The DiAlS study will investigate the impact of digital sepsis alerts on patient outcomes and staff activity in NHS hospital Trusts across England and Wales. As UK hospitals move from paper based to electronic health records, the integration of digital alerts to identify patients at risk of deterioration has also become common.
The implementation of digital alerts in hospitals is a complex health intervention. Therefore, we are using both a mixed methods approach to ensure understanding of the relationship between inherent aspects of the alerts, such as the underlying algorithm and the method of clinician notification. Using appropriate qualitative and quantitative methods, based on the analysis of natural experiments, we will evaluate the implementation of alerts across six NHS trusts, which have adopted distinctive digital alerts.
Outcomes will include in-hospital mortality within 30 days, transfer to ICU, length of stay and administration of intravenous (IV) antibiotics. We will also consider unintended consequences related to unnecessary and inappropriate use of antibiotics.
Findings from the DiAlS study will inform clinicians and hospital managers on the most effective alerts, the optimal implementation process and possible unintended consequences.