CSDS Senior Research Fellow Kirsty McLeod showcased her team’s work at the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare in Melbourne last October, hosted by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI).
Kirsty presented an ePoster titled “A nursing tool to improve the flow and safety of patients receiving a lumbar puncture”, co-authored by Veronica Percival and Nicole Gavin from Cancer Care Services, and Shaune Gifford from the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Service.
Her presentation explored the team’s redesign of an assessment tool to support Oncology staff in caring for patients receiving a lumbar puncture. Lumbar punctures are used to diagnose and treat blood cancers, but patients can also experience severe headaches, bleeding, pain, neurological changes, and infection as a result.
Nurses must effectively assess and monitor the patient’s condition, recognise and manage potential complications, and provide education and advocacy to effectively care for these patients. To help nurses manage this complex process, the team designed a fit-for-purpose tool called the “Lumbar Puncture (LP) Diagnostic/Therapeutic Nursing Assessment Tool”.
The tool was co-designed with stakeholders from nursing, medicine, and pharmacy to ensure that all steps, needs, and considerations were integrated. The tool was also designed to align with healthcare standards and usability principles. The final product was assessed for clarity, consistency, effort required, flow, flexibility, legibility, and value.
The finalised version of this tool is now being implemented in the Oncology Day Therapy Unit to assess its usability and impact within the clinical environment. Watch this space!
Do you have ideas or requests for improving healthcare through training, collaboration and innovation? Reach out to the CSDS team via the CSDS Idea and Request Form.
