Parents of a newborn baby that stopped breathing and died at home have learned that a first responder was on the same street as them at the time, but wasn t called.
Megan Thrupp, 25, and partner Kris Low, 30, who were left waiting 35 minutes for help at their home in Anstruther, Fife, believe that earlier intervention could have saved the life of their 19-day-old baby Eva.
While waiting for the ambulance to arrive, Megan attempted to perform CPR with the help of an ambulance call handler.
After the incident, the couple were told that community lifesavers are not sent to cases involving children in case they find the death too traumatic.
Ease of use
Most respondents who answered the question on ease of use agreed or strongly agreed that Patientrack was easy to use (Fig 2). However, 47% (27 out of 57) reported that using the system took longer than the paper version; this finding has been explored further in a subsequent study, which is yet to be published. It appears staff valued Patientrack, as 66% of respondents (36 out of 54) felt it should be rolled out to the rest of the hospital.
Clinical areas that frequently use bank or agency staff reported finding it challenging, at times, to ensure appropriately trained staff were available to record patients’ vital signs on the electronic system. Technical challenges (for example, passwords expiring and problems accessing log-in details) were also reported; these prevented some staff members from electronically recording vital signs.