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Healthcare provision is constantly transforming and improving as the use of technology continues to modernise and opens up new opportunities for more efficient systems, faster drug or vaccine development, earlier predictions of diseases as well as making accessing services or information easier. And it is the latter that might seem small, but can be hugely beneficial with electronic versions of care leaflets being available at the touch of a button.

Thanks to a colleague led push, the acute paediatrics department now offers e-patient care leaflets that are accessible 24/7 and can be accessed easily via the QR code poster onsite using a bit of technology that almost everyone has access to right in their own pockets, a smartphone.

The QR code poster has informative e-leaflets for 9 different common paediatric presentations with each one detailing the condition, how it can be treated, when they should seek further clinical support and the teams’ contact details. Parents are given them upon discharge but the team often found that parents would often download them before they leave to do some reading and get useful information prior.

Embracing technological advancements often brings a multitude of benefits relative to the previously used medium. As in this case we aren’t just improving accessibility to information but also helping reduce our carbon footprint through heavily reduced paper use. Previously up to 2,000 paper leaflets were being given out each year which has now dropped to under 500 per year for circumstances such as for those that don’t have access to a smartphone or would prefer a hard copy. That’s at least a 75% decrease in the amount of paper used & saving approximately 126Kg CO2e which is equivalent to 2200 miles of train travel every year!

This change has been well received by staff and patients along with their parents, loving the ease of accessibility, even finding themselves looking at other conditions besides their own allowing further education and awareness of common paediatric ailments to be spread through our community.

The team overcame a few challenges in creating the final useable product. The collation and re-writing of all old leaflets to give them a modern feel took some time to undertake (some found were being given out from 1995!). Plus, an unforeseen hurdle as all the patient care leaflets that were QR coded would need to link directly to a Trust managed web page in order for the link to work. This was a challenge but thanks to the combined effort of acute paediatrics and the Trust’s Communications Team, the process should be much easier now for further departments should they wish to follow suit.

The team were very excited to share this initiative and a tweet from one of the nurses received lots of engagement, including inspiring other trusts to reach out for advice on implementation and to look at where similar ‘greener’ shifts in information accessibility can be made.

See original tweet here https://twitter.com/tishtoshtash88/status/1462796068521979904