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A day in the life of...
Page 5
...The SOS 600 Bleep Team
WHEN the SOS (Sick or Scoring) 600 bleep was
launched in July 2011, the SOS team members
hoped that the response from medical and nursing staff
would be robust but this innovative new service has
exceeded all expectations.
The SOS 600 Bleep
initiative marks a fantastic
contribution towards improving
care for acutely unwell patients.
Chris Cunniff, Communications
Officer, investigates the
background to the service and
the members of the team that
are providing such an effective
and efficient 24 hour service.
The SOS 600 bleep is a mechanism
for ward staff to alert appropriately
skilled staff to a patient causing
concern. The 600 SOS bleep
provides a 24/7 single point
of contact for staff concerned
about a deteriorating patient and
who would like assistance at the
bedside. By recognising patients
early who are deteriorating,
measures can be put in place
earlier to help turn their problems
round.
The provision of this innovative
hospital service combines the
skills of 12 members of staff from
two important clinical teams;
the Critical Care Outreach Team
and the Acute Response Team
(ART). The SOS service is simply an
extension of these staff members
day to day working lives, with both
teams already working closely
with clinical staff across the Trust.
Louise Kippax-Davis, Critical
Care Outreach Lead, said: “In our
Recipe of the month
by
Anne Levin
first month we saw in excess of
80 referrals from nursing and
medical staff to assist with the
care of patients causing concern.
This has risen steadily with us
seeing in excess of 200 patients
in December 2011, with an
overwhelming majority of calls
being good calls requiring patient
assessment.”
Dr Rob Thompson, Medical Lead
for Outreach and Consultant in
Intensive Care, said: “It is vitally
important that deteriorating
patients are identified as soon as
possible. They can then get the
treatment they need at the earliest
opportunity to give them the
best chance of a good outcome.
For any rapid response system
to succeed it relies on the ward
staff to embrace the service. Initial
signs are really encouraging and I
am confident that the service can
make a substantial difference for
our patients.”
For the SOS initiative to work, the
ward nurses and medical staff
need confidence in recognising a
patient at risk, an understanding of
the SOS Graded response role and
engaging with it in a timely way.
Louise Wills, Nurse Practitioner
with the Acute Response Team,
said: “There is strong evidence
to suggest that confidence is
growing. This is very exciting and if
it continues will help pave the way
for further improvements.
She added: “What makes the
service unique is that it utilises
both Critical Care Outreach and
the Acute Response Team in
providing a seamless 24 hour
service.
“The teams, although distinctly
different, share the remit of
providing ‘rapid bedside response’
to patients causing concern. This
has led to a significant increase in
our calls out of hours. These calls
highlight the most vulnerable
patients and staff are responding
in a tremendous way.
“The whole service is also
strengthened by face to face
handovers between Outreach
and ART ensuring continuity and
support does not stop at the end
of shifts.”
From January 2012, the SOS Team
will be awarding an ‘SOS Call of
the Month’ certificate to the ward
that generates the timeliest call,
Chinese Beef and Peppers
Ingredients:
• 1 kg thin rump steak cut into strips
• oil for frying
• 2 medium onions chopped
• 3 or 4 peppers cut into slivers
• 3/4 cup of sherry
• 3/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 heaped tablespoons corn flour
• packet of bean sprouts
• 3 cloves of garlic
Method:
1 Fry the steak until slightly
brown and add the garlic.
Add half of the sherry and
half of the soy sauce to the
steak and cook for about 5
minutes.
2 Add 1 heaped tablespoon
of corn flour mixed with a
little water and mix through.
Remove from pan and put
to one side.
Louise Wills, Louise Kippax-Davies and Dr Rob Thompson.
3 In a separate pan fry
the chopped onions
and peppers. Add the
remaining sherry and
soy sauce and corn flour
and season to taste.
4 When cooked, add to
the steak and heat
through, adding the
bean sprouts just
before serving.
5 Serve with rice and enjoy!
resulting in a significant decision,
which improved the patient
outcome.
Louise Kippax-Davis, added: The
‘SOS Call of the Month’ certificate
is a way of improving the use of
the service whilst recognising
and thanking staff for their
involvement in helping to make
this service a success.
“The most positive outcome for us
is that ward staff have embraced
the service and see us in many
places as extensions of their ward
teams. There couldn’t be a more
rewarding endorsement of what
we’re trying to achieve, than
winning the confidence and trust
of the staff and improving the
quality and safety of our patient
care.”
Both teams providing the SOS
service stress that their role is not
to replace the parent medical
teams but to support them in
assessment, early treatment and
decision making.