The TrachPhone Experience Programme (TEP) was initially a quality improvement project run by the Atos Learning Institute. The TEP is an exciting way for clinicians to be involved in data collection through a quality improvement project they can take a lead role in, whilst having support from an Atos Clinical Educator throughout.
Background/Project Overview:
- Quality improvement project aiming to gather data following the use of TrachPhone HME
- Project length: 3 weeks minimum (1 week baseline info, 2 weeks QI, follow-up data gathered at end of 2-week period).
- Data collection focused on the main themes of device use (frequency of needing to change device), pulmonary health, speech, and usability.
Inclusion Criteria
- Patients in a hospital environment with an existing tracheostomy who are not currently using the TrachPhone HME
Exclusion Criteria
- Patients who are acutely unwell and/or would not be safe to commence use with an HME
- Patients who demonstrate any contraindications to the use of the TrachPhone HME as dictated by the product IFU.
- Patients who have not had their tracheostomy for the minimum time required to collect baseline data (1 week)
Conclusion
- From the initial data collection presented below, patients who changed from a competitor HME to TrachPhone HME saw a decrease in both their mucus thickness and mucus volume. Patients also required a lower daily frequency of tracheal suction when using TrachPhone HME.
- The number of HME devices used also decreased during the intervention; subjective feedback from staff reported this was mostly due to TrachPhone not being “coughed off” and the foam media becoming less saturated
- There were no adverse events during the use of TrachPhone HME. One patient did not complete the 2-week intervention period; however, this was due to a deterioration in clinical condition
- The initial results from this project suggest the TrachPhone HME may offer benefits to secretion thickness and volume in patients admitted to the acute hospital. The reduction in the number of HMEs used and the frequency of tracheal suction required also suggests long-term cost comparison could be a consideration; however, for all outcomes, more data from further participants would be beneficial to draw final conclusions.
The clinician/clinical team responsible for each patient enrolled in the QI project retains the ultimate decision to use the TrachPhone HME based on their own advanced clinical reasoning and can withdraw a patient from the project at any point based on their own clinical reasoning.
We are actively looking to work with other accounts to build on the work we have already done to continue to improve patients' quality of life. If you are interested in working with us, please reach out to our Clinical Education Team at clinicalsupport@atosmedical.com
Explore TrachPhone Programme Results