Patient Safety Education Network

Summary

Chris Elston, Patient Safety Education Lead for University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, introduces a new network that is being set up for colleagues in similar roles. 

Content

Just over a year ago I found a job that seemed to be written for me. The job title was Patient Safety Education Lead. It combined teaching and human factors to improve safety – two big passions that I have. It was at the same time that the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) was due to launch. What an opportunity, I had to go for it, and here I am 15 months later and I have some thoughts and concerns.

At the many meetings that I attend I always seem to be the only person who has a sole responsibility for teaching the many different parts of patient safety. There are Patient Safety Specialists, Patient Safety Officers, Patient Safety Leads, some even have quality added to their job titles, but I have only met one other Patient Safety Educator.

The question then gets asked, am I doing the job correctly?

Where can I get peer support from?

Don’t get me wrong the team I work in are amazing, but they are not full-time educators, and I am teaching them at times. They may not be the best source of support, all the time.

I then saw a post from a Patient Safety Learning Coordinator (another job title), and although they have a slightly different role than me, there was discussion about a network of educators. This network could provide support to others in similar roles, share resources and possibly even become a voice to influence. I asked to be part of it. Little did I know what was round the corner…

Here we are a few weeks later, and the seeds have been planted and the roots of a network are starting to grow.

We are basing this network on the Patient Safety Management Network and will follow the principles that have been so successful for that network:

• no agenda
• no action log
• an informal setting
• no hierarchy
• cameras on
• no recordings
• drop in, drop out
• a summary note on a dedicated hub page for those that cannot attend

Aims of the Network

1. To support patient safety education roles.
2. To support patient safety learning roles (learning from incidents).
3. To offer peer support to patient safety educators.
4. To share experience within the Patient Safety Education Network.
5. To collaborate on new projects and ideas that enhance the learning from incidents and teaching of healthcare staff.
6. To provide a pool of shared resources within the network.
7. To create a community of patient safety educators who may influence policy.

Membership

The network is open to those who teach any element of patient safety or provide learning from patient safety incidents. The network will be hosted on the Patient Safety Learning hub. You can join by signing up to the hub today. When putting in your details, please tick ‘Patient Safety Education Network’ in the ‘Join a private group’ section. If you are already a member of the hub, please email support@PSLhub.org.

Commitment

We propose to have a monthly meeting on the second Friday of the month. This will last an hour and be shaped by the members. There is no commitment required from members. You can sit in the background and watch/listen, you can participate in the group chat, you can present a topic of your choosing, (if you want to), you can join the meeting when able, you can leave when you need. We are aware that everybody has busy lives both in work and outside of work, so drop in and drop out, skip a meeting or join every meeting, it is your choice and we look forward to meeting you all.

Final thoughts

We are keen to have membership that is truly representative of the healthcare systems in the UK. Those that work in the community, primary and secondary care, mental health, learning disabilities, independent sector and higher education institutes are all welcome.

So, if you are involved in education in any part of the patient safety process and if you want a friendly space to meet and share ideas, get support or even mentoring then this is the place for you.