A structured framework improves clinical patient assessment and nontechnical skills of early career emergency nurses: a pre-post study using full immersion simulation.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the new evidence-informed nursing assessment framework HIRAID (History, Identify Red flags, Assessment, Interventions, Diagnostics, reassessment and communication) on the quality of patient assessment and fundamental nontechnical skills including communication, decision making, task management and situational awareness. BACKGROUND: Assessment is a core component of nursing practice and underpins clinical decisions and the safe delivery of patient care. Yet there is no universal or validated system used to teach emergency nurses how to comprehensively assess and care for patients. DESIGN: A pre-post design was used. METHODS: The performance of thirty eight emergency nurses from five Australian hospitals was evaluated before and after undertaking education in the application of the HIRAID assessment framework. Video recordings of participant performance in immersive simulations of common presentations to the emergency department were evaluated, as well as participant documentation during the simulations. Paired parametric and nonparametric tests were used to compare changes from pre to postintervention. RESULTS: From pre to postintervention, participant performance increases were observed in the percentage of patient history elements collected, critical indicators of urgency collected and reported to medical officers, and patient reassessments performed. Participants also demonstrated improvement in each of the four nontechnical skills categories: communication, decision making, task management and situational awareness. CONCLUSION: The HIRAID assessment framework improves clinical patient assessments performed by emergency nurses and has the potential to enhance patient care. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: HIRAID should be considered for integration into clinical practice to provide nurses with a systematic approach to patient assessment and potentially improve the delivery of safe patient care.

Enhancing Pragmatic Language skills for Young children with Social communication difficulties (E-PLAYS-2) trial: study protocol for a cluster-randomised controlled trial evaluating a computerised intervention to promote communicative development and collaborative skills in young children.

BACKGROUND: A number of children experience difficulties with social communication and this has long-term deleterious effects on their mental health, social development and education. The E-PLAYS-2 study will test an intervention ('E-PLAYS') aimed at supporting such children. E-PLAYS uses a dyadic computer game to develop collaborative and communication skills. Preliminary studies by the authors show that E-PLAYS can produce improvements in children with social communication difficulties on communication test scores and observed collaborative behaviours. The study described here is a definitive trial to test the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of E-PLAYS delivered by teaching assistants in schools. METHODS: The aim of the E-PLAYS-2 trial is to establish the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of care as usual plus the E-PLAYS programme, delivered in primary schools, compared to care as usual. Cluster-randomisation will take place at school level to avoid contamination. The E-PLAYS intervention will be delivered by schools' teaching assistants. Teachers will select suitable children (ages 5-7 years old) from their schools using guidelines provided by the research team. Assessments will include blinded language measures and observations (conducted by the research team), non-blinded teacher-reported measures of peer relations and classroom behaviour and parent-reported use of resources and quality of life. A process evaluation will also include interviews with parents, children and teaching assistants, observations of intervention delivery and a survey of care as usual. The primary analysis will compare pragmatic language scores for children who received the E-PLAYS intervention versus those who did not at 40 weeks post-randomisation. Secondary analyses will assess cost-effectiveness and a mixed methods process evaluation will provide richer data on the delivery of E-PLAYS. DISCUSSION: The aim of this study is to undertake a final, definitive test of the effectiveness of E-PLAYS when delivered by teaching assistants within schools. The use of technology in game form is a novel approach in an area where there are currently few available interventions. Should E-PLAYS prove to be effective at the end of this trial, we believe it is likely to be welcomed by schools, parents and children. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN 17561417, registration date 19th December 2022. PROTOCOL VERSION: v1.1 19th June 2023.

The impact of HIRAID on emergency nurses' self-efficacy, anxiety and perceived control: A simulated study.

INTRODUCTION: Emergency nurses must perform accurate and complete comprehensive patient assessments to establish patient treatment needs and expedite care. AIM: To evaluate the impact of a structured approach to emergency nursing assessment following triage, on novice emergency nurses' anxiety, self-efficacy and perceptions of control. METHODS: Thirty eight early career emergency nurses from five Australian hospitals performed an initial patient assessment in an immersive clinical simulated scenario, before and after undertaking training in HIRAID, an evidence-informed patient assessment framework for emergency nurses. Immediately following each scenario the nurses completed a questionnaire scoring anxiety, self-efficacy and perceptions of control levels. Paired sample t-tests and effect sizes were calculated. RESULTS: Participant anxiety levels were lower after HIRAID training compared to before undertaking the training (Mean (SD) = 53.26 (10.76) vs 47.46 (9.96), P = 0.002). Self-efficacy levels in assessment performance increased (189.32 (66.48) vs 214.06 (51.35), P = 0.001). There was no change in perceptions of control (31.24 (7.38) vs 30.98 (8.38), P = 0.829). DISCUSSION: High levels of anxiety and low levels of self-efficacy are known to be negatively correlated with clinical reasoning skills and performance. CONCLUSION: The effect of HIRAID training on reducing anxiety and increasing self-efficacy has the potential to improve emergency nurses' assessment performance and the quality and safety of patient care.

HIRAID: An evidence-informed emergency nursing assessment framework.

INTRODUCTION: Emergency nurses must be highly skilled at performing accurate and comprehensive patient assessments. In 2008, the inaugural emergency nursing assessment framework (ENAF) was devised at Sydney Nursing School, to provide emergency nurses with a systematic approach to initial patient assessment. In 2014 the assessment framework was re-developed to reflect the most recent evidence. AIM: To describe the process and evidence used to re-develop ENAF, to provide ED nurses with an evidence-informed approach to the comprehensive assessment of patients presenting to ED after triage, so that it may be implemented and tested in the clinical (simulated) setting. METHODS: A thorough literature review was conducted to inform the re-development of ENAF. Literature review findings were reviewed and ENAF was re-developed by a panel of expert emergency nursing clinicians using the Delphi Technique. RESULTS: Modifications to ENAF were undertaken and a new, more comprehensive assessment framework was developed titled 'HIRAID'. HIRAID is informed by current evidence, comprising of seven assessment components: History; Identify Red flags; Assessment; Interventions; Diagnostics; reassessment and communication. CONCLUSION: HIRAID provides an evidence-informed systematic approach to initial patient assessment performed by emergency nurses after triage. Evaluation is now needed to determine its impact on clinician performance and patient safety.

A comparison of emergency triage scales in triaging poisoned patients.

BACKGROUND: Triage of toxicology patients presents a challenge due to their complexity, underlying psychosocial issues, and additional pharmacological considerations. Two emergency department triage systems used in Australia, the Australasian Triage Scale (ATS) and the Manchester Triage System (MTS), were compared in triaging patients presenting with poisoning and envenoming. METHODS: In this simulation-based study, 30 triage nurses from three hospitals were given 8 tabletop scenarios and asked to provide a triage category. 20 nurses from two hospitals using the ATS, and 10 nurses from a third hospital using the MTS, triaged 8 scenarios, grouped into "commonly encountered" (n=4) and "rarely encountered" (n=4). Triage systems and scenario groups were compared for median triage category and variance in scoring. Triage nurses also noted if they would seek help from toxicology services or the poisons information centre (PIC) for advice. RESULTS: Overall, MTS nurses triaged all 8 scenarios with a lower acuity triage category, though statistically significant for only 3 scenarios. ATS nurses scored higher acuity triage category in all 4 "rare" highly toxic presentations, whereas MTS nurses scored higher acuity when vital signs were abnormal. MTS showed wider variance in triage scores in both scenario groups when compared to the ATS. Triage nurses without access to local toxicology services chose to contact PIC in most cases. CONCLUSIONS: When compared to the ATS, MTS gave a lower acuity triage score for all common and rarely encountered poisoning scenario groups, which included highly toxic ingestions that appear well at triage but may progress to severe poisoning. Triage nurses should refer to information on highly toxic exposures and envenomation guidelines during their triage risk assessment.