Clinical Guidelines App

Guidance for doctors on how to investigate and manage common conditions in their hospital. Available on your phone, in a form that is easy to digest and easy to put into action. Approved by Clinical Governance and sourced from hospital policy and official guidelines from NICE, the British Thoracic Society and more.

The clinical guidelines exist as a summary of the expertise within the hospital to support the foundation doctors in managing the patients. Without them clinical incidents occur and the productivity of foundation doctors is reduced.

The clinical guidelines app was first developed for Frimley Park hospital and is now in development for Wexham Park and Maritime Medway. It has won local, regional and national awards for advancing patient safety.

Clinical Guidelines App

Guidance for doctors on how to investigate and manage common conditions in their hospital. Available on your phone, in a form that is easy to digest and easy to put into action. Approved by Clinical Governance and sourced from hospital policy and official guidelines from NICE, the British Thoracic Society and more.

The clinical guidelines exist as a summary of the expertise within the hospital, to support the foundation doctors in managing the patients. Without them clinical incidents occur and the productivity of foundation doctors is reduced.

The clinical guidelines app was first developed for Frimley Park hospital and is now in development for Wexham Park and Maritime Medway. It has won local, regional and national awards for advancing patient safety.

How did it begin?

It started when Anna Fraser, then an F1 at Frimley, found herself on her own, at night.

My first week, I was on nights. I was on surgery, so my reg and SHO were in theatre, and I was just dealing with patients on my own. In the past, at different hospitals, I’d had a booklet with guidelines in it. I just thought, “Where’s the Frimley Park booklet? Where’s my help here, when I’m on my own?”

There were guidelines, but they were on the intranet and hard to access, you had to know they existed, get access to a computer then ’17 easy clicks’ as one doctor said. Seeing that her fellow doctors were relying on google searches and using old handbooks from other hospitals the clinical guidelines project began. Supported and championed by Udesh Naidoo, consultant and foundation programme director, the team was built up and the work began. Initially considering a physical booklet.

John Holcroft is an app developer and usability designer. His wife, Emma, was also an F1 an Frimley.

As I talked to Emma, the stress and inefficiency of the life of a junior doctor amazed me. Lots of the problems could be easily solved by some simple technology. I started looking at solving some of those problems and built a proof of concept app. Then Emma and Anna got talking and I met the team and showed how app based clinical guidelines would work.

 

The point of the app is to get out of the way. The doctor should be able to get into it quickly, find out what they need and get out. Nothing should be hidden, everything should be obvious. You should be able to look at a page and within moments know what is in it and be able to go deeper to your specific interest.

I’m John Holcroft, and having brought the guidelines app to a few hospitals I’ve seen the process that is normally followed.

1. Take the lead
2. Get a champion
3. Build a team
4. Get approval

Step 1 – Someone sees the need and chooses to take the lead.

Step 2 – Get a champion. If this is you and you already have sway within the hospital, then fantastic. If you are a foundation doctor then you need to find your Dr Naidoo and with them get buy-in. They’ll know the hospital, will get the meetings and can make it happen.

Step 3 – Build a team. You’ll need a core of foundation doctors to source the guidelines, and get them updated and approved if needed. Best to start with common and emergency conditions, then move out to the specialties.

I can help you develop the app, or you can work with any other app developer if you wish. It is worth speaking to me early as I have the experience from other hospitals. I can let you know what is possible and will be able to make a proof of concept app that will make communicating the idea and getting buy-in a lot easier. I can even help you with proven business cases.

Step 4 – Get approval. This will probably be from information governance and the medical director. They’ll be very supportive as long as you take their concerns seriously. It was the chief executive at Frimley that pushed for an app over a booklet.