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Improving the likelihood of neurology patients being examined using patient feedback

Appleton, Jason Philip ; Ilinca, Andreea LU orcid ; Lindgren, Arne LU ; Puschmann, Andreas LU orcid ; Hbahbih, Majed ; A Siddiqui, Khurram ; de Silva, Rajith ; Jones, Matthew ; Butterworth, Richard and Willmot, Mark , et al. (2015) In BMJ Quality Improvement Reports 4(1).
Abstract

We aimed to establish whether recall of elements of the neurological examination can be improved by use of a simple patient assessment score. In a previous study we demonstrated that in-patients referred to neurology at two United Kingdom (UK) hospitals were not fully examined prior to referral; we therefore designed a larger quality improvement report with 80% power to detect a 10% increase in tendon hammer or ophthalmoscope use following an educational intervention. In-patients referred to neurology over a four month period (in hospitals in the UK (10), Jordan (1), Sweden (2), and the United Arab Emirates (1)) were asked whether they recalled being examined with a tendon hammer (T), ophthalmoscope (O), and stethoscope (S) since... (More)

We aimed to establish whether recall of elements of the neurological examination can be improved by use of a simple patient assessment score. In a previous study we demonstrated that in-patients referred to neurology at two United Kingdom (UK) hospitals were not fully examined prior to referral; we therefore designed a larger quality improvement report with 80% power to detect a 10% increase in tendon hammer or ophthalmoscope use following an educational intervention. In-patients referred to neurology over a four month period (in hospitals in the UK (10), Jordan (1), Sweden (2), and the United Arab Emirates (1)) were asked whether they recalled being examined with a tendon hammer (T), ophthalmoscope (O), and stethoscope (S) since admission. The results were disseminated to local medical teams using various techniques (including Grand Round presentations, email, posters, discounted equipment). Data were then collected for a further four month period post-intervention. Pre-intervention and post-intervention data were available for 11 centres with 407 & 391 patients in each arm respectively. Median age of patients was 51 (range 13-100) and 49 (range 16-95) years respectively, with 44.72% and 44.76% being male in each group. 264 patients (64.86%) recalled being examined with a tendon hammer in the pre-intervention arm, which significantly improved to 298 (76.21%) (p<0.001). Only 119 patients (29.24%) recollected examination with an ophthalmoscope pre-intervention, which significantly improved to 149 (38.11%)(p=0.009). The majority of patients (321 (78.87%)) pre-intervention recalled examination with a stethoscope, which significantly improved to 330 (84.4%) to a lesser extent (p=0.045). Results indicate that most patients are not fully examined prior to neurology referral yet a simple assessment score and educational intervention can improve recall of elements of the neurological examination and thus the likelihood of patients being examined neurologically. This is the largest and - to our knowledge - only study to assess this issue. This has implications for national neurological educators.

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type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Journal Article
in
BMJ Quality Improvement Reports
volume
4
issue
1
publisher
BMJ Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • pmid:26734445
ISSN
2050-1315
DOI
10.1136/bmjquality.u209610.w4063
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
c6677d7e-6c45-49ec-9adc-bf0a9b950930
date added to LUP
2016-09-22 13:23:49
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:26:03
@article{c6677d7e-6c45-49ec-9adc-bf0a9b950930,
  abstract     = {{<p>We aimed to establish whether recall of elements of the neurological examination can be improved by use of a simple patient assessment score. In a previous study we demonstrated that in-patients referred to neurology at two United Kingdom (UK) hospitals were not fully examined prior to referral; we therefore designed a larger quality improvement report with 80% power to detect a 10% increase in tendon hammer or ophthalmoscope use following an educational intervention. In-patients referred to neurology over a four month period (in hospitals in the UK (10), Jordan (1), Sweden (2), and the United Arab Emirates (1)) were asked whether they recalled being examined with a tendon hammer (T), ophthalmoscope (O), and stethoscope (S) since admission. The results were disseminated to local medical teams using various techniques (including Grand Round presentations, email, posters, discounted equipment). Data were then collected for a further four month period post-intervention. Pre-intervention and post-intervention data were available for 11 centres with 407 &amp; 391 patients in each arm respectively. Median age of patients was 51 (range 13-100) and 49 (range 16-95) years respectively, with 44.72% and 44.76% being male in each group. 264 patients (64.86%) recalled being examined with a tendon hammer in the pre-intervention arm, which significantly improved to 298 (76.21%) (p&lt;0.001). Only 119 patients (29.24%) recollected examination with an ophthalmoscope pre-intervention, which significantly improved to 149 (38.11%)(p=0.009). The majority of patients (321 (78.87%)) pre-intervention recalled examination with a stethoscope, which significantly improved to 330 (84.4%) to a lesser extent (p=0.045). Results indicate that most patients are not fully examined prior to neurology referral yet a simple assessment score and educational intervention can improve recall of elements of the neurological examination and thus the likelihood of patients being examined neurologically. This is the largest and - to our knowledge - only study to assess this issue. This has implications for national neurological educators.</p>}},
  author       = {{Appleton, Jason Philip and Ilinca, Andreea and Lindgren, Arne and Puschmann, Andreas and Hbahbih, Majed and A Siddiqui, Khurram and de Silva, Rajith and Jones, Matthew and Butterworth, Richard and Willmot, Mark and Hayton, Tom and Lunn, Michael and Nicholl, David}},
  issn         = {{2050-1315}},
  keywords     = {{Journal Article}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{BMJ Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{BMJ Quality Improvement Reports}},
  title        = {{Improving the likelihood of neurology patients being examined using patient feedback}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjquality.u209610.w4063}},
  doi          = {{10.1136/bmjquality.u209610.w4063}},
  volume       = {{4}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}