Heartbeat: Acknowledging and endorsing is essential to maintain safe care

March 12, 2020

Imaging and pathology have for a long time been an indispensable part of diagnosing and treating patients. When there is something you want to visualise and understand, whether it’s a broken bone, a blood culture or biopsy, they are the teams we turn to, and systems like Unity have now streamlined and simplified the requesting process to the delight of clinicians across the Trust.

However, once requests for imaging and pathology have been received, processed and reported, colleagues are now also presented with the findings and are tasked with one final undertaking, acknowledging that results. Acknowledging (or endorsing) results is essential, it takes seconds and is the only way to show that the results from imaging or pathology have been seen and acted upon.

To find out more about the process of endorsing results, Heartbeat spoke to Medical Director David Carruthers. He said: “I don’t need to tell you all about the importance of looking at and acting on results from your patients. Endorsement is an important part of that quality system.

“There are several ways to endorse results in Unity and it only takes seconds to do so, so please take the time to familiarise yourself and make it part of your routine. We will be releasing a range of short videos to demonstrate these processes but they are documented in quick reference guides.”

He added: “We are looking at the broader issues around results system and I think one of the most important aspects is the encouragement, support and time given on ward rounds and after clinic to discuss and endorse the results of your patients, documenting where needed actions that are taken or noting abnormalities. There is a lot to cover on ward rounds but if all parts of the system are working efficiently then quality and safety will improve.”

More information about the process of endorsing and acknowledging results can be found on Connect on the following link.