Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32216252›Full record

ArticleCanadian journal of surgery. Journal canadien de chirurgie2020

Turning a new “page”: ways to decrease the number of pages after hours without compromising patient care

Annette Schröder, Walid A. Farhat, Darius J. Bägli, Armando J. Lorenzo, Martin A. Koyle

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Canadian journal of surgery. Journal canadien de chirurgie, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Annette SchröderFrom the Department of Urology and Pediatric Urology, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany (Schröder); and the Department of Urology, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ont. (Farhat, Bägli, Lorenzo, Koyle).
Walid A. FarhatFrom the Department of Urology and Pediatric Urology, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany (Schröder); and the Department of Urology, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ont. (Farhat, Bägli, Lorenzo, Koyle).
Darius J. BägliFrom the Department of Urology and Pediatric Urology, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany (Schröder); and the Department of Urology, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ont. (Farhat, Bägli, Lorenzo, Koyle).
Armando J. LorenzoFrom the Department of Urology and Pediatric Urology, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany (Schröder); and the Department of Urology, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ont. (Farhat, Bägli, Lorenzo, Koyle).
Martin A. KoyleFrom the Department of Urology and Pediatric Urology, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany (Schröder); and the Department of Urology, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ont. (Farhat, Bägli, Lorenzo, Koyle).

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Pages to house staff after hours, especially overnight, lead to interrupted sleep and fatigue the next day. Although some pages are urgent, others may not need an immediate response. In this study we aimed to identify unwarranted pages and to establish ways to reduce them. Methods: Over 2 months, all pages to the Department of Pediatric Urology at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, during call hours were documented, including the assessment of the responding physicians of their medical necessity. After analyzing the reasons for inappropriate pages, we took several steps to try to reduce them without impairing patient care. One year later, pages were tracked again to evaluate the efficacy of our interventions. Results: In the initial measurement period, no calls from parents and approximately 50% of the in-hospital pages (15 of 36 pages from the wards, 27 of 49 pages from the emergency department, 17 of 31 pages requesting consultations, and 8 of 8 pages from the inhouse pharmacy and outside pharmacies) were considered medically urgent. The reasons for unwarranted pages were inconsistent parent teaching, lack of adequate triaging and prioritizing on the ward and lack of awareness of the structure of the on-call provisions among different services in the hospital. Several steps were taken to streamline the teaching of parents and nurses, standardize information, provide alternative means of communication within the hospital and restrict parents’ access by phone to the urologist on call. One year later, the number of pages had decreased by 70%. Conclusion: Although physician coverage throughout the day and night is necessary for high-quality and safe patient care, communication with on-call physicians should be only for appropriate reasons. The provision of consistent teaching and alternative communication channels can improve patient care as well as decrease the number of after-hour pages.

Indexed as

After-Hours CareEfficiency, OrganizationalHospital Communication SystemsWorkloadCanadaCommunicationFellowships and ScholarshipsHospitals, PediatricHumansInternship and ResidencyParentsPatient Education as TopicUrology

Identifiers

PMID32216252
PMCPMC7828955

What OpenQuestion holds

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Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.