Welcome to the Right Decision Service (RDS) newsletter for August 2024.
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.
The following toolkits are now live;
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.
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.
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
| Please report any inaccuracies or issues with this guideline using our online form |
EDD should be calculated from the first scan ≥ 11+ 2 weeks gestational age (≥ 45mm).
If the initial scan is performed < 11+2 weeks gestation, the patient should have a return appointment at approximately 12-13 weeks gestation to perform optimal dating +/- NT measurements.
(Refer to Screening / Non-screening Pathways)
Upper and lower limbs must be assessed as well as cranial anatomy
Recommended criteria for measurement of CRL for pregnancy dating (UKNSC, 2015):
| CRL | DETAIL TO BE DEMONSTRATED |
| MIDLINE SECTION |
|
| POSITION |
|
| MAGNIFICATION |
|
| CALIPER PLACEMENT |
|
| IMAGE ARCHIVING |
|
The HC should be calculated using the recommended values of Altman and Chitty as per BMUS recommendations.
Technique for calculation of HC:
A cross-sectional view of the fetal head at the level of the ventricles should be obtained. The image should have the midline echo lying as close as possible to the horizontal plane.
The following landmarks should be identified and the image frozen:
If HC measurements cannot be made then EDD should be calculated using the femur length (FL)
Technique for calculation of FL:
The image should be obtained with the femur lying as close as possible to the horizontal plane. The full length of the bone should be visualised with soft tissue visible at both ends. Calipers should be placed at the centre of the ‘U’-shape at each end of the bone.
After 25 completed weeks the patient will be classed as ‘LATE BOOKER'.
All three measurement parameters [HC, AC and FL] should be obtained.
An EDD will be calculated from the HC measurement and entered on Badgernet. On the ultrasound report page type in comments ‘EDD based on HC >25 weeks GA’ and create a LATE BOOKER alert.
If there is discrepancy in the sizes between the fetuses, the EDD should be calculated from the largest fetus, using the criteria above.
Gestational age may be assessed from measurements of the mean sac diameter (MSD). This is calculated from the maximal diameters of the gestation sac (in mm) in the longitudinal and transverse views on transvaginal scan. The Mean gestation sac volume should be calculated where a transvaginal examination is declined using the full bladder technique.
An EDD should only be generated once a live embryo or fetus has been identified measuring ≥ 45mm.
