Aim: 50% reduction in cardiac arrests in Wishaw General Hospital’s AMU by June 2016 by improving the recognition of, and response to, hypoxic patients. Cardiac arrests are often preceded by 8-12 hours of physiological deterioration, detectable by measurement of patients’ vital signs. NCEPOD’s 2012 report, “A Time to Intervene” found deficiencies in pre-arrest care, including failure to recognise deterioration and failure to intervene. Wishaw’s AMU (or ECU) is a pilot site for reducing cardiac arrests, as part of NHS Lanarkshire’s patient safety collaborative. Outcome measure = cardiac arrest rate. Process measures = Reliability of clinical observations (obs), recognition of hypoxia and structured response to hypoxia.
