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Announcements and latest updates

Welcome to the Right Decision Service (RDS) newsletter for August 2024.

  1. Contingency planning for RDS outages

Following the recent RDS outages, Tactuum and the RDS team have been reviewing the learning from these incidents. We are committed to doing all we can to ensure a positive outcome by strengthening the RDS to make it fully robust and clinically resilient for the future.

We would like to invite you to a webinar on 26th September 3-4 pm on national and local contingency planning for future RDS outages.  Tactuum and the RDS team will speak about our business continuity plans and the national contingency arrangements we are putting in place. This will also be a space to share local contingency plans, ideas and existing good practice. We would also like to gather your views on who we should send communications to in the event of future outages.

I have sent a meeting request for this date to all editors – please accept or decline to indicate attendance, and please forward on to relevant contacts. You can also contact Olivia.graham@nhs.scot directly to register your interest in participating.

 

2.National  IV fluid prescribing  calculator

This UK CA marked calculator is now live at https://righdecisions.scot.nhs.uk/ivfluids  . It has been developed by a multiprofessional steering group of leads in IV fluids management, as part of the wider Modernising Patient Pathways Programme within the Centre for Sustainable Delivery.  It aims to address a known cause of clinical error in hospital settings, and we hope it will be especially useful to the new junior doctors who started in August.

Please do spread the word about this new calculator and get in touch with any questions.

 

  1. New toolkits

The following toolkits are now live;

  1. Updated guidance on current and future Medical Device Regulations

We have updated and simplified this guidance within our standard operating procedures. We have clarified the guidance on how to determine whether an RDS tool is a medical device, and have provided an interactive powerpoint slideset to steer you through the process.

 

  1. Guide to six stages of RDS toolkit development

We have developed a guide to support editors and toolkit leads through the process of scoping, designing, delivering, quality assuring and implementing a new RDS toolkit.  We hope this will help in project planning and in building shared understanding of responsibilities throughout the full development process.  The guide emphasises that the project does not end with launch of the new toolkit. Implementation, communication and evaluation are ongoing activities throughout the lifetime of the toolkit.

 

  1. Training sessions for new editors (also serve as refresher sessions for existing editors) will take place on the following dates:
  • Thursday 5 September 1-2 pm
  • Wednesday 24 September 4-5 pm
  • Friday 27 September 12-1 pm

To book a place, please contact Olivia.graham@nhs.scot, providing your name, organisation, job role, and level of experience with RDS editing (none, a little, moderate, extensive.)

7 Evaluation projects

Dr Stephen Biggart from NHS Lothian has kindly shared with us the results of a recent survey of use of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh Anaesthesia toolkit. This shows that the majority of consultants are using it weekly or monthly, mainly to access clinical protocols, with a secondary purpose being education and training purposes. They tend to find information by navigating by specialty rather than keyword searching, and had some useful recommendations for future development, such as access to quick reference guidance.

We’d really appreciate you sharing any other local evaluations of RDS in this way – it all helps to build the evidence base for impact.

If you have any questions about the content of this newsletter, please contact his.decisionsupport@nhs.scot  If you would prefer not to receive future newsletters, please email Olivia.graham@nhs.scot and ask to be removed from the circulation list.

 

With kind regards

 

Right Decision Service team

Healthcare Improvement Scotland

References

Bensinger W, Schubert M, Ang KK, Brizel D, Brown E, Eilers JG, et al. NCCN Task Force Report. prevention and management of mucositis in cancer care. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2008;6 Suppl 1:S1-21; quiz S2-4.

Clarkson JE, Worthington HV, Eden TOB. Interventions for preventing oral candidiasis for patients with cancer receiving treatment. 2007 [cited 2018 Oct 03]; Available from: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD003807.pub3/epdf/standard.

Clarkson JE, Worthington HV, Furness S, McCabe M, Khalid T, Meyer S. Interventions for treating oral mucositis for patients with cancer receiving treatment. 2010 [cited 2018 Oct 03]; Available from: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD001973.pub4/epdf/standard.

Davies A, Finlay I. Oral care in advanced disease. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2005.

Davies A, Hall S. Salivary gland dysfunction (dry mouth) in patients with advanced cancer. Int J Palliat Nurs. 2011;17(10):477-82.

De Conno F, Martini C, Sbabotto A, Ripamonti C, V V. Mouth care. In: Hanks G, Cherny NI, Christakis NA, Fallon M, Kaasa S, Portenoy RK, editors. Int J Palliat Nurs. 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2010.

Furness S, Worthington HV, Bryan G, Birchenough S, McMillan R. Interventions for the management of dry mouth: topical therapies. 2011 [cited 2018 Oct 03]; Available from: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD008934.pub2/epdf/standard.

Glenny A, Fernandez Mauleffinch LM, Pavitt S, Walsh T. Interventions for the prevention and treatment of herpes simplex virus in patients being treated for cancer. 2009 [cited 2018 Oct 03]; Available from: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006706.pub2/epdf/standard.

Harris DJ, Eilers J, Harriman A, Cashavelly BJ, Maxwell C. Putting evidence into practice: evidence-based interventions for the management of oral mucositis. Clin J Oncol Nurs. 2008;12(1):141-52.

Jensen SB, Pedersen AM, Vissink A, Andersen E, Brown CG, Davies AN, et al. A systematic review of salivary gland hypofunction and xerostomia induced by cancer therapies: management strategies and economic impact. Support Care Cancer. 2010;18(8):1061-79.

Lalla RV, Latortue MC, Hong CH, Ariyawardana A, D'Amato-Palumbo S, Fischer DJ, et al. A systematic review of oral fungal infections in patients receiving cancer therapy. Support Care Cancer. 2010;18(8):985-92.

MHRA. Oral swabs with a foam head - heads may detach during use. 2014 [cited 2018 Oct 03]; Available from: https://www.gov.uk/drug-device-alerts/medical-device-alert-oral-swabs-with-a-foam-head-heads-may-detach-during-use.

NHS Health Scotland. Caring for smiles. Guide for care homes. 2013 [cited 2018 Oct 03]; Available from: http://www.knowledge.scot.nhs.uk/media/7460397/caringforsmilescarehomes2013.pdf.

NICE. Motor neurone disease: assessment and management NG42. 2016 [cited 2018 Oct 03]; Available from: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng42.

Pienaar ED, Young T, Holmes H. Interventions for the prevention and management of oropharyngeal candidiasis associated with HIV infection in adults and children. 2010 [cited 2018 Oct 03]; Available from: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD003940.pub3/epdf/standard.

Quinn B. Efficacy of a supersaturated calcium phosphate oral rinse for the prevention and treatment of oral mucositis in patients receiving high-dose cancer therapy: a review of current data. Eur J Cancer Care (Engl). 2013;22(5):564-79.

Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP). Oral health assessment and review. 2011 [cited 2018 Oct 03]; Available from: http://www.sdcep.org.uk/published-guidance/oral-health-assessment/.

Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP). Drug prescribing for dentistry. 2016 [cited 2018 Oct 03]; Available from: http://www.sdcep.org.uk/published-guidance/drug-prescribing/.

Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP). Oral health management of patients at risk of medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw. 2017 [cited 2018 Oct 03]; Available from: http://www.sdcep.org.uk/published-guidance/medication-related-osteonecrosis-of-the-jaw/.

UK Oral Mucositis in Cancer Group. Mouth care guidance and support in cancer and palliative care. 2015 [cited 2018 Oct 03]; Available from:http://www.ukomic.co.uk/guidance.html

Worthington HV, Clarkson JE, Bryan G, Furness S, Glenny A, Littlewood A, et al. Interventions for preventing oral mucositis for patients with cancer receiving treatment. 2011 [cited 2018 Oct 03]; Available from: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD000978.pub5/epdf/standard.

Worthington HV, Clarkson JE, Khalid T, Meyer S, McCabe M. Interventions for treating oral candidiasis for patients with cancer receiving treatment. 2010 [cited 2018 Oct 03]; Available from: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD001972.pub4/epdf/standard.