Proposed Topic (Most preferred): :
Clinical Safety and Quality Service I (Projects aiming to improve efficiency and effectiveness of care delivery to meet international standards)
Authors (including presenting author) :
Siu YS(1), Chan YK(1), Pang HSI(1)
Affiliation :
(1)Division of Geriatrics, Department of Medicine and Geriatrics, Ruttonjee and Tang Shiu Kin Hospitals
Introduction :
Urine multistix test is a common and routine procedure for all new admitted patients in ward. It is used to provide preliminary screening for different conditions like diabetes and urinary tract infection. It is a simple and rapid test that can be done by supporting staff. Although the test is easy, supporting staff usually encountered different issues for example no urine sample available on admission and difficult to trace back the pending test that hindered them from completing this task. Moreover, reading and documenting the result were also challenging for them.
Objectives :
To implement an improvement measure in ward to increase the compliance and efficiency of routine urine multistix test for new admitted patients.
Methodology :
A small cue card was designed to facilitate the process of the urine test. The cue card used a graphical representation which resemble the reading instruction of the multistix. Supporting staff can circle the appropriate color on the cue card directly rather than writing the value of the test which saved their interpretation time. The cue card was attached to the observation chart of the patient so that supporting staff could easily notice which patients were pending urine test.
Result & Outcome :
The cue card was piloted in March 2023. The time required for supporting staff to complete a urine test before and after implementation of the cue card was recorded and compared. For the 8 supporting staff, an average of 35.9 seconds was required to complete a urine multistix test compared with 58 seconds before implementation. A satisfaction survey was conducted to collect feedback of the measure. All supporting staff agreed that the cue card can facilitate their workflow and efficiency. A random checking was conducted to assess if urine test can be completed within 24 hours of admission. The compliance rate was 36.8% before and 70% after implementation. Our results showed that the cue card is effective in improving the compliance and efficiency of supporting staff in conducting routine urine multistix test for new admitted patients. Although the improvement measure is small, the impact to service quality and staff satisfaction can be significant.
