Search the hub
Showing results for tags 'Decision making'.
Found 324 results
-
Content ArticleSonia Sparkles is a senior manager in healthcare who is using her artistic skills to improve the way healthcare services communicate with patients. Her goal is to empower patients to feel at ease in healthcare settings and able to fully engage in their care. In this blog, Sonia describes how her own experience of being in hospital helped her see healthcare from a patient's perspective. While an inpatient, she felt disempowered, frightened and unable to ask the questions she wanted to. Having reviewed some NHS patient literature, Sonia realised that there was a need to find a way to communicate clearly with patients and invite them to share their concerns with healthcare staff. She produced a series of 23 posters as a starting point to get people thinking about how to communicate with patients in a simple, visual and empowering way.
-
Community Post
Can the NHS learn from healthcare systems overseas?
Steve Turner posted a topic in Organisational
- (and 24 more)
Is it time to change the way England's healthcare system is funded? Is the English system in need of radical structural change at the top? I've been prompted to think about this by the article about the German public health system on the BBC website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-62986347.amp There are no quick fixes, however we all need to look at this closely. I believe that really 'modernising' / 'transforming' our health & #socialcare systems could 'save the #NHS'. Both for #patients through improved safety, efficiency & accountability, and by making the #NHS an attractive place to work again, providing the NHS Constitution for England is at the heart of changes and is kept up to date. In my experience, having worked in healthcare for the private sector and the NHS, and lived and worked in other countries, we need to open our eyes. At present it could be argued that we have the worst of both worlds in England. A partially privatised health system and a fully privatised social care system. All strung together by poor commissioning and artificial and toxic barriers, such as the need for continuing care assessments. In my view a change, for example to a German-style system, could improve patient safety through empowering the great managers and leaders we have in the NHS. These key people are held back by the current hierarchical crony-ridden system, and we are at risk of losing them. In England we have a system which all too often punishes those who speak out for patients and hides failings behind a web of denial, obfuscation and secrecy, and in doing this fails to learn. Vast swathes of unnecessary bureaucracy and duplication could be eliminated, gaps more easily identified, and greater focus given to deeply involving patients in the delivery of their own care. This is a contentious subject as people have such reverence for the NHS. I respect the values of the NHS and want to keep them; to do this effectively we need much more open discussion on how it is organised and funded. What are people's views? -
Content ArticleIn this article for The Guardian, journalist Sirin Kale speaks to Janet Williams about the impact the epilepsy drug sodium valproate has had on her family. Janet took the medication to treat her epilepsy throughout her two pregnancies in 1989 and 1991, but had never been warned about the potential risks to her babies. Foetal valproate syndrome can cause spina bifida, congenital heart defects and developmental delays and is believed to have affected around 20,000 children in the UK. Both of Janet's sons were affected by the medication and require full time care as a result. Janet describes how being told about the risks would have enabled her to make an informed decision about whether to have children, and how her experience led her to help set up In-FACT (the Independent Fetal Anti Convulsant Trust) in 2012.
-
Content Article
This year, the World Health Organisation’s annual World Patient Safety Day on 17 September 2022 will focus on medication safety, promoting safe medication practices to prevent medication errors and reducing medication-related harm. Patient Safety Learning has pulled together some useful resources from the hub about different aspects of medication safety. Here we list seven tools and articles related to patient engagement and medication safety, including an interview with a patient advocate campaigning for transparency in medicines regulation, a blog outlining family concerns around prescribing and consent, and a number of projects that aim to enhance patient involvement in using medications safely. -
Content ArticleIn this podcast, Dr Ramai Santhirapala interviews Professor Melville about the new GMC guidance around consent and decision making, exploring some useful tips for best practice and exploring some of the challenges clinicians may face around this topic.
-
Content Article
What is safety management system? (31 August 2022)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Organisational
Safety Management System (SMS) is a collection of structured, company-wide processes that provide effective risk-based decision-making for daily business functions. A SMS helps organisations offer products or services at the highest level of safety and maintain safe operations. This article explains more. -
Content ArticleThe Patients Association has put together a jargon buster dictionary designed to give straightforward explanations for many healthcare terms. The document was developed by the Patients Association's lived experience advisory panel, Patient Voices Matter. During its meetings, it became clear that members didn't always know the meanings of some of the words and terms they were hearing during consultations with doctors and other healthcare professionals. Letters from the NHS were identified as a source of a lot of jargon. You can also suggest words and phrases to add to the dictionary.
-
Content ArticlePatient Voices Matter (PVM), a lived experience advisory panel set up by The Patients Association, has highlighted how important it is to make information accessible to all potential users. In this blog, Sarah Tilsed Head of Patient Partnership, and Ray, a member of PVM, talk about the impact of jargon on health inequalities and the accessibility of health services. They also discuss their presentation in August 2022 to the NHS Health Inequalities Improvement Network.
-
Content ArticleIn this British Journal of Nursing article, John Tingle, Lecturer in Law, Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham, discusses some recent reports on the duty of candour and shared decision-making.
-
Content ArticleDecision support tools, also called patient decision aids, support shared decision making by making treatment, care and support options explicit. They provide evidence-based information about the associated benefits/harms and help patients to consider what matters most to them in relation to the possible outcomes, including doing nothing. NHS England has just published a suite of eight decision support tools that will help people with their healthcare professionals in clinical consultations, about their treatment choices for their condition through shared decision making. NHS England has worked with patients, patient charities health professionals and research teams over several months to develop the tools in line with NICE guidance on shared decision making standards.
-
Content ArticleThis paper from Claire Su-Yeon Park aims to propose Park's sweet spot theory-driven implementation strategy, which makes optimal safe staffing policy really work in nursing practice.
-
Content ArticleThe Personalised Care Group at NHS England aims to help improve the choice and control that patients have over their health, as part of its NHS Long Term Plan commitments. These decision support tools will help people discuss their treatment choices with their healthcare professionals through shared decision making. The eight new tools cover the following conditions: Dupuytren’s contracture Carpal tunnel syndrome Hip osteoarthritis Knee osteoarthritis Further treatment for atrial fibrillation Cataracts Glaucoma Wet age-related macular degeneration
-
Content Article
Research shows that poor handover in hospitals puts patients at risk of severe harm
Anonymous posted an article in Handover
Research undertaken by digital health platform, CAREFUL shows that handover in hospitals is the cause of frequent and severe harm to patients. -
Content ArticleThis report examines the approaches and key decisions taken by UK governments during the pandemic and the public health measures they introduced. It assesses whether these choices were timely, appropriate, and proportionate to deal with the threat and impact of COVID-19.
-
Content ArticlePatient choice has been a feature of the NHS in England for the last two decades, but patients' knowledge about what choices they have in accessing their NHS healthcare is variable. This report by the Patients Association and the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN) looks at the role patient choice can play in tackling the elective care backlog. The report found that: there are significant variations in waiting times across the country. patients do not need to travel long distances to access care more quickly. On average, a patient would need to travel just 13.2 miles to go from one of the worst performing providers to one of the top performers. the potential for reducing waiting times by accessing care through an alternative provider was backed up by both polling and focus group work, which found the public is enthusiastic about patient choice. people's awareness of their rights around where they receive their NHS treatment is low, suggesting the Government and NHS England need to do more to promote choice and make it easier for patients to understand the options available to them.
-
Content ArticleThe Accessible Information Standard gives disabled people and people with sensory loss the right to get healthcare information they can understand and communications support if needed. A survey conducted by HealthWatch between February and May 2022 aimed to investigate whether the standard is being delivered by health services, and whether it offers enough support to patients. While the survey participants were self-selected, their views are likely to reflect those of a significant group of people who need communications support. HealthWatch hopes that the survey's findings will help NHS and social care decision-makers hear what is working and what could be better from the public's perspective.
-
Content ArticleThis research explores how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the ways doctors make end-of-life decisions, particularly around Do Not Attempt Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR), treatment escalation and doctors’ views on the legalisation of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.
-
News ArticleDoctors are less likely to resuscitate the most seriously ill patients in the wake of the pandemic, a survey suggests. Covid-19 may have changed doctors’ decision-making regarding end of life, making them more willing not to resuscitate very sick or frail patients and raising the threshold for referral to intensive care, according to the results of the research published in the Journal of Medical Ethics. However, the pandemic has not changed their views on euthanasia and doctor-assisted dying, with about a third of respondents still strongly opposed to these policies, the survey responses reveal. The Covid-19 pandemic transformed many aspects of clinical medicine, including end-of-life care, prompted by millions more patients than usual requiring it around the world, say the researchers. In respect of DNACPR, the decision not to attempt to restart a patient’s heart when it or breathing stops, more than half the respondents were more willing to do this than they had been previously. Asked about the contributory factors, the most frequently cited were: “likely futility of CPR” (88% pre-pandemic, 91% now); coexisting conditions (89% both pre-pandemic and now); and patient wishes (83.5% pre-pandemic, 80.5% now). Advance care plans and “quality of life” after resuscitation were also commonly cited. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 25 July 2022
-
Content ArticleIn this presentation Paula Goss, the founding member of Rectopexy Mesh Victims and Support, shares her experience of having a mesh implant. She describes the absence of informed consent during the procedure and the pain and complications she experienced following her surgery. This was shared at a Bristol Biomedical Research Centre workshop aimed at improving shared decision making for surgical innovation.
-
Content ArticleIt is important that patients understand the risks, benefits and alternatives associated with their treatment, but there is often a gap in patients' actual understanding of these issues. There is now substantial evidence showing that patient decision aids (PDAs) and shared decision making can bridge the gap between the theory and practice of informed consent. However, in spite of the evidence, PDAs are still rarely used in clinical settings. This article in the journal Maine Law Review looks at how the monetary incentive of a professional liability insurance premium reduction could encourage doctors in the USA to increase the use of PDAs.
-
Content ArticleIn this blog, Dr Chloe Stewart, health psychologist and national clinical advisor in personalised care for NHS England, looks at the role of personalised care in helping overcome the care backlog and addressing health inequalities in people with musculoskeletal conditions (MSKs). She looks at examples of coproduction in MSK services and highlights the need to give patients better information and training about how to manage their condition.
-
Content ArticleThis study in the journal Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology aimed to explore the perspectives of radiology and internal medicine residents on the desire for personal contact between radiologists and referring doctors, and the effect of improved contact on clinical practice. A radiology round was implemented, in which radiology residents travel to the internal medicine teaching service teams to discuss their inpatients and review ordered imaging. Surveys were given to both groups following nine months of implementation. The vast majority of both diagnostic radiology residents and internal medicine residents reported benefits in patient management from direct contact with the other group, leading the authors to conclude that this generation of doctors is already aware of the value of radiologists who play an active, in-person role in making clinical decisions.
-
Content ArticleThe government has published a draft Mental Health Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny. The bill aims to modernise the Mental Health Act for the 21st century.
-
Content ArticleShared decision making involves ensuring patients are able to contribute meaningfully to decisions about their care. Healthcare professionals ensure patients are informed of the options available to them and fully involve patients in making treatment decisions. This report by the Patients Association sets out the views of 1,416 healthcare professionals on shared decision making, expressed in an online survey in Spring 2022. Respondents included GPs, consultants, specialist nurses and practice nurses. The survey found that most healthcare professionals are positive about shared decision making, but feel their ability to practice it regularly is limited by the current situation in the NHS. Many said that lack of time, gaps in the workforce and large caseloads prevented them partnering with patients to make decisions about treatment and care together.
-
Content ArticleFinding out a patient's perspective about their care and treatment is a key part of shared decision making, but healthcare professionals do not always proactively do this in practice. This scoping review in the journal Patient Education and Counselling explored the extent to which the personal perspectives of patients are drawn out by clinicians during a consultation, as part of a shared decision making process. It reviewed studies in five databases about shared decision making. The authors found that studies reported low levels of healthcare professionals eliciting patient perspectives, The majority of content healthcare professionals and patients discussed related to physical health, with social and psychological topics mostly unaddressed.
