A brand new project is kicking off in June, aiming to improve how Emergency Department (ED also known as A&E) staff identify people who need urgent treatment.
Currently, doctors use a tool called NEWS2 to help with these decisions, known as ‘triage’. NEWS2 asks questions about breathing, temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, and consciousness to give a score of how ill someone is.
Researchers at the University of Sheffield are gathering information to develop a new ‘toolkit’ to help ED staff identify who needs urgent treatment more effectively. This toolkit will then be tested to see if it improves emergency department management and helps ensure people receive the urgent care they need, when they need it. The researchers will
- Review existing research looking at what’s already known about initial assessment tools to see what lessons can be learned.
- Learn from ED Staff to understand what they do and identify examples of ‘good practice’ when figuring out who needs urgent treatment.
- Analyse Hospital Data from four hospitals to see if any other patient information could have helped identify those needing urgent treatment sooner.
- Gather Patient Perspectives
This is where you come in! Your experience as an Emergency Department patient could directly contribute to shaping future emergency care. The project is building a group of patients who have used the emergency department. The goal is to make sure that patient views are heard and taken into account when planning the next, larger phase of this research. Your insights as a patient are incredibly valuable!
If you would like to participate in the project please contact Katie Biggs on 0114 222 6128 or Email c.e.biggs@sheffield.ac.uk
