Audit cycle 2

National Audit Conference 2014 

A joint meeting between BSCN and ANS was held on 10th October 2014 at Jury’s Inn in Birmingham, with 135 delegates attending. 

The programme included an introduction giving a resumé of the achievements of the National Audit Project to date and some ideas for future development. This was followed by a talk from the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership on how HQIP can help in performing clinical audit. Each of the 3 audit projects was presented and included a literature review of the topic. All presentations can be viewed on the accompanying PowerPoint slides (see links below). 

The results of the photic stimulation and paediatric sleep induction projects were used to draw up provisional National Standards and Guidelines. On the basis of the ensuing group discussion these Standards and Guidelines will be subject to revision and then circulated to professional body members before publication on the BSCN and ANS websites. 

The audit of the BSCN/ANS Standards for nerve conduction studies in ulnar neuropathy at the elbow produced some discussion as to whether certain existing Options should be upgraded to mandatory Standards. This information will be fed back to BSCN and ANS for further consideration. Feedback on adherence to the ulnar nerve conduction standards for individual centres can be given confidentially on request from Jeff Holman (Jeffery.holman@porthosp.nhs.uk). The day concluded with a discussion session to obtain ideas for further projects. Suggestions for further work included:

• Non-epileptic attack disorder: techniques for inducing seizures including ethical considerations (Simon Veal)
• Efficacy of Ambulatory EEG with a view to producing standards including referral criteria (Peter Bill)
• Polygraphy standards: when and how to use it (Sara Callen)
• Clinical audit against new BSCN/ANS hyperventilation guidelines (Lesley Grocott) Safety of Sleep deprivation (Catherine Pang)
• Standards for safety resources for emergency care eg cardiac arrest, seizures etc (Adrian Fowle)
• Survey of methods of report generation including information governance (Gareth Payne)
• Standardisation of patient satisfaction questionnaires 
• Survey of changes implemented in response to new national guidelines (Jeff Holman)

Possible external sources of funding for the projects were discussed. A significant number of centres expressed concerns that their departments would not be able to pay a registration fee to cover administrative costs no matter how small the amount (a fee of £25 for the two year cycle had been proposed). It was suggested that a further joint national audit meeting should take place in Autumn 2016 separate to the regular BSCN and ANS scientific meetings.

Powerpoint presentations:

Introduction
HQIP
Photic stimulation
Sleep induction for EEG in children
Ulnar neuropathy NCS

References

 

Results of a national service evaluation on the safety and efficacy of photic stimulation

Lawrence, S.J., Kandler, R.H., Whitehead, K., Sherratt, M., Pang C

J Association of Neurophysiological Scientists 2015 8 (1) 14 – 21

 

Inducing Sleep for Paediatric EEG: A National Service Evaluation 

Catania, S.J., Kandler, R.H., Pang  C, Notghi L

J Association of Neurophysiological Scientists 2015 8 (2) 61 -69

 

Adherence to BSCN and ANS Standards for Ulnar Neuropathy at Elbow 

Holman J., Shirley C, Kane N, Kandler, R.H., Pang, C

J Association of Neurophysiological Scientists 2015 8 (2) 71 – 77

 

Photic stimulation during electroencephalography: Efficacy and safety in an unselected cohort of patients referred to UK neurophysiology departments.

Kimberley Whitehead, Michael Sherratt, Ros Kandler Sarah Lawrence, Catherine Pang

Seizure 2016, 34: 29-34

 

Sleep deprivation and melatonin for inducing sleep in paediatric electroencephalography: a prospective multicentre evaluation.

Alix J, Kandler R, Pang C, Stavroulakis T, Catania S

Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology 2019, 61(2): 181-185