Short/Rapid Fire Oral Presentation ANZTS Trauma 2024 Conference

Implementing best practice neurobehavioural management of patients presenting with disorders of consciousness (21575)

Emma Murton 1 , Kiara Tatt 1 , Samantha Ioannidis 1
  1. The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, VIC, Australia

The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) is a major provider of care to the acquired brain injury population, including patients presenting with disorders of consciousness (DoC). Despite RMH having a long history of caring for patients with DoC, neurobehavioural management practices were felt to be inconsistent and lacking a strong evidence base. A passionate multidisciplinary project team was formed with the aims of optimising DoC management and optimising multidisciplinary clinicians’ knowledge, confidence and skill in this area. Surveys were completed by RMH allied health and nursing staff to evaluate existing levels of knowledge and confidence related to managing the DoC population. A targeted literature review was performed to identify the best available evidence and benchmarking with hospitals in Australia and the U.K. was completed to capture current clinical practices. The results of the literature review were combined with the benchmarking data to develop an RMH clinical guideline and sensory stimulation booklet, which was consumer-reviewed by family members of patients presenting with DoC. The resources were rolled out as part of staff education sessions in August 2023. From pre- to post-implementation, there was a 27% increase in staff reporting ‘always’ or ‘very often’ providing best practice DoC management, with complete resolution of staff stating they ‘never’ or ‘rarely’ provide this. A file audit will be completed to assess guideline compliance with preliminary data appearing positive. Further results, conclusions and valuable learnings will be available for presentation at the conference.