GOSH PANDA tool

Information about the Paediatric Acuity and Nurse Dependency Assessment (PANDA) tool developed by Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH)The PANDA tool has been developed by Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) to objectively assess the nursing dependency of children and calculates safe nurse staffing requirements for paediatric wards.

• Collates data on the UK Paediatric Critical Care Minimum Data Set (PCCMDS) to allow accurate charging of high dependency care.

• Provides data on staff training needs based on patient need.

• Is designed specifically for paediatric hospital care.

• PANDA calculates safe staffing levels by assessing patients against 55 ‘care categories’ to determine patient acuity level.

• Care categories were derived from guidance on Department of Health (high dependency care in children) and the PCCMDS. Four additional categories were recommended following peer review by nursing experts to ensure PANDA was a holistic tool reflective of both general and specialist paediatric hospital population.

• PANDA identifies the appropriate ‘nursing dependency’ category from the 4 standard categories based on guidance on paediatric nurse staffing from the Royal College of Nursing:

• Each child is individually assessed on a shift by shift basis against the 55 PANDA care categories by the nursing team.
• The patient acuity level is derived from the care categories selected.
• The appropriate nurse dependency and staffing for each child on each shift is calculated based on patient acuity.
• Ward staffing levels are then calculated on a daily and monthly basis.

PANDA is based on assessing each child’s individual needs. Patient data can be entered into PANDA in two ways:

1. By linking to existing patient management systems to identify all children requiring assessment based on admission and discharge data

2. Admitted and discharged from the PANDA system manually.

Reports collate patient acuity and predicted staffing on a shift-by-shift basis, overall acuity of the ward and frequency of PANDA category identification. Reports can be configured to reflect additional nurse staff for patient complexity and cubicalisation if required.

PANDA also allows construction of bespoke reports to meet individual institutional needs.

• PANDA is used to identify patients receiving high dependency or critical care in the ward setting, allowing appropriate financial charging of this higher level of care.

• PANDA allows accurate collection on paediatric wards of the UK national PCCMDS

• PANDA can identify patient care needs, allowing targeted training of nursing staff based on accurate data

PANDA is sold on a per paediatric bed basis and the costs are:

You can try PANDA for a trial period for the following cost:

• Installation and training plus a 3-6 month trial is charged at £3,500 plus travel expenses.

• Travel expenses are deducted from the license fee should (a) PANDA be purchased and (b) not require re-installation or re-training at that time.

• All prices are exclusive of VAT which are charged at the standard rate. Expenses (to/from London) are charged at cost.

• All other support costs are included in the £3500 charge.

Please contact Andy Passey at andyp@c-bia.co.uk for further information on pricing, IT compatibility or to arrange a demonstration of the Paediatric Acuity and Nurse Dependency Assessment tool.

For further information on the clinical benefits of PANDA, please contact Jacqueline Robinson-Rouse, Nursing Workforce Project Lead Nurse at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust at 020 7829 7834 (PA).