6201 Updating our approach to clinical communication: evaluation of in situ digital innovation facilitating routine and emergency clinical communication

Objectives In the era of digital medicine and clinical innovation, effective communication between clinical teams has never been more important,¹ and perhaps never more achievable.² At Princess Alexandra Hospital (PAH), a clinical communication software, Alertive, was deployed in 2021 to provide a secure, effective and intuitive way for clinicians to communicate. In 2023, Alertive has become the default mechanism of clinical communication within PAH and has even replaced the emergency bleep system. Within the context of clinical care, digital innovation of this nature is ambitious and forward-thinking in streamlining the workflow of the modern MDT. However, the timely communication of emergency and routine communications directly impacts patient outcomes.³ It's therefore critical that the efficacy of innovations like Alertive are routinely audited. Methods This audit reviews one month of usage data associated with the 13 roles that comprise the PAH paediatric department Alertive user base. The occupancy data was compared with confirmed rotas to understand the transitions associated with the various rolls, informing 'role occupancy scores'. These were aggregates of the observed average occupancy over 28 days and the number of days that observed occupancy is within 10% of expected occupancy. Results The data in table 1 reflects patterns in working behaviours across different grades; identifying roles that were invariably occupied and therefore accessible, as well as roles posing a risk to safety by being inadequately occupied. Conclusion Alertive being safely sustained as an effective digital clinical tool within PAH is only possible if users feel confident that the teams they're trying to reach reliably occupy their roles. Emergency bleeps being sent to predesignated, but unoccupied roles represent a plausible risk to patient safety. Five recommendations have been made to ameliorate the shortcomings and reinforce the positive behaviours identified in the audit. References 'The NHS in England at 75: priorities for the future', NHS Assembly, 2023. Guy Martin, et al. 'The impact of mobile technology on teamwork and communication in hospitals: a systematic review', 2019. Kathleen M Sutcliffe, et al.'Communication failures: an insidious contributor to medical mishaps', 2004.