Hi Alexis,
This, and other often-mysterious figures and stats, is something I'm actively working on building with data from multiple shelters. It's tricky as we don't have standardized ways of reporting data (yet,) and it often requires going through thousands of records animal-by-animal to determine exact cause of the non-live outcome, but we're getting there.
DIC is extra tricky because DIC will often increase as lifesaving increases. As we accept and treat harder cases, DIC will often increase because those cats simply aren't being euthanized immediately now.
You might consider a Non-Live Outcome Scrunity Spreadsheet (I can share a blank copy of mine with you if you email me.) For my org, and some orgs I work with, it's a way to track every non-live outcome, cause, location, etc - and keep an eye on both individual cases and trends. For example, in house, we track all basic animal information but also ensure that full notes were added to the file, if the cat was also FeLV+ or Neonate, the LOS between intake and outcome, last location of the animal so we know if this is happening in house or in foster, etc. Because I am a data nerd, I chart it all out so everyone can see visuals on the data. :D
------------------------------
Monica Frenden-Tarant
Maddie's® Director of Feline Lifesaving
American Pets Alive!
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 10-06-2021 10:03 AM
From: Alexis Pugh
Subject: Tracking pets that die in care?
So our team has been reviewing our died in care data, and as expected the vast majority of those deaths are neo-natal kittens that fail to thrive in their foster home. Overall our died in care rate is about 1.5% (including neonates) of our total intakes.
Is there a percentage for this that is considered industry standard? Just like we talk about percentages for RTO, etc., I am wondering if this stat has a target percentage we should compare ourselves to?
I have also created this draft post-mortem document for us to start doing reviews of all died in care cases. Does anyone else use something like this or have a better process?
Just wanting to use these cases as potential opportunities to improve our processes!
#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization
#OrganizationalManagement
------------------------------
Alexis Pugh
Director, Memphis Animal Services
www.memphisanimalservices.com
Organizational Management
& Pet Support Services Specialist
------------------------------