Development of the Rapid Assessment, Prioritisation and Referral Tool (RAPaRT) for multidisciplinary teams in emergency care settings

Abstract

The RAPaRT has demonstrated substantial promise as an efficient clinically amenable instrument to assist multidisciplinary teams in emergency care settings. Further research to investigate the wider implementation of the RAPaRT is warranted.

External validation of the Rapid Assessment Prioritisation and Referral Tool for multidisciplinary teams in medical assessment and planning units

“…The development and refinement of the RAPaRT instrument has previously been described in detail . In summary, the first steps in the multi‐stage development included a Delphi panel followed by cognitive pretesting of potential items (to test whether a range of health professionals and patients consistently understood the meaning of items in the intended way and were able to provide an appropriate response) .…”

“…The seven mandatory items include content covering requirement for regular help at home, recent hospitalisations, assistance with walking, assistance with shopping, falls history, weight loss and appetite, and whether the patient takes more than three medications . In addition, Item 8 (free text item) allows the person completing the instrument to write any ‘other’ pertinent reason that a referral to an allied health professional may be required . At the participating facility, this eighth item was not compulsory, but rather intended as an optional item intended to capture important reasons for referral that may not occur frequently enough to warrant inclusion as a standalone mandatory item within a brief instrument (e.g.…”

“…At the participating facility, this eighth item was not compulsory, but rather intended as an optional item intended to capture important reasons for referral that may not occur frequently enough to warrant inclusion as a standalone mandatory item within a brief instrument (e.g. if abuse or neglect was suspected).…”

“…Patients admitted to MAPUs often require short term hospital care or monitoring that is likely to require a length of stay of less than 48 h . Prompt and efficient identification of patients that will benefit from assessment and treatment by allied members of the multidisciplinary team in these short stay environments may facilitate the delivery of appropriate clinical care without adversely impacting on MAPU length of stay …”

“…In addition, an additional (eighth) free text item was included in the instrument to permit health professionals completing the RAPaRT to record any ‘other’ potentially infrequent, but important reasons for referral. The instrument was developed with preliminary validation in a MAPU with a target length of stay of ≤48 h, where it performed favourably in comparison to risk assessment tools for the elderly from which some of item content was drawn . However, the RAPaRT instrument has not been externally validated outside of the facility where it was developed.…”