Rethinking Observations in Mental Health

Vital Signs Clinical Trial

Official title:

Rethinking Observations in Mental Health

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT05013411
• Other study ID #: 295362
• Status: Recruiting
• Start date: October 15, 2021
• Est. completion date: December 31, 2022

Study information

• Verified date: October 2021
• Source: Oxehealth Limited
• Contact: Varsha Gandhi
• Phone: 01865900599
• Email: vgandhi[@]oxehealth.com
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Observational

Clinical Trial Summary

To gain healthcare workers' perception of the current observations practices used in patient care and explore the benefits of using technology to enhance observations in inpatient mental health setting in the United Kingdom.

Description:

Periodic intermittent clinical observations are commonly used in mental health services at admission for risk assessment and then for the clinical management of patients.

Nurses follow these practices as routine care to ensure patient well-being. However, being observed may make patients feel uncomfortable and anxious.

The Department of Health (2006) stipulated for the practice of observation to be implemented in a manner that would enable patients to experience it as a healing and compassionate practice. This is apparently not always realised as there are reported differences on how patients are observed, and clinical data obtained.

Whilst this may be attributed in part to lack of or limited training on the use of observations, it can also in part be attributed to lack of a standardised approach to implementation and documentation of the outcomes of observations (Stewart & Bowers 2012).This contributes to variability among healthcare workers in their interpretation of the outcomes/data of observations. Given that patients' care pathways are influenced by the outcomes/data of observations, it is critical to reduce the variability in the use of this practice. Doing so would lead to obtaining consistent and dependable data that reflect patients' mental state to guide their individual care pathways.

The focus of this qualitative study is to document how clinicians perform routine patient observations, the essential aspects of observations through a clinician's point of view and how can application of modern technology aid this process. This systematic documentation will capture the strengths and limitations of current practice creating a service provide based dataset to inform focused improvements.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 20
• Est. completion date: December 31, 2022
• Est. primary completion date: October 30, 2022
• Gender: All
• Age group: N/A and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthcare workers such as nurse directors, matrons, ward managers, nurses, healthcare support workers, including; nurse associates, nurse assistants and assistant practioners who work in inpatient mental health settings

• Healthcare workers with at least two years' experience of working in inpatient mental settings

• Healthcare workers who conduct or have conducted patient observations, and have used it for at least two years

Exclusion Criteria:

Students and clinicians in training who do not carry out independent patient observations.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Vital Signs

Intervention

Other:
• Qualitative study
Individual interviews and focus groups will be conducted to explore current strengthens and barriers in obtaining patient observations. Views on use of technology in assisting with patient observations will also be discussed and documented.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United Kingdom	Ade Odunlade	London

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Oxehealth Limited	Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United Kingdom, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Strengthens and Limitations of current practice of clinical observations	Exploratory method, conducted in the form of individual and focus groups to document strengthens and barriers to current ways of obtaining clinical observations in in patient mental health setting.(qualitative method)	Day 1 of participation, during a one-off interview/focus group
Secondary	Views on use of technology in obtaining patient observations	Exploratory method to gain healthcare workers' perspective on using modern technology such as a contact free patient monitoring system to aid the practice of patient observations through individual interviews and focus groups.	Day 1 of participation, during a one-off interview/focus group