Access to critical patient information at the bedside

BSI, as the UK’s National Standards Body (NSB), supports this Safety Recommendation made by the HSIB, addressing factors that affect the ability of healthcare staff to access critical patient information at the bedside.

We recognise the problem highlighted in the report is compounded by workload, work environment, high demand on personnel resources, and multiple sources of information and patient data, including medical device labelling and digital system displays.

We are committed to work with NHS England and the Resuscitation Council UK to provide standardised symbology for expressing information about a patient’s resuscitation status displayed in digital systems.

Detailed actions and timescales for completing this work are outlined below. We will keep the HSIB informed of the progress and results of these actions.

Actions planned to deliver safety recommendation:

1. BSI will work with NHS England and Resuscitation Council UK to assess the current availability of resuscitation information on digital displays and gather user feedback and input into the best solutions for displaying the necessary information. This feedback will be shared with the appropriate medical device standardisation committees to ensure an appropriate and acceptable solution is delivered, by Q4 2023. Other dependencies identified: Use of standards and symbol is voluntary, so availability of an appropriate symbol will not guarantee use in digital displays.
2. BSI will consider authoring an industry paper on challenges around communicating critical patient information at the bedside, including information accessibility, clarity, and privacy. The aim of this paper will be to inform medical device manufacturers on the need for clear, distinguishable, and consistent information on digital displays, and support the use of symbology when available and appropriate, by Q1 2024. Other dependencies identified: The can be done before the development of the symbol to help support the need.
3. The BSI standardisation committee team will identify international standardisation committee(s) are responsible for this type of symbology, and work to influence development of an international symbol. If the committee does not agree with the use of a symbol to mitigate the risk, an alternative solution will be provided for consideration, by Q2 2024. Other dependencies identified: This will be reviewed initially at national level before consideration at the international level.
4. BSI will work with NHS England, Resuscitation Council of UK, and the Royal College of Nursing to educate healthcare staff on the use and meaning of symbols use to convey patient information through standards awareness and knowledge, by Q4 2024. Other dependencies identified: This date will be contingent on publication standard with an approved symbol.

Response received on 23 June 2023.