Quality Improvement
May 2010
Andrew Lee, Clinical Lecturer in Public Health / GP and Fiona Campbell, Research Associate / Health Visitor / District Nurse also went to the Maldives as part of the Sheffield Collaborative. They ran extensive training programmes in Quality Improvement Through Audit and Research. They both assisted delegates to apply the principles of audit and research to practical situations, which the delegates wished to explore further.
Andrew Lee delivered a national training programme to multidisciplinary health staff in conjunction with Quality Improvement Division (QID) staff.
Sessions were delivered as lectures and interactive workshops, including:
- Introduction to quality improvement and patient safety
- Clinical audit
- Developing criteria and standards/Evidence-based practice
- Data collection and analysis
- Implementing change
- Mapping the care pathway/Problem tree analysis
The participants described their audit topics and plans for the coming year, and were issued with certificates by Dr Yasir, Director General of Health Services. Andrew will be supporting the participants, via the internet, in executing their projects. It is hoped that they will report back to QID on their completed audits in the next 12 months, so they can be compiled, published, and disseminated throughout the country.
Andrew also spent time with QID looking over the regulatory inspection checklists and discussed the process for developing standards and protocols. The Quality Improvement Report can be viewed at Quality Improvement Report 2010.
Fiona Campbell was mainly based in Fuvahmulah, where she carried out extensive training with the local nurses and other staff at Gn Hospital. She creatively used home made videos and pictures to stimulate ideas for audit, and supported nurses in data collection relating to their chosen areas of enquiry. Fiona enhanced the training with quizzes and prizes, participated in Nurses Day, with a costume made for her by the local nurses, and was a source of mentorship for the nurses whilst she was on the island.
The nurses were very engaging as they had few educational opportunities and lots of ideas which they wished to develop. One area they were interested in was breast feeding, so Fiona took to a motorbike to interview local people in the community, with the nurses, in order to carry out a breast feeding project. This work culminated in a report on breast feeding and growth of children: Fiona's report of the work she did with the nurses is available at Breast feeding and growth survey 2010.
Fiona also delivered some teaching with her husband, David Campbell, Consultant Paediatrician, aswell as assisting Andrew Lee in delivering some of the training for the course arranged by QID.
