The Quality and Safety of Care for each patient is at the heart of the Irish Healthcare System.
The Deteriorating Patient Improvement Programme (DPIP) was established in May 2017 to ensure that there is a standardised, high quality systematic approach to the recognition, response and management of the deteriorating patient through the implementation of National Early Warning Systems (EWS).
The Aims of the Programme are:
- Better decisions – Early Warning Systems provide a framework to assist with clinical judgement and decision making when caring for acutely unwell hospital in-patients
- Better Care – the implementation of the EWS National Clinical Guidelines (INEWS, PEWS, IMEWS and EMEWS) are intended to improve the quality an safety of care for clinically deteriorating patients
- Safer Service – DPIP is a key clinical design and patient safety programme of the HSE. Improving the timely recognition, response and evaluation of care to the clinically deteriorating patient is a key patient safety priority (or use word commitment) of the HSE Patient Safety Strategy (2019-2024)
Resources
- Covid-19 HSE Clinical Guidance and Evidence (hli.ie)
- DPIP Quality Improvement Driver Diagram 2020 (PDF, 38.7 KB, 1 page)
- INEWs Escalation and Response Audit Template - Updated November 2022 (Excel, size 404 KB)
- INEWS Patient Observation Chart Audit Template (Excel, size 370 KB)
- Reducing Cardiac Arrests in Acute Admission Unit - (qualitysafety.bmj.com)
- National QI Toolkit
- QPS TalkTime: QI and Large Scale Change – reflections of the Deteriorating Patient Improvement Programme (YouTube.com)
Programme Events
DPIP Inaugural Conference:
- A Systems Approach to the Clinically Deteriorating Patient - 14th June 2022, RCSI
Contact
National Lead: to be confirmed
Bláthnaid Connolly, Programme Manager
Mary Bedding, Project Lead