Title : Study to analyse the factors causing delay in dispatch of dead bodies declared in or to mortuary
Abstract:
Background: Working in the OR requires highly skilled staff members to coordinate and deliver care. As the advancement in new instruments increases, there is a growing need for trained staff. The intense, fast-paced, detail-oriented environment in the OR requires the staff to be organized yet flexible. The aim of this study was to determine the total mortality in the OR, the types of cases classified as OR mortality, the demographic profile of such cases, the reasons for delay in dispatch, and the scope for improvement in this process.
Method: The present study is a retrospective analysis of prospectively maintained data records from the OR and interviews with staff members.
Results: We analyzed 6 years data . The total OR mortality cases were 127. Patients aged <18 years were 11%, and those aged >18 years were 89%. 85% were males and 15% were females. The maximum cases consisted of RTIs (65.3%); other modes included falls (20.4%), assault (7%), suicide (0.7%), and railway track injuries (4.7%). Blunt trauma was the cause in 95.2% of cases and penetrating trauma in 4.8%.
The main reasons for delay in the process of body dispatch were:
- Delay in making the death note by the concerned resident,
- Delay in getting the MLC death note,
- Delay in getting the required signatures (from concerned SR, MLC stamp from the registration counter),
- Delay in obtaining the final approval from the concerned senior resident.
- The maximum time of delay was found to be 3 hours 40 minutes, with a minimum delay of 2 hours 30 minutes.
During the study, it was found that there is no standard format for writing the death note by the nurses in the OR, which may sometimes lead to missing data.
Conclusion: As per the study, there is an increasing number of deaths in the OR each year, as the patient ratio in the trauma centre is rising. There should be a decrease in the time taken for dead body dispatch to the mortuary, and a standard format for writing death notes by nurses should be maintained in OR records.
