treat pressure sores, including recommended types of mattress and which dressings to use, are also now recorded in Datix.

According to Cathie Holmes, Datix Manager at Powys, “Previously we had a paper-based system, which meant it could be weeks before the TVNs received the relevant information. They also had little patient information or details of where the paper report had been sent from, so it was difficult to track trends or the source of wounds. After using Datix during our initial trials, we saw an immediate improvement.

"Now the system is used for pressure sores across the whole of Powys, including all hospitals and community nursing. As we record more data, we can look at trends to determine whether the sores start in hospitals, care homes or a patient’s own home. The metrics have already been invaluable in identifying patterns in the causes of wounds. We are also able to provide proactive advice on dressing and care, preventing incidents from becoming critical.”

By including a field of origin for the incident, the team tracks the patient’s care from home to district hospital and can identify at what point the sore developed. This has helped the Powys team to understand the reasons for the wounds, caused by factors such as lack of training or under staffing. The work the team has achieved won an award in 2009 from Wound UK Magazine for its successful results.

Jonathan Hazan, Chief Executive of Datix said, “We applaud Powys for using Datix in this innovative and proactive way. By recording bed sores and recommending treatment in Datix, the Powys nursing teams are able to respond quickly to make early interventions and recommendations therefore making a big difference to patients’ wellbeing and recovery.

"Capturing information early and automating processes using Datix software has enabled the clinical teams to operate more efficiently over a large geographic area. Datix has enabled trends to be tracked, preventing similar situations in the future and ultimately benefiting patients.”

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