Help cards handed out to new F1 doctors

All foundation level one doctors in Lincolnshire’s hospitals will be provided with a set of cards containing useful clinical and practical information.

Details about issues such as the immediate management of clinical emergencies, doses of commonly used drugs, contact numbers for all wards and departments and how to make referrals to different specialties within the trust will be included on the cards.

They also address key patient safety issues, including preventing VTE, prescribing and ensuring there is clear communication with colleagues on handovers between shifts.

The credit-card sized tools can be easily clipped next to bleepers so they are always to hand when needed.

The order was the brainchild of F2 doctors Katie Mageean and Isabella Lo.

They said: “This project has been running for several years in Nottingham and has received excellent feedback from the F1s who have used the cards.

“It won first prize at the regional conference for Junior Doctor Led Innovations in patient safety and has recently been presented in Paris at the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare, and now has the potential to spread nationally and internationally.”

The cards will be updated annually and two new F1s will take on the roles of coordinators of the project each year.