We are pleased to provide an update on the Safer Care for Kids: ViCTOR pilot project, a Safer Care Victoria led improvement initiative dedicated to enhancing the safety and quality of paediatric care across Victoria.
The Victorian Children's Tool for Observation and Response (ViCTOR) pilot project aims to address the first of 3 recommendations outlined in the See Me, Hear Me- Improving the Safety of Care for Victorian Children whitepaper.
Launched in November 2024, the project has been piloting and testing a refined ViCTOR chart in different care settings, across 8 public and private health services, including urgent care centres, paediatric inpatient wards, special care nurseries, birth suites and emergency departments. Participating health services are located across metropolitan, regional and rural Victoria.
The ViCTOR chart is a paediatric-specific, age-based, observation track and trigger tool used across Victoria that helps clinicians effectively recognise and respond to deterioration of any paediatric patient. They have been shown to assist in earlier recognition, escalation and response to deterioration.
Pilot health services have been trialling an updated version of the chart refined to include a question to proactively assess whether families and/or carers are concerned their child is deteriorating. The refined ViCTOR chart recognises family or carer concern as its own “vital sign”, helping signal deterioration and trigger escalation of care. It is now acknowledged that the families and carers of children or adolescents are often the first to identify deterioration of their child, positioning them perfectly to alert medical professionals that ‘something is not right'.
The focus of the project is rigorous testing and refinement of escalation processes, and development of an audit tool to monitor ViCTOR chart usage. Insights gained from the pilot project will inform any necessary adjustments to ensure the tools and processes meet the needs of healthcare providers and families. Upon successful completion of the pilot project, we anticipate spreading these initiatives across all Victorian health services caring for paediatric patients, aiming to significantly enhance paediatric patient care and safety.
Pilot sites recently came together for a learning collaboration day, which was positively received by all participants. Teams were able to exchange ideas, approaches, and plan for various project components, including change management, consumer engagement and process mapping to assist in the project implementation.
We extend our gratitude to all participating health services, clinicians, families, and carers for their invaluable contributions to the Safer Care for Kids project. Your collaboration is essential in our ongoing commitment to improving healthcare outcomes for Victoria's children and young people.
Future progress, including pilot phase results will be provided as they become available.