Top picks: Nurses championing patient safety

Summary

Nurses are at the forefront of health and social care delivery. Often they are also leading, championing and driving change for patient safety. In this edition of our ‘Top picks’ series we celebrate some of the amazing work nurses are doing to prevent avoidable harm and improve patient and staff experience.

The examples below include blogs, interviews and practical improvement projects. They have been shared with us by members of the hub, a global community of people passionate about patient safety. You can sign up to the hub here, it’s free and easy to do. 

Content

Safety tools, approaches and insights

• Implementing the aSSKINg pressure ulcer care bundle – a blog by Susan Martins
• Nurse-led use of technology to enable better care - Homerton University Hospital Action Card App
• Yellow kits - an innovation to reduce the risk of falls in Accident and Emergency departments
• Friends of African Nursing: Training perioperative nurses across Africa
• Measuring standards of care, not negative outcomes
• Nobody left behind: Improving the health of people with learning disabilities and reducing inequalities across primary care
• Tackling antibiotic underdosing: Interview with Ruth Dando, Head of Nursing for Theatres, Critical Care and Anaesthetics at BHRUHT
• Insights from a reducing falls project at the University Hospital Southampton

Safety culture

• How a simple newsletter can improve culture and communication within teams
• It’s time to look beyond perceived barriers to Family Integrated Care in the NICU and create a culture for change

Series of nurse-led blogs

Safety Incident Supporting Our Staff (SISOS)

In this series of blogs, Carol Menashy, shares her own experiences of setting up and developing Safety Incident Supporting Our Staff (SISOS). In this first blog she explains the catalyst that led to developing SISOS. Links to all of Carols blogs can be found at the end.

Safety Chats

In a series of blogs, Gina Winter-Bates, Associate Nurse Director Quality and Safety at Solent NHS Trust, shares her experience of implementing Safety Chats. In this first blog, Gina explains what motivated her to introduce Safety Chats into her Trust. Links to all of Ginas blogs can be found at the end.

Spotlight interviews with nurses

In our series of Patient Safety Spotlight interviews, we talk to different people about their role and what motivates them to make health and social care safer.

• Martin Hogan, Lead Professional Nurse Advocate at Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust
• Kathy Nabbie, Theatre Scrub Nurse Practitioner and Non-medical Surgical First Assistant  
• Angela Hayes and Caroline Morris, Palliative Care Nurse Specialists at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

Could you share for safety?

Are you a nurse with a passion for patient safety? Do you have insights, projects or practical tools and resources that could be shared for wider benefit? Perhaps you’d like to feature in one of our Spotlight interviews?

You can get in touch with our hub editorial team by emailing us at [email protected]