An observational feasibility study of a new anaesthesia drug storage tray

Drug errors in the anaesthetic domain remains a serious cause of iatrogenic harm. To help reduce this issue, we aimed to explore the potential impact of a simple colour-coded tray to drug preparation and storage on safe drug administration during anaesthesia. Over a six-month period, a total of 30 c...

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Main Authors: Almghairbi, Dalal S., Sharp, Lisa, Griffiths, Richard, Evley, Rachel, Gupta, Shashi, Moppett, Iain K.
Format: Article
Published: Wiley 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50032/
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author Almghairbi, Dalal S.
Sharp, Lisa
Griffiths, Richard
Evley, Rachel
Gupta, Shashi
Moppett, Iain K.
author_facet Almghairbi, Dalal S.
Sharp, Lisa
Griffiths, Richard
Evley, Rachel
Gupta, Shashi
Moppett, Iain K.
author_sort Almghairbi, Dalal S.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Drug errors in the anaesthetic domain remains a serious cause of iatrogenic harm. To help reduce this issue, we aimed to explore the potential impact of a simple colour-coded tray to drug preparation and storage on safe drug administration during anaesthesia. Over a six-month period, a total of 30 cases were observed. The observations were conducted at three NHS Trusts by three different trained researchers. Ten observations involved the standard drug trays in ‘normal’ practice and 20 observations, before and after, were conducted where the new “Rainbow trays” were used. A total of 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted immediately upon completing the second observation with the involved anaesthetists. All discussions and detailed notes taken were transcribed and qualitatively analysed using line-byline coding. These codes were then synthesized into themes. Current practice using unicompartmental trays is quick, cheap, and portable but linked to potential or actual harmful errors such as syringe swaps. The Rainbow trays, seem to aid drug identification, allow for drug separation and act as a prompt to guard against drug errors. Limitations to the feasibility of use were around design and placement. The Rainbow trays were perceived as likely to reduce drug errors and improve patient safety. Additionally, there was an overall preference for this novel system at all three sites, as they were perceived to be easy to use and effective.
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spelling nottingham-500322020-05-04T19:32:08Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50032/ An observational feasibility study of a new anaesthesia drug storage tray Almghairbi, Dalal S. Sharp, Lisa Griffiths, Richard Evley, Rachel Gupta, Shashi Moppett, Iain K. Drug errors in the anaesthetic domain remains a serious cause of iatrogenic harm. To help reduce this issue, we aimed to explore the potential impact of a simple colour-coded tray to drug preparation and storage on safe drug administration during anaesthesia. Over a six-month period, a total of 30 cases were observed. The observations were conducted at three NHS Trusts by three different trained researchers. Ten observations involved the standard drug trays in ‘normal’ practice and 20 observations, before and after, were conducted where the new “Rainbow trays” were used. A total of 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted immediately upon completing the second observation with the involved anaesthetists. All discussions and detailed notes taken were transcribed and qualitatively analysed using line-byline coding. These codes were then synthesized into themes. Current practice using unicompartmental trays is quick, cheap, and portable but linked to potential or actual harmful errors such as syringe swaps. The Rainbow trays, seem to aid drug identification, allow for drug separation and act as a prompt to guard against drug errors. Limitations to the feasibility of use were around design and placement. The Rainbow trays were perceived as likely to reduce drug errors and improve patient safety. Additionally, there was an overall preference for this novel system at all three sites, as they were perceived to be easy to use and effective. Wiley 2018-02-13 Article PeerReviewed Almghairbi, Dalal S., Sharp, Lisa, Griffiths, Richard, Evley, Rachel, Gupta, Shashi and Moppett, Iain K. (2018) An observational feasibility study of a new anaesthesia drug storage tray. Anaesthesia, 73 (3). pp. 356-364. ISSN 1365-2044 Drug-checking Drug errors Drug preparation Patient safety https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/anae.14187 doi:10.1111/anae.14187 doi:10.1111/anae.14187
spellingShingle Drug-checking
Drug errors
Drug preparation
Patient safety
Almghairbi, Dalal S.
Sharp, Lisa
Griffiths, Richard
Evley, Rachel
Gupta, Shashi
Moppett, Iain K.
An observational feasibility study of a new anaesthesia drug storage tray
title An observational feasibility study of a new anaesthesia drug storage tray
title_full An observational feasibility study of a new anaesthesia drug storage tray
title_fullStr An observational feasibility study of a new anaesthesia drug storage tray
title_full_unstemmed An observational feasibility study of a new anaesthesia drug storage tray
title_short An observational feasibility study of a new anaesthesia drug storage tray
title_sort observational feasibility study of a new anaesthesia drug storage tray
topic Drug-checking
Drug errors
Drug preparation
Patient safety
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50032/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50032/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50032/