The effect of multi-professional education on the recognition and outcome of patients at risk on general wards

Aim

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of multi-professional full-scale simulation-based education of staff on the mortality and staff awareness of patients at risk on general wards.

Design, settings and patients

A prospective before-and-after study conducted on four general wards at Herlev Hospital, Denmark. In the pre-intervention period (June–July 2006) and post-intervention period (November–December 2007), all patients on the wards had vital signs measured in the evening by study personnel, who also asked nursing staff questions about patients with abnormal vital signs. The mortality of patients with abnormal vital signs was registered from the hospital database. Simplified medical emergency team calling criteria were used to define abnormal vital signs.

Intervention

In the intervention period (February–June 2007), 50% of medical and 70% of nursing staff on the wards (app. 220 members of staff) were trained in a 1-day multi-professional full-scale simulation-based course.

Results

In the pre- and post-intervention periods, 690 and 873 patients were included and of these 129 and 155, respectively, had abnormal vital signs. No significant differences were observed between the pre- and post-intervention periods concerning the incidence of patients with abnormal vital signs (p = 0.64), staff awareness of patients at risk (p = 0.80), 30-day mortality (p = 1.00), 180-day mortality (p = 1.00) or length of hospital stay (p = 0.11) among patients at risk.

Conclusions

This multi-professional education of staff did not affect the rate of mortality or staff awareness of patients at risk on the wards.