Reduction in harm from tracheostomy related incidents after implementation of the paediatric National Tracheostomy Safety Project resources: a retrospective analysis from a tertiary paediatric centre

Abstract

In the UK, patient safety issues related to adult tracheostomies are well recognised. A number of reports from the National Patient Safety Agency and National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death highlighted recurrent themes with deficiencies in staff education, resources, equipment provision and emergency guidance.^1,2. Similar patient safety concerns exist in the paediatric population. Studies report overall mortality rates in paediatric patients with tracheostomies varying from 2.2%³ to 58.8%,⁴ whilst tracheostomy-specific mortality is lower at 0.9%⁵ to 5.9%.⁴ Within our institution, concerns were noted regarding the risk of serious avoidable tracheostomy morbidity after merging three paediatric hospitals onto a single site in 2009.

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