ArticleBMJ open2021
Sustainment of a patient flow intervention in an intensive care unit in a regional hospital in Australia: a mixed-method, 5-year follow-up study.
Article in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Improving cross-learning in clinical teams using daily on-site reflective meetings.Frontiers in health services · 2025Article
- Experience of learning from everyday work in daily safety huddles-a multi-method study.BMC health services research · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveIn 2014, an escalation plan and morning handover meetings were implemented in an intensive care unit (ICU) to reduce access block for post-operative care. In this study, the improvement intervention is revisited 5 years on with the objective to see if the changes are sustained and to understand factors contributing to sustainability.
designA mixed-method approach was used, with quantitative analysis of ICU administrative data and qualitative analysis of interviews with hospital management and ICU staff.
settingICU with mixed surgical and non-surgical cases in a regional hospital in Australia.
participantsInterview participants: ICU nurses (four), ICU doctors (four) and hospital management (four).
main outcome measuresMonthly number of elective surgeries were cancelled due to unavailability of ICU beds. Staff perceptions of the interventions and factors contributed to sustainability.
resultsAfter a decline in elective surgeries being cancelled in the first year after the intervention, there was an increase in cancellations in the following years (χ
conclusionImprovement interventions in healthcare that appear initially to be successful are not necessarily sustained over time, as was the case in this study. In healthcare, there is no such thing as a 'fix and forget' solution for interventions. Management commitment to support communication within and between microsystems, and to support healthcare staff understanding of the underlying reasons for intervention, are important implications for change and change management across healthcare systems.
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Registered trials
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