ReSPECT evaluation
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluation of the Recommended Summary Plan for Emergency Care and Treatment (RESPECT)
IRAS ID
204688
Contact name
Gavin Perkins
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Warwick
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
A national group of patients, healthcare professionals and organisations have been working together to develop the Recommended Summary Plan for Emergency Care and Treatment (ReSPECT) process. It aims to respect patient preferences and respect clinical judgment through shared conversations between a person and their healthcare professionals. One of its principal aims is to make sure people understand the care and treatment options that may be available to them and that may work in a medical emergency, and to allow them to make healthcare professionals aware of their preferences. Although the idea of emergency plans sounds good, experience (e.g. the Liverpool Care Pathway) has taught us that it is important to test any changes to the way we do things. Therefore, this project plans to study how, when and why these emergency treatment plans are made and the effects they have on patient care. It will use a mixture of methods for collecting information to achieve this aim.
The project will look at people coming into hospital, as this is where most decisions will be made initially. The study will involve researchers watching emergency treatment decisions being made in hospital. We will also interview doctors, nurses, patients and family members to ask them about their experience. This will allow us to find out when decisions are made and check they are being made consistently and are ethical. We will use a national resuscitation audit to see what effect emergency treatment plans have on the number of people having resuscitation and what happens to them afterwards. The study will also look at how emergency treatment plans affect overall patient care.
Through our partnership with key national organisations the essential information this study will produce will inform the future use of emergency plans throughout the NHS.
REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/WM/0134
Date of REC Opinion
1 Jun 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion