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Showing results for tags 'Communication'.
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Content ArticleIn England, the NHS National Breast Screening Programme (NHSBSP) offers routine breast screening to all women, some trans men and non-binary people, between the ages of 50 years and up to their 71st birthday, every 3 years. The unfolding Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 was understandably a time of great anxiety and concern. Culturally we were seeing strong behavioural shifts such as social distancing and a general change in all our daily life patterns. Conceptually, and as leaders, we understood the vulnerability we observed, but felt that we did not have the 'right language' and in fact lacked the relevant experience of how to address and communicate with staff and clients during this crisis. A semiotic, observational research project was utilised that aimed at providing insight how cultural behaviour was being shaped and expressed during the early onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in England. The recommendations of the project were then integrated and implemented into an action plan and subsequent practice. Semiotic analysis revealed that several factors (positive and negative) impacted on peoples' confidence and had practical and emotional implications. Eleven main codes which are belief systems about oneself and others were identified and expressed in a multitude of different ways revealing three main themes or needs i.e. Reassurance, Trust and Clarity. An action plan was developed in response to the project findings and recommendation were implemented. Effective leadership relies on situational awareness. This semiotic project enabled the authors to find the 'right' language and communication style so that they could connect with staff at the time of crisis.
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Content ArticleIn this blog, After Action Review (AAR) specialist Judy Walker shares an account of a successful AAR that took place amongst a surgical team. The AAR was called after a near-miss where the anaesthetist was prevented from injecting spinal block medication into the wrong side of a patient's spine by an operating department practitioner (ODP). The story demonstrates the benefits of AAR, including accelerated learning, a no-blame approach, flattening staff hierarchy and a significant reduction in the time it takes to investigate an incident.
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News Article
Northern Ireland: No shows to health appointments costing thousands
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Patients who fail to turn up for surgical day case procedures are costing the health service thousands of pounds. It is a problem across Northern Ireland's five health trusts. Over a 10-month period in the South Eastern area 14,000 patients did not attend or cancelled review appointments on the day they were due to turn up. Assistant Director of Elective Surgery at the South Eastern Trust Christine Allam said it was "frustrating". The South Eastern trust review showed between April 2022 and January 2023, 7,755 people did not attend or cancelled new outpatient appointments on the day. During the same period, 14,003 or 10% of patients didn't show for review appointments. Ms Allam said the situation was "frustrating for those patients who are waiting to be seen". "Those slots where people don't turn up are lost capacity because we haven't been given notice - and this only lengthens the waiting lists," she added. It is a problem that all health trusts are experiencing. Read full story Source: BBC News, 24 May 2023 -
Content Article
D1abasics campaign resources (UHS, May 2023)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Diabetes
People with diabetes account for one in three hospital inpatients, and this is projected to increase to one in five in the next few years. Often, people are in hospital for reasons other than their diabetes, so it is important that staff across all specialties understand the basics of diabetes care in order to ensure patient safety. D1abasics is an innovative project that aims to equip all healthcare professionals to support the basic diabetes healthcare needs of their patients. Developed by the diabetes team at University Hospital Southampton with funding and support from the charity Diabetes UK, the campaign includes resources such as posters, lanyards and prompt cards. The diabetes team is supporting learning across the hospital by making visits to all wards and specialties to promote D1abasics. You can download the D1abasics poster below. -
Content Article
Complications after private surgery: where to turn to?
Anonymous posted an article in Patient stories
A patient shares her experience of life-changing complications after a hysterectomy she had at a private hospital and the lack of follow up and help she's received since. She highlights the actions she would like to see in place for private hospitals around informed consent, follow up and support after surgery, and accountability. The patient wishes to remain anonymous. -
News Article
Call for national guidelines on discussing past trauma in maternity appointments
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
National guidelines are needed to help maternity care professionals navigate discussions with pregnant women about past traumas, experts have said. Their study, published in the journal Plos One, also found that while talking about previously experienced traumas can be valuable, they can also trigger painful memories if not approached sensitively. The authors also raised concerns about the support available for professionals who may not feel equipped to explore challenging topics such as domestic or sexual abuse, childhood trauma and birth trauma without adequate guidelines or referral pathways. Joanne Cull, a midwife and PhD student at the University of Central Lancashire’s School of Community Health and Midwifery, who is corresponding author on the study, said: “As awareness of the long-term effects of trauma on health and wellbeing has grown, there has been a move toward asking pregnant women about previous trauma, usually at the first appointment. “No national guidance on this has been published in the UK so NHS Trusts have implemented this on a piecemeal approach.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 17 May 2023 -
News ArticleBlind people are being put “at risk” when the NHS provides them with “inaccessible” information about their health, a charity has warned. People with sight loss have missed appointments, cancer screenings or been unable to use home test kits because of a lack of clear instructions in an accessible format, according to the sight loss charity RNIB. It warned that denying people access to their information can also “cause embarrassment and loss of dignity”. Linda Hansen, from Bradford, who is severely sight-impaired, said that she needed to get her daughter to read her the results of a medical exam which was sent to her in print format. Ms Hansen, 62, said: “I can get my bank statement or a gas bill in accessible formats, but yet I still receive health information that I can’t read. What could be more personal than your health status?” A new RNIB campaign – My Info My Way – has been launched calling for all blind and partially sighted people to be given accessible information. The charity said that a failure to provide information in an accessible format is putting blind and partially sighted people “at risk”. Read full story Source: The Independent, 16 May 2023
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Content Article
RNIB: My info my way
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Other conditions and diseases
Blind and partially sighted people have a legal right to receive accessible health and care information. The RNIB has launched the #MyInfoMyWay campaign, and how to request information in a format you can read. Accessible health and care information allows people with sight loss to manage their health and care with the same level of independence and privacy as everyone else. -
Content Article
This is part of our series of Patient Safety Spotlight interviews, where we talk to people working for patient safety about their role and what motivates them. Stephen talks to us about his time as turnaround Chair of Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, how NHS boards can ensure they live their values and why creating a safe space to share concerns improves patient safety. -
Content ArticleThis guide aims to help health and social care workers provide dementia care, which corresponds to the needs and wishes of people from a wide range of ethnic groups, especially minority ethnic groups.
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Content Article
At Patient Safety Learning we believe that sharing insights and learning is vital to improving outcomes and reducing harm. That's why we created the hub; providing a space for people to come together and share their experiences, resources and good practice examples. Dementia is an umbrella term for a number of diseases that affect the brain, with Alzheimer’s disease its most common cause. We have picked nine resources and reflections about keeping people with dementia safe in health and care settings, and when considering medication choices. -
Content ArticleApproximately 8% of US doctors experience a malpractice claim annually. Most malpractice claims are a result of adverse events, which may or may not be a result of medical errors. However, not all medicolegal cases are the result of medical errors or negligence, but rather, may be associated with the individual nature of the patient-doctor relationship. The strength of this relationship may be partially determined by a physician’s emotional intelligence (EI), or his or her ability to monitor and regulate his or her emotions as well as the emotions of others. This review evaluates the role of EI in developing the patient-physician relationship and how EI may influence patient decisions to pursue medicolegal action.
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Content ArticleHealth literacy, defined as an individual's ability to access, understand, and use health information to make informed decisions about their health and healthcare, plays a critical role in determining health outcomes. Wider determinants of health, on the other hand, refer to a range of social, economic, and environmental factors that influence an individual's health status. This article aims to explore the relationship between health literacy and the wider determinants of health, and how understanding this connection can contribute to more effective population health management and health equity.
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Content Article
More than just physical blog
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Patient stories
This series of blog posts is written by a patient who experienced life-changing complications after surgery went wrong. In her posts, they explore the psychological needs of patients following healthcare harm, which are often overlooked during physical rehabilitation. "I believe that the emotional support given to the patient during those first few weeks can make a significant difference to their long term quality of life. That’s why I decided to write this blog, to give constructive feedback to help medical professionals learn from my experiences." -
Content ArticleGuidance needs to be applied in a careful, caring and person-centred way to ensure that patients benefit from, and are not harmed by, healthcare. In this blog, Dr Sam Finnikin, an academic GP in Sutton Coldfield, uses the story of 86 year-old Joan to illustrate the importance of shared decision-making in ensuring patients receive the most appropriate care. Joan was prescribed multiple medications by the hospital cardiology team after being diagnosed with acute coronary syndrome and a severely impaired left ventricle, but the medications made her feel very unwell and inhibited her quality of life. Joan then reached out to her GP surgery as she wanted to stop taking them, and Dr Finnikin realised that she and her family were unaware of the the reason each medication had been prescribed and the potential benefits and side effects of each one. After a long conversation about her priorities, Joan stopped the medications that were not benefitting her symptoms and died in peace and comfort at home a few weeks later. Dr Finnikin argues that shared decision-making is not an optional extra, but must be considered a vital part of healthcare, stating that "omitting shared decision making can be just as harmful to patients as being ignorant of clinical recommendations."
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News Article
What the NHS is learning from Brazil
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Knocking on doors to check on people's health and catch problems before they escalate is common practice across Brazil. But could that approach work in the UK? Comfort and Nahima are two out of four door-knockers on round Churchill Gardens, a council estate in the Pimlico neighbourhood of London, visiting residents as part of a proactive community healthcare pilot. They can help with anything from housing issues which impact health, such as overcrowding, or pick up the early signs of diabetes by chatting informally to residents about their lifestyle. These community health workers are partly funded by the local authority and partly by the NHS so they can co-ordinate between the local GP surgery and other social services. Local GP Dr Connie Junghans-Minton says the proactive approach had led to fewer requests for appointments The National Institute for Health Research helped crunch the data from the pilot. Households which had been visited regularly were 47% more likely to have received immunisations and 82% more likely to have taken up cancer screening, compared to other areas. The idea to import this model to the UK came from Dr Matthew Harris, a public health expert at Imperial College London who worked as a GP in Brazil for four years. There, community health workers have been credited with achieving a drop of 34% in cardiovascular deaths. "In Brazil they have scaled this role to such degree that they have 270,000 community health workers across the whole country, each of which looks after 150 households, visiting them at least once a month," Dr Harris said. "They've seen extraordinary outcomes in terms of population health in the last two or three decades. We think we've got a lot to learn from that." Read full story Source: BBC News, 9 May 2023 -
Content ArticleHospital command and control centres (CCCs) are central locations within a hospital where staff can coordinate and manage the response to emergencies, disasters and other critical events. They are also often used to track and monitor the location and status of hospital staff and resources, such as beds, equipment and supplies, in order to ensure that they are used efficiently and effectively. This blog by Sukhmeet Panesar, Chief Health Officer at Monstar Labs, acts as an introduction to CCCs in healthcare. It includes information on the different types of CCC, the benefits of CCCs and the challenges they may face.
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Content ArticleIn 2002, a dedicated group from Pennsylvania passed the Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error (MCARE) Act, the most robust state-level legislation of its kind. Its legacy remains 21 years later. In this interview with the journal Patient Safety, Pennsylvania's Patient Safety Authority chair, Dr Nirmal Joshi, discusses ways care has improved, what challenges persist, and how to achieve the unachievable—true culture change.
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Content ArticleWhether beginning a new effort or trying to keep people motivated to better prepare for future hazards, applying risk communication principles will lead to more effective results. This self-guided module introduces seven best practices, numerous techniques, and examples to help you improve your communication efforts. Please note that this training focuses on improving risk communication skills for coastal hazards planning and preparedness, however the principles can be adapted for any setting, including healthcare.
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Content ArticleThis book published by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) looks at risk communication—the communication approach used for situations when people need good information to make sound choices. It is distinguished from public affairs (or public relations) communication by its commitment to accuracy and its avoidance of spin. Effective risk communication between healthcare professionals and patients is important to ensure patient safety, and in various chapters of the book, the authors look at how to maximise effective communication in healthcare scenarios.
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Content ArticleIn this article, Professor Paul Bowie, Programme Director for Safety & Improvement at NHS Education for Scotland (NES), outlines an NES research project which aimed to critically review the safety-related content, language and assumptions of a small but diverse range of health and care safety learning reports, policies, databases and curricula.
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Content Article
Black and Asian bereaved parents whose baby died during pregnancy or shortly after birth have shared their experiences as part of the Sands Listening Project. The 56 parents who took part shone a light on care that works well, while also highlighting barriers, biases, and poor care. In the report, published by Sands, you can read more about: the findings pregnancy loss and baby deaths among Black and Asian babies in the UK real-life experiences and case studies what needs to change. Follow the link below to access the Listening Project report on the Sands website. -
Content ArticleIn this blog, interdisciplinary humanistic, systems and design practitioner Dr Stephen Shorrock explores the dangers of project leaders relying on assumptions about work-as-imagined, detached from the reality of contextualised work-as-done. He describes his experience working on a project in which he discovered that operational staff felt anxious and unprepared for the major changes to come. This was unacknowledged by management, and he ascribes their lack of awareness to a failure to physically and empathetically engage with the workers in the reality of the processes and systems management had designed. He highlights the importance of empathy and asks the question, "In your worlds, how connected are managers and other non-operational specialists with operational staff and the operational environment, where changes ultimately end up? Those who wish to support operational staff through change must take the role of pupil, or apprentice – not master."
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Content ArticleFailure to rescue is defined as mortality after complications during hospital care. Incidence ranges 10.9%–13.3% and several national reports such as National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcomes and Death and National Institute of Clinical Excellence CG 50 highlight failure to rescue as a significant problem for safe patient care. To avoid failure to rescue events, there must be successful escalation of care. Studies indicate that human factors such as situational awareness, team working, communication and a culture promoting safety contribute to avoidance of failure to rescue events. Understanding human factors is essential to developing work systems that mitigate barriers and facilitate prompt escalation of care. This qualitative evidence synthesis identifies and synthesise what is known about the human factors that affect escalation of care.
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Content Article
It's ok to ask
Patient_Safety_Learning posted an article in How to engage for patient safety
This video, produced by My Life Choices and NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, encourages patients to ask questions when accessing healthcare.
