Authors (including presenting author) :
HUI LK(1),TAM SHUM AP(1), WONG CH(1), CHAN KW(1), LAW NW(1), MOK YT(1)
Affiliation :
(1)Operating Theatres, Hong Kong Children's Hospital
Introduction :
Due to the emigration wave, many senior and experienced nurses were used to leaving the Hospital Authority. In different departments, the majority of nurses become more junior and younger. They are required to pick up many responsibilities in a shorter time. Because of expanding service, there were 18 fresh graduates without any perioperative experience who became one of the colleagues of OT department in Hong Kong Children Hospital during 2023. The 18 nurses were more than one third of the total number of nurses of the department. It was a challenging issue for seniors and mentors continuously to assess individuals.
Beside regular training and workshops, logbooks were used to assess trainees and evaluate their performance from time to time. For Duty IC, traditional paper Logbooks for fresh graduates were hard to collect and evaluate the training and competence of skills. Therefore, it was hard to allocate the fresh graduates to different specialties to have diverse training or skill-based training.
With usage of Google Form as an electronic logbook, trainees were able to enter their scrubbing or circulating log immediately through their smartphones. At the same time, clinicals mentors were able to check fresh graduates' status through the Google Form. Duty IC can arrange manpower base on the data collected.
Objectives :
1. All fresh graduates were competent to scrub and circulate minor and intermediate surgery within 9 months.
2. Clinicals mentors were easier to assess different fresh graduates' ability than using paper logbooks.
3. Duty IC is able to make effective and efficient manpower allocation based on the electronic logbook.
Methodology :
Assessment and Design:
Identify the specific needs and requirements for implementing an electronic logbook from mentors. Designing the electronic logbook based on the collected opinions.
Training:
Provide comprehensive briefing to fresh graduates on how to use the electronic logbook. Ensure that all users are familiar with the features, functionalities, and data entry protocols of the logbook.
Each of the fresh graduates would get a link of Google form individually to enter their scrubbing or circulating log including operation date, name, specialty etc.
Modification:
Modify the electronic logbook after gathering feedback to identify any issues or areas for improvement from users, including the mentors and mentee to refine the logbook
Data Collection:
Different surgeries are divided into different majorities and levels of complexity. Fresh graduates input their scrubbing and circulating log right after the end of their duty. The inputted data will be summarized to a report to accumulate the statistics.
User Support:
Provide ongoing technical support and assistance to users of the electronic logbook. Address any issues or concerns promptly to ensure smooth operation and user satisfaction.
Monitoring and Evaluation:
Mentors can continuously monitor mentees training process. Mentors were able to track back the records of mentees to evaluate their performance. Duty IC can base on the data to increase mentees exposure to different specialties or focus training on their weakness.
Result & Outcome :
The electronic logbook had lots of positive comments from mentors and mentees because of convenience. The log records were easier to access compared to paper logbooks. Manpower allocation of the department became more effective and efficient as the ability of each fresh graduate was easier to assess. Individuals of fresh graduates shared the same equality on exposure to different specialties to self-developing on their interested specialties. All 18 fresh graduates were able to independently scrub and circulate minor and intermediate surgery within 9 months.
This electronic logbook allowed for easier analysis and sharing of information among mentors and mentees. This demonstrates the versatility and convenience of electronic logbooks in capturing real-time data.
