Aim
By providing a standardised safe approach to patient intubation in EDs, SSIP aims to increase patient safety by reducing cognitive load on treating clinicians and increasing team work and communication.
Outcomes
- standardisation of approach for intubation.
- shared mental model leading to decreased cognitive load.
- reduction in adverse events.
- increased confidence in the process of intubation.
- improved patient safety
Background
ED Staff Specialist Dr Jacob O’Gorman, introduced and intubation package to Gladstone Hospital ED, having used similar resources in the retrieval setting.
Despite improvements in many metropolitan EDs and retrieval services increasing safety of intubation with use of standardised equipment, drugs, process and checklists, there appears to be scope to introduce similar improvements to other sites including regional and rural hospitals.
While not exclusively targeting smaller sites, the SSIP initiative particularly lends itself to rural and regional departments which face the additional challenges of:
- medical staff with varying levels of experience with the intubation process (including a reliance on locum doctors and General Practitioners).
- lack of medical staff, resulting in doctors having to perform multiple roles while simultaneously resuscitating a patient and directing the set-up for intubation.
- the intubation package was adopted and further developed by PROV-ED to be offered to facilities across the state.
