Patient Outcomes of Injuries to Nails through Internet Gathered Data (The POINTING data study)

POINTING

This work aims to develop a generic online data collection platform which could be used for the collection of any Patient Centered Outcome Measures (PCOMs) utilised in research studies or health care organisations to assess outcomes.  This project aims to develop a pilot portal to test the feasibility and acceptability of the system. Finger-tip injuries will be used as the research measures as they have a very well delineated injury classification with a frequency of presentation ideally suited to evaluation via observational study. The first phase of the study is about to begin in Leicester to ensure patient accessibility. Once this is confirmed a wider PERUKI distributed study will commence when a small amount of funding has been sourced.

childhood obesity in the ed

Childhood obesity is increasing in prevalence in the UK and carries significant long term health risks that impact on both individual children and the population at large. The RCPCH’s strategy to tackling childhood obesity includes asking all clinicians working with children to ‘make every contact count’ – including those that occur in the paediatric emergency department. This survey of Paediatric Emergency Medicine clinicians will explore attitudes to discussing and addressing childhood obesity in the Emergency Department. In identifying current approaches, opportunities and barriers this study hopes to provide evidence that can be used to develop strategies to help Emergency Departments contribute to addressing childhood obesity. This survey will collect responses from clinicians at all PERUKI sites over a 4 week period in spring/summer 2019. 

Paediatric procedural sedation practices

paediatric procedural sedation

Paediatric procedural sedation (PPS) has been practiced in EDs worldwide for several decades and is in the PEM training curriculum in the UK and Ireland. Although other countries such as Australia and Canada, via the PREDICT and PERC paediatric emergency research networks, have developed registries to evaluate ED PPS practice, no published literature exists to evaluate the different agents, doses, sedation practices and training programmes in place across PERUKI. This study therefore aims to provide this baseline information as preliminary work to developing a network-wide training resource and patient registry. This survey has two elements to inform the current status of PPS in PERUKI, and any variations in practice. The first is a site-level survey (focusing on department practices in terms of agents, policies, and impact), and the second is for individuals (focusing on identifying key training needs and opportunities). Future registry development will facilitate hypothesis generation for research on PPS in EDs, development of a support bundle to standardise PPS practices, and development of a national sedation training programme. These surveys are due for launch in the Autumn of 2019, with results available Spring 2020.

Need for recovery in Emergency Department physicians – the TIRED study

Working in EM is tough; increasingly, clinicians are becoming aware of the negative impact of fatigue on clinical effectiveness and patient safety, as well as on their own physical and psychological wellbeing. ‘Need for recovery’ (NFR) is the perceived need to recover from the physiological and psychological demands of a working day, and can be measured using an 11-point questionnaire developed in the Netherlands. This UK & Ireland wide survey of adult and paediatric EM doctors aims to determine a current baseline NFR score in our setting, and whether any variables such as demographics, grade, personal wellbeing, rota characteristics, ED type, or geographical region are associated with adverse scores. This will allow comparison against established population norms, and may facilitate development of practical recommendations for improving our working lives. This Trainees Emergency Research Network (TERN) study is being supported by PERUKI, and will launch on the 3rd June 2019, with results expected late 2019. Further information can be found at https://www.rcemlearning.co.uk/foamed/current-projects-tired/