Regional anaesthetic alert bracelet

Using audiovisual media as an educational tool

INTRODUCTION

The 2020 guideline published by the Association of Anaesthetists and Obstetric Anaesthetists’ Association highlights the importance of monitoring recovery following an obstetric central neuraxial block (CNB) (1).

This led to the development of the Regional Anaesthetic Alert Bracelet (RA-AB), which is now used in all maternity units in Northern Ireland and several other Trusts in the UK (2).

The RA-AB provides a patient-specific four hour time at which they should be able to straight leg raise, which allows early identification of a possible neurological complication.

As this is a patient-led safety initiative, good education is key to its success.

Our aim was to create a patient information video, that could be accessed via a QR code and viewed on a mobile phone, to aid understanding of the RA-AB initiative. 

METHODS

We worked with a group of animation students at Nottingham Trent University to produce our patient information video.

Based on our brief, the team created a story board which was then developed into the animation.

Key considerations were audience, style,language and colour scheme.

We have tried to portray the clinical environment in an accurate and realistic manner.

We have used subtitles to convey key information as they can easily be translated into other languages and are not lost in a noisy clinical environment.

RESULTS

Wehave produced an informative and engaging animation to explain how the RA-AB is used within obstetrics to monitor recovery following a CNB.

Early patient feedback is overwhelmingly positive.

DISCUSSION

It is really exciting to see the positive role that technology can play in patient care and how audiovisual media can be used to enhance initiatives within the NHS.

We plan to audit the effectiveness of the animation locally, prior to rolling it out on a national level.

We hope to translate the subtitles into other common languages.