Top picks: 8 Swarm resources

Summary

Swarm is one of the learning tools that can be used for the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF).

A Swarm is designed to start as soon as possible after a patient safety incident occurs. Immediately after an incident, staff ‘swarm’ to the site to quickly analyse what happened and how it happened and decide what needs to be done to reduce risk. Swarms enable insights and reflections to be quickly sought and generate prompt learning.

In this Top picks, we’ve pulled together 8 hub resources on Swarm, including a number of templates organisations have shared with us.

Content

1 NHS England: Swarm huddle

This swarm tool provided by NHS England integrates the SEIPS3 framework and swarm approach to explore in a post-incident huddle what happened and how it happened in the context of how care was being delivered in the real world (ie work as done). 

2 PSIRF templates - AAR, Swarm, Rapid Review

These templates were developed by Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital for use in After Action Review, Swarm and Rapid Review toolkit responses.

3 Swarm debrief guide (Epsom and St Helier Hospital)

Epsom and St Helier Hospital have developed a Swarm guide and fictional example video, for use by those who wish to use the Swarm debrief learning response as part of their PSIRF work. 

4 Swarm video (Epsom and St Helier Hospital)

This Swarm fictional example video was developed by Epson and St Helier Hospital to demonstrate how you can carry out a Swarm debrief using the Swarm guide.

5 Four PSIRF learning response tools (iTS Leadership)

In this article, Judy Walker compares the four tools that can be used for PSIRF, including Swarm, explaining what they are and their strengths and weaknesses.

6 Swarm: a quick and efficient response to patient safety incidents

Two years ago, a patient safety incident at North Bristol Trust led to the introduction of Swarm – a step change in how the trust responds to safety incidents. This article in the Nursing Times describes how Swarm works, its advantages over root cause analysis, and how it is being embedded in the safety culture of North Bristol Trust.

7 Yorkshire Ambulance Service: Swarm huddle tool

This infographic from the Yorkshire Ambulance Service explains what Swarm is, when you would use it, who should be involved in it and who should lead it, and it's strengths and weaknesses.

8 SpaMedica: Swarm templates

At a recent Patient Safety Management Network meeting, SpaMedica shared insights into their PSIRF journey, offering a unique perspective on how the independent sector implements PSIRF. They have shared their SWARM templates, including one for falls, and Swarm Charter with the hub.

Share your SWARM resources

If you have insights, tools or knowledge to share relating to SWARM why not comment below (you will need to be a member of the hub and sign in) or get in touch with us at [email protected]. At Patient Safety Learning we are also always keen to share good practice, challenges and training resources that could help support safe care more widely.