Doppler monitoring reduces hospital stay

 The technique offers the potential to deliver significant improvements in health outcomes, quality of care and productivity. The Clinical Services Journal reports.

The NHS Technology Adoption Centre (NTAC) has launched its latest online “How to Why to Guide” for Doppler guided intraoperative fluid management. This online guide provides practical and relevant information to clinicians, particularly anaesthetists, to support successful implementation of targeted fluid management in major surgery. The guide is the culmination of over two years’ work involving three clinical teams at NHS Trusts at the Whittington Hospital in London, Manchester Royal Infirmary and the Royal Derby Hospital. Despite a comprehensive evidence base, comprising of eight randomised controlled trials demonstrating significant improvements in surgical outcomes and reductions in hospital stay, uptake of this technology has been poor across the NHS. In late 2007, this technology was selected by the NHS Technology Adoption Centre as one of its first implementation projects in which it set out to understand and overcome the barriers to widespread adoption of this technique Three NHS Trusts were invited to implement this technology into routine clinical and operational practice, identifying and addressing the challenges faced during the process of adoption. Evaluation data was collected to assess the impact on clinical outcomes and the effective use of resources. Each site was subsequently able to demonstrate that encouraging research data could be replicated in routine practice showing both improved outcomes and a three day reduction in overall hospital stay.

Introduction to the Technology