Paediatric General Surgery - Processes in ED

• Surgical staff should assign themselves to the patient on the Trakcare screen using the “Clinician pop-up” function. Any member of ED staff can assist with this.
• There is a Nurse-in-Charge of each area and the Surgical Team should communicate their plan for the patient to them. The nursing staff use Trakcare “floor plan notes” for their documentation.
• Every patient discharged from ED should have an ED discharge letter completed for the GP. This is a short letter that is found under Letters Discharge; ED Attendance Letter. Diagnosis and Discharge summary are the only mandatory fields.

The surgical team will be asked to see some patients directly without an ED doctor reviewing them first. These are:

• Patients who attend with a post-operative complication from surgery performed by the Paediatric general surgeons.
• Patients who represent within 48hrs of discharge from an in-patient surgical admission and have symptoms directly related to that admission.

If the nursing staff are concerned about any patient presenting to the ED they will ask ED medical staff to assist with their initial assessment and treatment irrespective of their planned pathway. This may because they have a high PEWS score, are in pain or need immediate intervention. The Surgical Team should attend ED as soon as possible.