Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
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Recognising and Responding to Clinical Deterioration

Recognising and Responding to Clinical Deterioration LogoEnsuring that patients who deteriorate receive appropriate and timely care is a key safety and quality challenge. All patients should receive comprehensive care irrespective of their location in the hospital or the time of day. Even though a range of systems have been introduced locally to better manage clinical deterioration, this area needs to remain a priority while patients continue to experience preventable adverse events because their deterioration is not identified or managed properly.

A Background Paper (PDF 96 KB) on the topic is available for download.

The 7th Annual International Conference on Rapid Response Systems and Medical Emergency Teams is being held in Sydney on 7-9 May 2012 and is the largest international conference in its field. The 2012 conference will encompass issues associated with recognising clinical deterioration, clinical deterioration and organisational systems to support recognition and response system.

Visit the conference website for more information regarding the event and submission of abstracts.

About The Program

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care has commenced a new program of work with the goal of improving the recognition of and response to clinical deterioration in hospitals and other acute care facilities. The main initiatives in this program to support work at a national level include the development of:
  1. a nationally agreed consensus statement regarding the essential elements for recognising and responding to clinical deterioration.

  2. An implementation and action guide to support the consensus statement and provide information about how the elements within it can be put into practice for all patients across all acute settings.

  3. an evidence-based adult general observation chart that will incorporate features to support the identification of patients who are deteriorating, and prompt action to properly manage these patients.

There are a number of other activities that will be conducted as part of this program and include:
  • Working with a team of researchers to study the prevalence of clinical deterioration in a multi-centre study.

  • Convening a national workshop with the Clinical Excellence Commission to showcase solutions to the problem of recognising and responding to clinical deterioration.

  • Facilitating an interest group of researchers and practitioners interested in issues concerned with the recognition of and response to paediatric patients who deteriorate.

  • Exploring the development of clinical judgment and expertise in recognising clinical deterioration.

  • Undertaking surveys of systems and practices for recognising and responding to clinical deterioration.

The Program Summary Brochure (PDF 156 KB) is available for download.

National Consensus Statement

Australian Health Ministers have endorsed the National Consensus Statement: Essential Elements for Recognising and Responding to Clinical Deterioration, as the national approach for recognising and responding to clinical deterioration in Australian acute care facilities.

Survey of Recognition and Response Systems in Australia

A survey of Recognition and Response Systems in Australia was undertaken by the Commission in 2010 as part of it's national Recognising and Responding to Critical Deterioration Program, view the summary of findings


Program Newsletter

Download newsletters from the Recognising and Responding to Clinical Deterioration program page

Program Events

See information on current and past program events on Recognising and Responding to Clinical Deterioration program events page.

Related Links


Contact

Dr Nicola Dunbar, Program Manager
(02) 9126 3600
Email: mail@safetyandquality.gov.au


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