'5 Rs to Rescue' A Cluster Trial With an Embedded Process Evaluation

INTRODUCTION 'Failure to rescue' describes the preventable death of a patient following a complication after surgery. Patients who develop complications after surgery, such as haemorrhage or infection, begin to deteriorate physiologically and become acutely unwell. This is usually identified by careful monitoring of the patient's basic 'vital signs' which include pulse rate, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, blood pressure and consciousness level. However, if physiological deterioration is not identified and treated in a timely manner, it will progress and lead to organ dysfunction and then organ failure. This will ultimately lead to cardio-respiratory arrest and the death of the patient. 'Failure to rescue' can be used as a key concept in delivering safe and effective perioperative care as well as a healthcare quality metric in general. The first African Surgical Outcomes Study (ASOS-1) showed that 'failure to rescue' is the mode of death in 19 out of 20 deaths following surgery across Africa. Hospitals in high-income countries use early warning systems to monitor patients after surgery and trigger the escalation of care for patients who are critically ill to ensure prompt treatment. However, these systems do not exist in many resource-poor African hospitals where nurse: patient ratios can be as high as 1:35 and limit capacity-to-rescue within the system. Furthermore, in many African hospitals early warning systems are not used to monitor patients following surgery. These factors contribute to the higher mortality post-surgery in Africa compared to high-income countries. As patient outcomes tend to improve when enhanced monitoring increases the identification and treatment of critically ill patients, the study has co-produced a complex intervention with healthcare staff, community engagement and involvement (CEI) partners, and the Institute for Health Improvement (IHI) across four African countries (Ethiopia, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda) to improve the capacity-to-rescue. This is a multi-centre, cluster trial with a baseline assessment to evaluate the efficacy of the '5 Rs to Rescue' quality improvement intervention using a mixed-methods process evaluation of the trial intervention. The intervention focuses on improving five main areas of patient management following surgery: 1) Risk assessment, 2) Recognition of patient deterioration, 3) Response to patient deterioration, 4) Reassessment following intervention to manage deterioration, and 5) Reflection on care provided following a patient's death. The complex quality improvement (QI) intervention is known as '5 Rs to Rescue'. Ultimately, the researchers intend to conduct a large international cluster randomised trial of the '5 Rs to Rescue' intervention comparing patient important outcomes for patients undergoing major surgery between intervention and usual care hospitals. The study hopes to demonstrate that the intervention can decrease 'failure to rescue' in Africa, and improve postoperative survival.