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NELA into the second decade

As NELA enters its second decade, it's important to look at persisting challenges as well as successes, and consider where improvement efforts should now be concentrated. This article highlights three areas of emphasis from Year 10 (2023) of the audit.

Traffic lights for emergency theatre escalation

Dr Adrian Jennings, Consultant Anaesthetist, and Dr Kavaladeep Jabbal, ACCS CT4 Anaesthetics at Russels Hall Hospital, Dudley discuss their innovative ‘traffic light’ system.

When emergency cases are booked, they must be able to access theatre in an appropriate time frame. Assessing the operational pressure on the emergency theatre is a complex calculation considerate of the number of cases booked, their acuity, and expected duration. 

The National Emergency Laparotomy Audit (NELA) uses a classification for surgical urgency based on the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) and Surviving Sepsis.1

  • 1: Immediate (<2 hours)
  • 2a: Urgent (2–6 hours)
  • 2b: Urgent (6–18 hours)
  • 3: Expedited (>18 hours).

Colour theory

In this second article from his design series, Dr Greig explores how to use colour. Whether you're producing a report or even revising your anaesthetic charts, colour matters.

Whether you are producing a report, a poster, or even revising your hospital’s anaesthetic charts, colour choice is important.

Choosing colours

A colour wheel is a simple tool to help choose colours and shades (Figure 1). Analogous colours are adjacent to one another, and generally combine well. Likewise, complementary colours (those opposite one another) work. Triadic schemes are based on three equally spaced colours, while quadratic schemes use four. Colour combinations found in nature are also considered pleasing.