AbstractsMedical & Health Science

BACKGROUND A need to develop a standardised triage system to prioritise clinical urgency of women when attending a maternity triage department has been identified. This study explores the views and experiences of midwives involved in the implementation of such a system. METHOD Focus groups and questionnaires were used to investigate midwives’ views and experiences of the implementation of the Symptom Specific Obstetric Triage System (SOTS). Thematic analysis of the focus group data was undertaken and descriptive statistics from the questionnaire responses were collated. RESULTS Focus groups were held with midwives (N=12) and questionnaires were sent to all midwives (N=79): response rate =67%. These demonstrated midwives felt the new system had been introduced well and helped them manage and organise the department. They felt patient safety had improved and the system allowed them to use their clinical judgment. It also highlighted issues that needed to be changed. CONCLUSION Implications for the future use of SOTS and implementation in other trusts include: changes are required to the documentation and pain score but the SOTS was useful for some for managing the department and the workload and still allowed the use of clinical judgment for most midwives. Clinicians are excellent at problem solving and their views and experiences are valuable in service improvement initiatives.