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Objectives An effective roster system is crucial for patient safety, clinician well-being, and professional development. The aim of this project was to implement a live rota that could be easily accessed on handheld devices, outside of hospital grounds. This new system would allow real-time changes to be viewed, making the rota more accessible and reducing the likelihood of errors. Methods We sent an online questionnaire to all paediatric clinicians to explore their satisfaction levels, perceived error rates, the types of errors that occurred, and the impact on their well-being. We also invited suggestions for changes they would like to see. Working alongside our rota coordinator, we created a live version of the rota using Microsoft Excel via nhs.net SharePoint. This was shared via a link with the team. We educated the team on rota accessibility. Computer access was via NHS email account. Handheld device access was via Microsoft Excel/Office App, once signed in with NHS email. We made ourselves available to provide support during the transition. Following the implementation of the live rota, we sent an online questionnaire to paediatric clinicians to assess its impact. Results We had 30 and 17 respondents to the pre and post live rota questionnaire respectively from a variety of clinician grades. 96% of respondents felt a live rota would be beneficial. Adequate rota access improved from 20% to 88% post live rota implementation. We saw an improvement on perceived error rates. Prior to implementation, 86% of respondents reported multiple or few errors weekly. Following implementation, this improved to 29%. Graph 1 shows rota communication satisfaction increased from 6% to 94%. The team reported other benefits such as reduced levels of stress and improved work life planning with the live rota (figure 1). Conclusion The introduction of a live rota has had a positive impact on all clinicians, demonstrating how technology can help alleviate workplace stress. This technological solution is easily replicable across other Trusts in the UK. However, managing a live rota requires consistent administrative support. While our results have been positive, there is still room for improvement in terms of rota accuracy. It is pertinent to investigate the obstacles that hinder the achievement of this goal and work towards overcoming them.
Ghumran et al. (Tue,) studied this question.