Posted on: 28 June 2018
Summertime
Its summertime, it’s not raining, England’s footballers have won their first two matches of the tournament, and there’s continued growth in CNWL QI projects. We have now reached an impressive total of 187 active QI projects on Life Q.
213 staff members have registered with IHI Open School for the online training, and 308 IHI Open School modules have now been completed. If you haven’t registered for the training yet, do it soon, because it’s clear, informative and will help you no matter where you are on your QI journey.
Bitesize QI
Are you interested in learning more about QI methodology? Have you completed Open School modules 101-105? Do you feel like you’d like some face-to-face training? Or are you involved in a QI project but haven’t had any QI training?
If yes, then in all likelihood Bitesize QI is what you’re after.
Bitesize QI is a half day introduction to QI run by CNWL staff specialising in QI. You will learn more about the Model for Improvement, how to develop a driver diagram and run PDSA cycles. We will also start to explore measurement for improvement.
We will shortly be adding monthly dates across the Trust with the first course launching on 27 June 2018 at Stephenson House, and the next one after that on 3 July. For more information and to book, please visit training and events.
Congratulations to our one hundreth QI project!
Our congratulations go to Goodall: Speech and Language Therapy: ‘Improving the care of adults who are eating and drinking with acknowledged risk of aspiration’, as this is the hundredth CNWL QI Project to be registered in life QI.
The project supports adults with swallowing difficulties who choose to eat and drink at risk of aspiration (food/drink entering the airway). The team has developed a 'risk feeding passport' that can 'travel' with patients in and out of hospital. This aims to ensure that patients find their choices around eating and drinking are supported both at home and in hospital, that they avoid unnecessary re-admissions and periods kept nil by mouth, and that they are aware of simple but strongly evidence-based steps they can take (such as mouthcare) to reduce their risk of developing complications such as aspiration pneumonia.
Photo: From left, Katy Millard (Head of Community Services London) presenting a ‘hundredth Life QI Registered Project’ certificate to Claire Hunt (Speech and Language Therapist Camden Neurology and Stroke Service and Integrated Primary Care) and Jonathan Martin (Consultant in Palliative Medicine and Clinical Lead Camden, Islington ELiPSe and UCLH and HCA Palliative Care Service).
Save the date!
The next day-long ‘QI Learning Event’ is scheduled for 14 September 2018. It will take place at 350 Euston Road, (Bevans 1 and 2).
The Spring QI Learning Event in April was a great success. See some of the comments below from those who attended.
“Found carer/user involvement contributed greatly to the day” (Clinical Education Lead)
“Great presentation/discussion regarding involving service users in QI work” (Divisional Governance Lead)
“Very good learning event. I am impressed” (Senior Health Visitor)
Please keep an eye on weekly news and the QI newsletter for information on when tickets for the event are available.
Life QI: Tip of the month
Setting your project privacy
There are two privacy settings on Life QI, everyone can view and only members can view.
Only members can view means your project team and all staff at CNWL can view your projects.
Everyone can view means your project will be visible to all registered users who use Life QI. Currently there are over 1000 registered organisations on the Life QI platform and your project will be visible to their members if they search QI projects across the platform.
To change your privacy settings:
- Click on your project you will go to the general menu tab of your project where you can see your members and project aim
- Click the blue ‘edit’ button on the top right
- Scroll down and look on the right hand side of the page for the ’privacy’ heading.
- Click the drop down and select your chosen privacy level
- Don’t forgot to save by clicking the blue ‘save’ button on the top right of the page.
Feeling a bit stuck?
Do you want to get a QI project off the ground but feel a bit stuck about what you should focus on?
Why not use CNWL’s five priority areas for QI to guide your thinking? They are as follows:
- Improving patient and carer experience
- Improving patient safety
- Improving clinical effectiveness of our services
- Improving access
- Workforce improvement
Your project doesn’t have to align with these priority areas, but if it does you can feel confident that you’re on the right lines.
Don’t worry though if at any point during your QI journey you feel a bit stuck. This might even be at the start of a project when you’re forming a team to drive the work.
Forming a team
Here are some tips for forming a team:
- Find the right people (different disciplines, skills, expertise)
- Involve service users/carers!
- Gauge/gain commitment from team members
- Find a sponsor (a senior member of staff with influence will help you overcome barriers in the system)
- Develop a stakeholder map
Understanding the issue
If you’ve got your team together already, you may find yourself getting stuck understanding the issue you want to work on.
Here are some tips on understanding the issue:
- Get consensus (agree together what you want to work on)
- Get feedback (what do patients, carers and staff think about the issue?)
- Get data (what does the data tell us about the issue?)
- Set a SMART objective
Planning Improvements
If it’s at the planning improvements phase where you’re getting stuck, try these tips.
- Get together everyone from your team (set aside protected time to plan properly)
- Ask what improvements could we make?
- Generate ideas, be creative!
- Do a driver diagram. It’s easier than you think and will set boundaries around your work
- Keep things simple (i.e. don’t make things overly complicated)
- Develop measures by agreeing what success looks like, and by asking yourselves how you’ll demonstrate what you’ve achieved.
Finally, do remember that there is a range of help and support available to you (details below) when you need it. Whether that’s having an informal chat with your Divisional QI lead, signing up to a monthly Bitesize QI session, or completing and even re-doing the excellent courses available to all staff on IHI open school.
Help and support
Key contacts for help and support or for more information about running your Quality Improvement projects.