Shift working tops the list of problems hospital doctors encounter in delivering good patient care, a Hospitaldr.co.uk survey reveals.
78% of the 409 respondents believe that miscommunication during multiple shift handovers is causing difficulties, and the overwhelming majority felt that better structured handovers and smoother shift transitions would improve care.
The survey - by GS1 UK and Hospitaldr.co.uk - reveals that 54% of hospital doctors believe that removing the 48-hour week would help.
Other barriers to good care include nursing shortages (according to 70% of the doctors who responded), a target driven culture (74%) and inadequately trained staff (61%).
In a damning indictment, only 7% of doctors believe that revalidation would improve patient safety in their hospital.
The survey suggests that technological advance could play an important role in making doctors more efficient. 35% of hospital doctors say they’re unable to locate key patient information at least once a day. And 12% feel they rarely have enough time to check patients’ medical records thoroughly before treating them.
When asked about which technological innovations would be of the greatest benefit in helping them perform their roles more effectively, the top three suggestions from hospital doctors were: access to real-time electronic patient records; access to real-time views of stock levels of medical supplies and medicine; and bar-coded wrist bands to accurately identify patients and provide essential care records.
Real-time electronic patient records were cited by 78% of doctors as a development which would help them perform more effectively.
Gary Lynch, chief executive of GS1 UK, said: “As the new government defines its policy for health service provision, some of the key priorities relate to increasing efficiency and shifting towards measuring the outcome of a patient’s treatment rather than the number of cases handled.
“The feedback from hospital doctors is that patient care would improve and medical staff would be able to work more efficiently with greater access and sharing of information electronically.”
Read a blog on the survey.
Results at-a-glance:
Which of the following do you think are responsible for causing problems with patient care?
Miscommunication in multiple shift handovers 78%
Target driven culture 74%
Nursing shortages 70%
Staff not having enough time to thoroughly check patient records before assessing patients 61%
Inadequately trained or experienced clinical staff 61%
Reliance on locums 54%
Shortage of equipment or supplies 26%
What do you think would most contribute to improving patient safety in your hospital?
Better structured handovers 69%
Less targets 61%
Removal of 48-hour working week restrictions 54%
Increased middle and senior grade cover out-of-hours 52%
A unified, multidisciplinary patient record 49%
Improved reporting of clinical errors 45%
Revalidation 7%
More targets 1%
