'5 Rs to Rescue' A Cluster Trial With an Embedded Process Evaluation

'Failure to rescue' describes the preventable death of a patient following the absence of timely identification and treatment of a complication after surgery. The absence of systems contributes to the higher mortality post-surgery in Africa compared to high-income countries. To mitigate this, a complex quality improvement (QI) intervention has been designed focusing on improving five main areas of patient management following surgery termed as '5 Rs to Rescue'. The study will take place in 20 centers in 4 countries - Ethiopia, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. This a multi-center, mixed methods, cluster trial with a baseline assessment to evaluate the efficacy of the QI intervention. To study is aimed to evaluate whether implementation of the '5 Rs to Rescue' quality improvement intervention increases surveillance for patients at risk of 'failure to rescue' after surgery in hospitals in Africa.

The '5 Rs to Rescue' includes:

1. Risk assessment using the ASOS risk score for all surgical patients, 2. Recognition of patient deterioration by regular, protocolized vital signs monitoring plus use of an Early Warning Score (EWS) system. 3. Response to deterioration by protocolized escalation based upon EWS plus protocolized care pathways for common complications (hypoxia, hypovolemia, sepsis). 4. Reassessment following deterioration by protocolized re-assessment based upon EWS, and 5. Reflection on care provided following a patient's deterioration or death using a structured review tool at regular reflection meetings.