Project stage:
Data collection
The majority of our site leads have submitted their organisational surveys and we have had a fantastic response with this and with the individual anaesthetist survey. Thank you to everyone who has been involved! Once all sites have got back to us we will start analysing the data.
Perioperative Blood Management
Launching in January 2023 this is a collaborative project between RAFT and the NIHR BTRU (Blood Transfusion Research Unit) in Data Driven Transfusion Practice. This will include a organisational survey and a survey of individual anaesthetists' practice. We aim to understand how local sites are set up to deliver and evaluate perioperative blood management services and assess individuals attitudes and practice.
Background
This project focuses on organisational structure and variation of practice in regards to perioperative blood management of adults (>18 years). We want to work towards getting a clear picture on what is happening across different hospitals in the UK. This project is designed to be something that is easy and not time consuming, whilst allowing collaborators to increase their experience and achieve key curriculum goals. It will involve an organisational survey along with a survey for individual anaesthetists on their experience and practice in common clinical scenarios. We hope this will not only answer some interesting questions but also identify some key areas for quality improvement.
Get Started!
1 / Sign up
If you are interested in being your site's trainee lead then then please contact us or let your TRN know that your're interested.
2 / Register at your hospital
It is important to register this project with your departmental audit/QI service and research lead. As this is a service evaluation you do not need to go through your hospital's R&D department.
3 / Organisational Survey
Once to study opens you will be given a unique link to the survey. If you are covering more than one hospital there will be a link for each hospital that are >1 mile apart. We anticipate that the organisational survey should take you no longer than half a day to complete. You may need to liaise with your perioperative team and blood bank to get all the answers. We will provide a pdf copy of the survey and you may find it helpful to go through this prior to filling in the survey online. Filling in the pdf copy will also allow you to easily keep a copy of your local data to compare to national findings.
4 / Individual Anaesthetist Survey
The individual anaesthetic survey is aimed to ask individual anaesthetists' their opinions and practice regarding perioperative blood management in specific clinical scenarios. This is an anonymous survey and the site lead is responsible for sending it to all anaesthetists at their hospital and encouraging its completion.
5 / Need help or have questions?
If have any questions or you are getting stuck on anything to do with the project you can contact us via e-mail and we will get back to you as soon as possible! You can also refer to the FAQs below.
6 / Completion
Once you have completed the organisational survey and promoted the individual anaesthetist survey and the survey window has closed we will send you a certificate to thank you for your hard work. Your name will also be included in any future publications of this study on our collaborator list.
Frequently asked questions
"I rotate hospitals in Feburary, can I still take part?"
Yes absolutely! We would love to have you aboard. The project will occur during January and we don't anticipate that it will continue into February.
"I'm not sure who my TRN is, what should I do?"
No problem! Get in touch with us with the name of your hospital and we will let your TRN know that you are involved in this project.
"How much time will I need to spend on this project?"
We anticipate that completing the organisational survey will take a couple of hours to half a day. You might need to contact your perioperative lead and blood bank for some of the answers.
"Can I get allocated time to do this project?"
In the past anaesthetic departments have generally been very supportive of RAFT projects. Remember if you are on the RCoA 2021curriculum you have access to allocated educational development time.
"I work at a trust with lots of different sites, how many surveys will I need to do?"
You will need to do one organisational survey for each hospital which is >1 mile away from your main site. If this is turns out to be a lot why not team up with some colleagues and share the load! You will all get the same recognition for your efforts.
"Are paediatric hospitals included?"
This project focuses on the perioperative blood management of adults (>18 years). If you work at a site which solely does paediatric anaesthesia we will not be able to include you this time but keep an eye out for future opportunities!
"Why do I need local supervisor for this project if it is trainee lead?"
It is good practice to ask your departmental research/QI lead if they are happy for you to do national projects. They may know if the project is already ongoing and be able to guide you through applying through local audit department processes.
"What should I do if I'm unable to finish this by the end of January?"
Get in touch with us via email and we will try our best to support you towards success and arrange a time point that works better for you.
"I've forgotten my login details for the organisational survey, what should I do?"
Get in touch with us and we can help you get logged back in again!
Contact
If you have any questions about this survey or you would like to sign up please get in touch