24 Oct 07

Formula 1 racing provided important lessons about completing taks rapidly without errors

Dr Ken Catchpole, based at the Nuffield Department of Surgery, has won a place on the shortlist for ‘Research Project of the Year’ in the Times Higher Awards 2007 for his work on improving fast patient transfer.

Approximately 10% of patients are harmed each year by errors in healthcare, and Dr Catchpole’s research addresses errors caused by the ineffective handover between surgery and intensive care, which demands the fast transfer of patient, information, and equipment.

The research drew upon the expertise of other high-risk industries that routinely complete multi-disciplinary, time-pressured tasks with minimal error, including pit-stop workers at the Ferrari motor racing team and aviation safety experts, focussing on briefings and teamwork. These findings were translated to the healthcare sector, and errors made during shift and patient handovers, and the length of handover, were reduced once the transfer process was redesigned to incorporate leadership, communication, tasks, checklists, and anticipation.

Dr Catchpole said: ‘This study has broad implications for the improvement of other shift and patient handovers, which are ever more frequent in healthcare, and for the patient safety movement in general, which has advocated, but not previously demonstrated, the need to learn from other high risk industries.’

Dr Catchpole’s research was in collaboration with the Great Ormond Street Hospital, after observations in the Cardiothoracic Unit found that patient handover was a key stage in the treatment of infants after complex congenital heart surgery, and the full report was published in Paediatric Anaesthesia (May 2007). The innovative handover protocol has been distributed to healthcare centres in Europe, America, Australia, and Asia.

Oxford University has also been short-listed for another two awards: ‘Best Student Experience,’ scoring highly for the collegiate system, the tutorial system, and the high-quality teaching, and the ‘Contribution to Leadership Development’ for the University’s Academic leadership development programme. It places special emphasis on supporting women and those from minority groups.
The winners will be announced at the Awards dinner on November 29 at the Grosvenor House, Park Lane, London.