Aim

To understand nurses' perceptions and experiences of work role transitions.

Background

Globally an uncertain healthcare landscape exists and when changing work roles nurses experience periods of transition when they may not cope well. A greater understanding of work role transitions may help facilitate workforce retention and successful careers.

Design

Mixed methods systematic review.

Data sources

Six data bases were searched for peer reviewed primary empirical research, published in English language between January 1990 and December 2014, supplemented by hand and citation searching.

Review methods

Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre methods for systematic reviews principles were followed. Analysis and synthesis of the qualitative and quantitative papers was conducted separately using thematic analysis. A third synthesis combined the narrative findings and a narrative synthesis of results is presented.

Results

Twenty-six papers were included. Across nurses' work role transitions two pathways were found: Novice and Experienced. ?Novice? comprises pre-registration and newly qualified nurses. ?Experienced? comprises, Enrolled/Licensed Practical Nurse to Registered Nurse, experienced to specialist nurse and clinical role changes. Each pathway results in different emphasizes of two themes; ?Striving for a new professional self? includes emotional upheaval and identity while ?Know how? includes competence and boundaries. Novice nurses are more susceptible to the extremes of emotional upheaval while experienced nurses' competence eases aspects of transitions while boundary issues pervade.

Conclusion

Informed work and educational environments are required for all groups of nurses. Using existing models of transition can facilitate successful individual transitions and develop the workplace.

Objectives

A wide range of patient benefits have been attributed to single room hospital accommodation including a reduction in adverse patient safety events. However, studies have been limited to the US with limited evidence from elsewhere. The aim of this study was to assess the impact on safety outcomes of the move to a newly built all single room acute hospital.

Methods

A natural experiment investigating the move to 100% single room accommodation in acute assessment, surgical and older people?s wards. Move to 100% single room accommodation compared to ?steady state? and ?new build? control hospitals. Falls, pressure ulcer, medication error, meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium difficile rates from routine data sources were measured over 36 months.

Results

Five of 15 time series in the wards that moved to single room accommodation revealed changes that coincided with the move to the new all single room hospital: specifically, increased fall, pressure ulcer and Clostridium difficile rates in the older people?s ward, and temporary increases in falls and medication errors in the acute assessment unit. However, because the case mix of the older people?s ward changed, and because the increase in falls and medication errors on the acute assessment ward did not last longer than six months, no clear effect of single rooms on the safety outcomes was demonstrated. There were no changes to safety events coinciding with the move at the new build control site.

Conclusion

For all changes in patient safety events that coincided with the move to single rooms, we found plausible alternative explanations such as case-mix change or disruption as a result of the re-organization of services after the move. The results provide no evidence of either benefit or harm from all single room accommodation in terms of safety-related outcomes, although there may be short-term risks associated with a move to single rooms.

This article draws from sociological and socio-legal studies of dispute between patients and doctors to examine how healthcare professionals made sense of patients? complaints about healthcare. We analyse 41 discursive interviews with professional healthcare staff working in eight different English National Health Service settings to explore how they made sense
of events of complaint and of patients? (including families?) motives for complaining. We find that for our interviewees, events of patients? complaining about care were perceived as a breach in fundamental relationships involving patients? trust or patients? recognition of
their work efforts. We find that interviewees ationalised patients? motives for complaining in ways that marginalised the content of their concerns. Complaints were most often discussed as coming from patients who were inexpert, distressed or advantage-seeking;
accordingly, care professionals hearing their concerns about care positioned themselves as informed decision-makers, empathic listeners or service gate-keepers. We find differences in our interviewees? rationalisation of patients? complaining about care to be related to
local service contingences rather than to fixed professional differences. We note that it was rare for interviewees to describe complaints raised by patients as grounds for improving the quality of care. Our findings indicate that recent health policy directives promoting a
view of complaints as learning opportunities from critical patient/consumers must account for sociological factors that inform both how the agency of patients is envisaged and how professionalism exercised contemporary healthcare work.

Background

People aged 75 years and over account for 1 in 4 of all hospital admissions. There has been increasing recognition of problems in the care of older people, particularly in hospitals. Evidence suggests that older people judge the care they receive in terms of kindness, empathy, compassion, respectful communication and being seen as a person not just a patient. These are aspects of care to which we refer when we use the term ?relational care?. Healthcare assistants deliver an increasing proportion of direct care to older people, yet their training needs are often overlooked.

Methods/Design

This study will determine the acceptability and feasibility of a cluster randomised controlled trial of ?Older People?s Shoes? a 2-day training intervention for healthcare assistants caring for older people in hospital. Within this pilot, 2-arm, parallel, cluster randomised controlled trial, healthcare assistants within acute hospital wards are randomised to either the 2-day training intervention or training as usual. Registered nurses deliver ?Older People?s Shoes? over 2 days, approximately 1 week apart. It contains three components: experiential learning about ageing, exploration of older people?s stories, and customer care. Outcomes will be measured at the level of patient (experience of emotional care and quality of life during their hospital stay), healthcare assistant (empathy and attitudes towards older people), and ward (quality of staff/patient interaction). Semi-structured interviews of a purposive sample of healthcare assistants receiving the intervention, and all trainers delivering the intervention, will be undertaken to gain insights into the experiences of both the intervention and the trial, and its perceived impact on practice.

Discussion

Few training interventions for care staff have been rigorously tested using randomised designs. This study will establish the viability of a definitive cluster randomised controlled trial of a new training intervention to improve the relational care proided by healthcare assistants working with older people in hospital.

Trial registration

The study was registered as an International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial (ISRCTN10385799) on 29 December 2014.

Background and objectives
There is little strong evidence relating to the impact of single-room accommodation on healthcare quality and safety. We explore the impact of all single rooms on staff and patient experience; safety outcomes; and costs.

Methods
Mixed methods pre/post ?move? comparison within four nested case study wards in a single acute hospital with 100% single rooms; quasi-experimental before-and-after study with two control hospitals; analysis of capital and operational costs associated with single rooms.

Results
Two-thirds of patients expressed a preference for single rooms with comfort and control outweighing any disadvantages (sense of isolation) felt by some. Patients appreciated privacy, confidentiality and flexibility for visitors afforded by single rooms. Staff perceived improvements (patient comfort and confidentiality), but single rooms were worse for visibility, surveillance, teamwork, monitoring and keeping patients safe. Staff walking distances increased significantly post move. A temporary increase of falls and medication errors in one ward was likely to be associated with the need to adjust work patterns rather than associated with single rooms per se. We found no evidence that single rooms reduced infection rates. Building an all single-room hospital can cost 5% more with higher housekeeping and cleaning costs but the difference is marginal over time.

Conclusions
Staff needed to adapt their working practices significantly and felt unprepared for new ways of working with potentially significant implications for the nature of teamwork in the longer term. Staff preference remained for a mix of single rooms and bays. Patients preferred single rooms.

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work, for commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The study aimed to develop an understanding of health visitor recruitment and retention by examining what existing staff and new recruits wanted from their job, their professional aspirations and what would encourage them to start and stay in employment. Following a period of steady decline in numbers, the health visitor workforce in England has recently been invested in and expanded to deliver universal child public health. To capitalise on this large investment, managers need an understanding of factors influencing workforce retention and continuing recruitment of health visitors. The study was designed using an interpretive approach and involved students (n = 17) and qualified health visitors (n = 22) from the north and south of England. Appreciative inquiry (AI) exercises were used as methods of data collection during 2012. During AI exercises students and health visitors wrote about 'a practice experience you have felt excited and motivated by and briefly describe the factors that contributed to this'. Participants were invited to discuss their written accounts of practice with a peer during an audio-recorded sharing session. Participants gave consent for written accounts and transcribed recordings to be used as study data, which was examined using framework analysis. In exploring personal meanings of health visiting, participants spoke about the common aspiration to make a difference to children and families. To achieve this, they expected their job to allow them to: connect with families; work with others; use their knowledge, skills and experience; use professional autonomy. The study offers new insights into health visitors' aspirations, showing consistency with conceptual explanations of optimal professional practice. Psychological contract theory illustrates connections between professional aspirations and work commitment. Managers can use these findings as part of workforce recruitment and retention strategies and for building on the health visitor commitment to making a difference to children and families.

Objectives

This paper draws on a narrative review of the literature, commissioned to support the Health Visitor Implementation Plan, and aimed at identifying messages about the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed by health visitors to work within the current system of health care provision.

Design

The scoping study and narrative review used three complementary approaches: a broad search, a structured search, and a seminal paper search to identify empirical papers from the health visitor literature for review. The key inclusion criteria were messages of relevance for practice.

Data Sources

378 papers were reviewed. These included empirical papers from the United Kingdom (UK) from 2004 to February 2012, older research identified in the seminal paper search and international literature from 2000 to January 2016.

Review Methods

The review papers were read by members of the multidisciplinary research team which included health visitor academics, social scientists, and a clinical psychologist managed the international literature. Thematic content analysis was used to identify main messages. These were tabulated and shared between researchers in order to compare emergent findings and to confirm dominant themes.

Results

The analysis identified an ?orientation to practice? based on salutogenesis (health creation), human valuing (person-centred care), and viewing the person in situation (human ecology) as the aspirational core of health visitors' work. This was realised through home visiting, needs assessment, and relationship formation at different levels of service provision. A wide range of knowledge, skills, and abilities were required, including knowledge of health as a process and skills in engagement, building trust, and making professional judgments. These are currently difficult to impart within a 45 week health visitor programme and are facilitated through ad hoc post-registration education and training. The international literature reported both similarities and differences between the working practices of health visitors in the UK and public health nurses worldwide. Challenges related to the education of each were identified.

Conclusions

The breadth and scope of knowledge, skills, and abilities required by health visitors make a review of current educational provision desirable. Three potential models for health visitor education are described.

Background

Diabetes affects around 3.6 million people in the UK. Previous research found that general practices employing more nurses delivered better diabetes care, but did not include data on individual patient characteristics or consultations received.

Aim

To examine whether the proportion of consultations with patients with diabetes provided by nurses in GP practices is associated with control of diabetes measured by levels of glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c).

Design and setting

A retrospective observational study using consultation records from 319 649 patients with diabetes from 471 UK general practices from 2002 to 2011.

Method

Hierarchical multilevel models to examine associations between proportion of consultations undertaken by nurses and attaining HbA1c targets over time, controlling for case-mix and practice level factors.

Results

The proportion of consultations with nurses has increased by 20% since 2002 but patients with diabetes made fewer consultations per year in 2011 compared with 2002 (11.6 versus 16.0). Glycaemic control has improved and was more uniformly achieved in 2011 than 2002. Practices in which nurses provide a higher proportion of consultations perform no differently to those where nurse input is lower (lowest versus highest nurse contact tertile odds ratio [OR] [confidence interval {95% CI}]: HbA1c d53 mmol/mol (7%) 2002, 1.04 [95% CI = 0.87 to 1.25] and 2011, 0.95 [95% CI = 0.87 to 1.03]; HbA1c d86 mmol/mol (10%) 2002, 0.97 [95% CI = 0.73 to 1.29] and 2011, 0.95 [95% CI = 0.86 to 1.04]).

Conclusion

Practices that primarily use GPs to deliver diabetes care could release significant resources with no adverse effect by switching their services towards nurse-led care.

Background:

Older people account for an increasing proportion of those receiving NHS acute care. The quality of health care delivered to older people has come under increased scrutiny. Health-care assistants (HCAs) provide much of the direct care of older people in hospital. Patients? experience of care tends to be based on the relational aspects of that care including dignity, empathy and emotional support.

Objective(s):

We aimed to understand the relational care training needs of HCAs caring for older people, design a relational care training intervention for HCAs and assess the feasibility of a cluster randomised controlled trial to test the new intervention against HCA training as usual (TAU).

Design:

(1) A telephone survey of all NHS hospital trusts in England to assess current HCA training provision, (2) focus groups of older people and carers, (3) semistructured interviews with HCAs and other care staff to establish training needs and inform intervention development and (4) a feasibility cluster randomised controlled trial.

Setting:

(1) All acute NHS hospital trusts in England, and (2?4) three acute NHS hospital trusts in England and the populations they serve.

Participants:

(1) Representatives of 113 out of the total of 161 (70.2%) NHS trusts in England took part in the telephone survey, (2) 29 older people or carer participants in three focus groups, (3) 30 HCA and 24 ?other staff? interviewees and (4) 12 wards (four per trust), 112 HCAs, 92 patients during the prerandomisation period and 67 patients during the postrandomisation period.

Interventions:

For the feasibility trial, a training intervention (Older People?s Shoes") for HCAs developed as part of the study was compared with HCA TAU.

Main outcome measures:

Patient-level outcomes were the experience of emotional care and quality of life during patients? hospital stay, as measured by the Patient Evaluation of Emotional Care during Hospitalisation and the EuroQol-5 Dimensions questionnaires. HCA outcomes were empathy, as measured by the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire, and attitudes towards older people, as measured by the Age Group Evaluation and Description Inventory. Ward-level outcomes were the quality of HCA?patient interaction, as measured by the Quality of Interaction Scale.

Results:

(1) One-third of trust telephone survey participants reported HCA training content that we considered to be ?relational care?. Training for HCAs is variable across trusts and is focused on new recruits. The biggest challenge for HCA training is getting HCAs released from ward duties. (2) Older people and carers are aware of the pressures that ward staff are under but good relationships with care staff determine whether or not their experience of hospital is positive. (3) HCAs have training needs related to ?difficult conversations? with patients and relatives; they have particular preferences for learning styles that are not always reflected in available training. (4) In the feasibility trial, 187 of the 192 planned ward observation sessions were completed; the response to HCA questionnaires at baseline and at 8 and 12 weeks post randomisation was 64.2%, 46.4% and 35.7%, respectively, and 57.2% of eligible patients returned completed questionnaires.

Limitations:

This was an intervention development and feasibility study so no conclusions can be drawn about the clinical effectiveness or cost-effectiveness of the intervention.

Conclusions:

The intervention had high acceptability among nurse trainers and HCA learners. Viability of a definitive trial is conditional on overcoming specific methodological (patient recruitment processes) and contextual (involvement of wider ward team) challenges.

The embodied experience of nursing practice is rarely studied. Drawing on data from an internationally relevant larger study conducted in 2013?14, here we explore the sensory dimension of the embodied experiences of nursing staff working on two acute NHS hospital wards before and after a move to all-single room inpatient accommodation. We undertook a secondary analysis of 25 interviews with nursing staff (12 before and 13 after the move with half [13/25] using photographs taken by participants) from a mixed-method before-and-after study. This analysis focused on the sensory dimensions of nursing staff's experiences of their working practices and the effect of the built environment upon these. Drawing on Pallasmaa's theoretocal insights, we report how the all-single room ward design prioritises ?focused vision? and hinders peripheral perception, whilst the open ward environment is rich in contextual and preconscious information. We suggest all-single room accommodation may offer staff an impoverished experience of caring for patients and of working with each other.

Background: Twenty-four hour nursing care involves shift work including 12-h shifts. England is unusual in
deploying a mix of shift patterns. International evidence on the effects of such shifts is growing. A secondary
analysis of data collected in England exploring outcomes with 12-h shifts examined the association between shift
length, job satisfaction, scheduling flexibility, care quality, patient safety, and care left undone.
Methods: Data were collected from a questionnaire survey of nurses in a sample of English hospitals, conducted as
part of the RN4CAST study, an EU 7th Framework funded study. The sample comprised 31 NHS acute hospital Trusts
from 401 wards, in 46 acute hospital sites. Descriptive analysis included frequencies, percentages and mean scores
by shift length, working beyond contracted hours and day or night shift. Multi-level regression models established
statistical associations between shift length and nurse self-reported measures.
Results: Seventy-four percent (1898) of nurses worked a day shift and 26% (670) a night shift. Most Trusts had a
mixture of shifts lengths. Self-reported quality of care was higher amongst nurses working d8 h (15.9%) compared
to those working longer hours (20.0 to 21.1%). The odds of poor quality care were 1.64 times higher for nurses
working e12 h (OR = 1.64, 95% CI 1.18?2.28, p = 0.003).
Mean ?care left undone? scores varied by shift length: 3.85 (d8 h), 3.72 (8.01?10.00 h), 3.80 (10.01?11.99 h) and were
highest amongst those working e12 h (4.23) (p nurses working e12 h (RR = 1.13, 95% CI 1.06?1.20, p Job dissatisfaction was higher the longer the shift length: 42.9% (e12 h (OR = 1.51, 95% CI 1.17?1.95, p = .001);
35.1% (d8 h) 45.0% (8.01?10.00 h), 39.5% (10.01?11.99 h).
Conclusions: Our findings add to the growing international body of evidence reporting that e12 shifts are associated
with poor ratings of quality of care and higher rates of care left undone. Future research should focus on how 12-h
shifts can be optimised to minimise potential risks.

Purpose:

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature and impact of leadership in relation to the local implementation of quality improvement interventions in health care organisations.

Design/Methodology/Approach:

Using empirical data from two studies of the implementation of The Productive Ward: Releasing Time to Care in English hospitals, the paper explores leadership in relation to local implementation. Data were attained from in-depth interviews with senior managers, middle managers and frontline staff (n = 79) in 13 NHS hospital case study sites. Framework Approach was used to explore staff views and to identify themes about leadership.

Findings:

Four overall themes were identified: different leadership roles at multiple levels of the organisation, experiences of "good and bad" leadership styles, frontline staff having a sense of permission to lead change, leader's actions to spread learning and sustain improvements.

Originality/Value:

This paper offers useful perspectives in understanding informal, emergent, developmental or shared "new" leadership because it emphasises that health care structures, systems and processes influence and shape interactions between the people who work within them. The framework of leadership processes developed could guide implementing organisations to achieve leadership at multiple levels, use appropriate leadership roles, styles and behaviours at different levels and stages of implementation, value and provide support for meaningful staff empowerment, and enable leader's boundary spanning activities to spread learning and sustain improvements.

Objective: To explore barriers to early presentation
and diagnosis with breast cancer among black women.
Design: Systematic review.
Methods: We searched multiple bibliographic
databases (January 1991?February 2013) for primary
research, published in English, conducted in
developed countries and investigating barriers to
early presentation and diagnosis with symptomatic
breast cancer among black women (e18 years).
Studies were excluded if they did not report separate
findings by ethnic group or gender, only reported
differences in time to presentation/diagnosis, or
reported on interventions and barriers to cancer
screening. We followed Cochrane and PRISMA
guidance to identify relevant research. Findings were
integrated through thematic synthesis. Designs of
quantitative studies made meta-analysis impossible.
Results: We identified 18 studies (6183
participants). Delay was multifactorial, individual and
complex. Factors contributing to delay included: poor
symptom and risk factor knowledge; fear of detecting
breast abnormality; fear of cancer treatments; fear of
partner abandonment; embarrassment disclosing
symptoms to healthcare professionals; taboo and
stigmatism. Presentation appears quicker following
disclosure. Influence of fatalism and religiosity on
delay is unclear from evidence in these studies. We
compared older studies (e10 years) with newer ones
( studies, delaying factors included: inaccessibility of
healthcare services; competing priorities and
concerns about partner abandonment. Partner
abandonment was studied in older studies but not in
newer ones. Comparisons of healthy women and
cancer populations revealed differences between how
people perceive they would behave, and actually
behave, on finding breast abnormality.
Conclusions: Strategies to improve early
presentation and diagnosis with breast cancer among
black women need to address symptom recognition
and interpretation of risk, as well as fears of the
consequences of cancer. The review is limited by the
paucity of studies conducted outside the USA and
limited detail reported by published studies
preventing comparison between ethnic groups.

Background

Understanding and improving ?patient experience? is essential to delivering high quality healthcare. However, little is known about the provision of education and training to healthcare staff in this increasingly important area.

Objectives

This study aims to ascertain the extent and nature of such provision in England and to identify how it might be developed in the future.

Methods

An on-line survey was designed to explore training provision relating to patient experiences. To ensure that respondents thought about patient experience in the same way we defined patient experience training as that which aims to teach staff: ?How to measure or monitor the experience, preferences and priorities of patients and use that knowledge to improve their experience?. Survey questions (n = 15) were devised to cover nine consistently reported key aspects of patient experience; identified from the research literature and recommendations put forward by professional bodies. The survey was administered to (i) all 180 providers of Higher Education (HE) to student/qualified doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, and (ii) all 390 National Health Service (NHS) trusts in England. In addition, we added a single question to the NHS 2010 Staff Survey (n = 306,000) relating to the training staff had received to deliver a good patient experience.

Results

Two hundred and sixty-five individuals responded to the on-line survey representing a total of 159 different organizations from the HE and healthcare sectors. Respondents most commonly identified ?relationships? as an ?essential? aspect of patient experience education and training. The biggest perceived gaps in current provision related to the ?physical? and ?measurement? aspects of our conceptualization of patient experience. Of the 148,657 staff who responded to the Staff Survey 41% said they had not received patient experience training and 22% said it was not applicable to them.

Conclusions

While some relevant education courses are in place in England, the results suggest that specific training with regard to the physical needs and comfort of patients, and how patient experiences can be measured and used to improve services, should be introduced. Future developments should also focus, firstly, on involving a wider range of patients in planning and delivering courses and, secondly, evaluating whether courses impact on the attitudes and behaviors of different professional groups and might therefore contribute to improved patient experiences.

Background

Releasing Time to Care: The Productive Ward" (RTC) is a method for conducting continuous quality improvement (QI). The Saskatchewan Ministry of Health mandated its implementation in Saskatchewan, Canada between 2008 and 2012. Subsequently, a research team was developed to evaluate its impact on the nursing unit environment. We sought to explore the influence of the unit?s existing QI capacity on their ability to engage with RTC as a program for continuous QI.

Methods

We conducted interviews with staff from 8 nursing units and asked them to speak about their experience doing RTC. Using qualitative content analysis, and guided by the Organizing for Quality framework, we describe the existing QI capacity and impact of RTC on the unit environment.

Results

The results focus on 2 units chosen to highlight extreme variation in existing QI capacity. Unit B was characterized by a strong existing environment. RTC was implemented in an environment with a motivated manager and collaborative culture. Aided by the structural support provided by the organization, the QI capacity on this unit was strengthened through RTC. Staff recognized the potential of using the RTC processes to support QI work. Staff on unit E did not have the same experience with RTC. Like unit B, they had similar structural supports provided by their organization but they did not have the same existing cultural or political environment to facilitate the implementation of RTC. They did not have internal motivation and felt they were only doing RTC because they had to. Though they had some success with RTC activities, the staff did not have the same understanding of the methods that RTC could provide for continuous QI work.

Conclusions

RTC has the potential to be a strong tool for engaging units to do QI. This occurs best when RTC is implemented in a supporting environment. One size does not fit all and administrative bodies must consider the unique context of each environment prior to implementing large-scale QI projects. Use of an established framework, like Organizing for Quality, could highlight the distinctive supports needed in particular care environments to increase the likelihood of successful engagement.

The rise of managerialism within healthcare systems has been noted globally. This paper uses the findings of a scoping study to investigate the management of poor performance among nurses and midwives in the United Kingdom within this context. The management of poor performance among clinicians in the NHS has been seen as a significant policy problem. There has been a profound shift in the distribution of power between professional and managerial groups in many health systems globally. We examined literature published between 2000 and 10 to explore aspects of poor performance and its management. We used Web of Science, CINAHL, MEDLINE, British Nursing Index, HMIC, Cochrane Library and PubMed. Empirical data are limited but indicate that nurses and midwives are the clinical groups most likely to be suspended and that poor performance is often represented as an individual deficit. A focus on the individual as a source of trouble can serve as a distraction from more complex systematic problems.

Background

Research on Indian nurses has focused on their participation as global migrant workers for whom opportunities abroad act as an incentive for many to migrate overseas. However, little is known about the careers of Indian nurses, or the impact of a globalized health care market on nurses who remain and on the profession itself in India.

Objectives

To explore nurses? accounts of entry into nursing in the context of the globalisation of the nursing profession in India, and the salience of ?migration? for nurses? individual careers.

Design

Qualitative interview study (n = 56).

Settings and participants

The study drew on interviews with 56 nurses from six sites in Bangalore, India. These included two government hospitals, two private hospitals, a Christian mission hospital, a private outpatient clinic and two private nursing colleges. Participants were selected purposively to include nurses from Christian and Hindu backgrounds, a range of home States, ages and seniority and to deliberately over-recruit (rare) male nurses.

Methods

Interviews covered how and why nurses entered nursing, their training and career paths to date, plans for the future, their experiences of providing nursing care and attitudes towards migration. Data analysis drew on grounded theory methods.

Results

Nursing is traditionally seen as a viable career particularly for women from Christian communities in India, where it has created inter-generational ?nurse families?. In a globalizing India, nursing is becoming a job ?with prospects? transcending traditional caste, class and gender boundaries. Almost all nurses interviewed who intended seeking overseas employment envisaged migration as a short term option to satisfy career objectives ? increased knowledge, skills and economic rewards ? that could result in long-term professional and social status gains ?back home? in India. For others, migration was not part of their career plan: yet the increases in status that migration possibilities had brought were crucial to framing nursing as a ?suitable job? for a growing number of entrants.

Conclusions

The possibility of migration has facilitated collective social mobility for Indian nurses. Migration possibilities were important not only for those who migrate, but for improving the status of nursing in general in India, making it a more attractive career option for a growing range of recruits.

We trace the legacies of filmed patient narratives that were edited and screened to encourage engagement with a participatory quality improvement project in an acute hospital setting in England. Using Gabriel?s theory of ?narrative contract,? we examine the initial success of the films in establishing common grounds for participatory project and later, and more varied, interpretations of the films. Over time, the films were interpreted by staff as either useful sources of learning by critical reflection, dubious (invalid or unreliable) representations of patient experience, or as ?closed? items available as auditable evidence of completed quality improvement work. We find these interpretations of the films to be shaped by the effect of social distance, the differential outcomes of project work, and changing organizational agendas. We consider the wider conditions of patient narrative as a form of quality improvement knowledge with immediate potency and fragile or fluid legitimacy over time.

Background:
New hospital design includes more single room accommodation but there is scant and ambiguous evidence relating to the impact on patient safety and staff and patient experiences.

Objectives:
To explore the impact of the move to a newly built acute hospital with all single rooms on care delivery, working practices, staff and patient experience, safety outcomes and costs.

Design:
(1) Mixed-methods study to inform a pre-/post-?move? comparison within a single hospital, (2) quasi-experimental study in two control hospitals and (3) analysis of capital and operational costs associated with single rooms.

Setting:
Four nested case study wards [postnatal, acute admissions unit (AAU), general surgery and older people?s] within a new hospital with all single rooms. Matched wards in two control hospitals formed the comparator group.

Data sources:
Twenty-one stakeholder interviews; 250 hours of observation, 24 staff interviews, 32 patient interviews, staff survey (n = 55) and staff pedometer data (n = 56) in the four case study wards; routinely collected data at ward level in the control hospitals (e.g. infection rates) and costs associated with hospital design (e.g. cleaning and staffing) in the new hospital.

Results:
(1) There was no significant change to the proportion of time spent by nursing staff on different activities. Staff perceived improvements (patient comfort and confidentiality), but thought the new accommodation worse for visibility and surveillance, teamwork, monitoring, safeguarding and remaining close to patients. Giving sufficient time and attention to each patient, locating other staff and discussing care with colleagues proved difficult. Two-thirds of patients expressed a clear preference for single rooms, with the benefits of comfort and control outweighing any disadvantages. Some patients experienced care as task-driven and functional, and interaction with other patients was absent, leading to a sense of isolation. Staff walking distances increased significantly after the move. (2) A temporary increase in falls and medication errors within the AAU was likely to be associated with the need to adjust work patterns rather than associated with single rooms, although staff perceived the loss of panoptic surveillance as the key to increases in falls. Because of the fall in infection rates nationally and the low incidence at our study site and comparator hospitals, it is difficult to conclude from our data that it is the ?single room? factor that prevents infection. (3) Building an all single room hospital can cost 5% more but the difference is marginal over time. Housekeeping and cleaning costs are higher.
Conclusions:
The nature of tasks undertaken by nurses did not change, but staff needed to adapt their working practices significantly and felt ill prepared for the new ways of working, with potentially significant implications for the nature of teamwork in the longer term. Staff preference remained for a mix of single rooms and bays. Patients preferred single rooms. There was no strong evidence that single rooms had any impact on patient safety but housekeeping and cleaning costs are higher. In terms of future work, patient experience and preferences in hospitals with different proportions of single rooms/designs need to be explored with a larger patient sample. The long-term impact of single room working on the nature of teamwork and informal learning and on clinical/care outcomes should also be explored.

Objectives:

Schwartz Center Rounds (?Rounds?) are a
multidisciplinary forum in which healthcare staff within
an organisation discuss the psychological, emotional
and social challenges associated with their work in a
confidential and safe environment. Implemented in
over 375 North American organisations, since 2009,
they have been increasingly adopted in England. This
study aimed to establish how many and what types of
organisations have adopted Rounds in England, and to
explore why they did so.

Setting:

Public healthcare organisations in England.
Participants: Secondary data analysis was used to
map and profile all 116 public healthcare organisations
that had adopted Rounds in England by July 2015.
Semistructured telephone interviews were conducted
with 45 Round coordinators within adopting
organisations.

Results:

The rate of adoption increased after a major
national report in 2013. Rounds were typically adopted in
order to improve staff well-being. Adopting organisations
scored better on staff engagement than non-adopters;
among adopting organisations, those performing better
on patient experience were more likely to adopt earlier.
Most adoption decision-making processes were
straightforward. A confluence of factors?a generally
favourable set of innovation attributes (including low
cost), advocacy from opinion leaders in different
professional networks, active dissemination by change
agents and a felt need to be seen to be addressing staff
well-being?initially led to Rounds being seen as ?an idea
whose time had come?. More recent adoption patterns
have been shaped by the timing of charitable and other
agency funding in specific geographical areas and
sectors, as well as several forms of ?mimetic pressure?.

Conclusions:

The innate attributes of Rounds,
favourable circumstances and the cumulative impact of a
sequence of distinct informal and formal social
processes have shaped the pattern of their adoption in
England.

There are four core themes developed in this book which deal with critical issues, models, theories and frameworks. These expound understandings of patient centred care and the processes, practices and behaviours supporting its attainment: conceptions and cultures of patient-centred care, coordination, communication, innovation.

Despite the scope and sophistication of contemporary health care, there is increasing international concern about the perceived lack of compassion in its delivery. Citing evidence that when the basic needs of patients are attended to with kindness and understanding, recovery often takes place at a faster level, patients cope more effectively with the self-management of chronic disorders and can more easily overcome anxiety associated with various disorders, this book looks at how good care can be put back into the process of caring.

Beginning with an introduction to the historical values associated with the concept of compassion, the text goes on to provide a bio-psycho-social theoretical framework within which the concept might be further explained. The third part presents thought-provoking case studies and explores the implementation and impact of compassion in a range of healthcare settings. The fourth part investigates the role that organizations and their structures can play in promoting or hindering the provision of compassion. The book concludes by discussing how compassion may be taught and evaluated, and suggesting ways for increasing the attention paid to compassion in health care.

Developing a multi-disciplinary theory of compassionate care, and underpinned by empirical examples of good practice, this volume is a valuable resource for all those interesting in understanding and supporting compassion in health care, including advanced students, academics and practitioners within medicine, nursing, psychology, allied health, sociology and philosophy.

Introduction

There is increasing international interest in universal, health promoting services for pregnancy and the first three years of life and the concept of proportionate universalism. Drawing on a narrative review of literature, this paper explores mechanisms by which such services might contribute to health improvement and reducing health inequalities.

Objectives

Through a narrative review of empirical literature, to identify:
(1)
What are the key components of health visiting practice?

(2)
How are they reflected in implementing the universal service/provision envisaged in the English Health Visitor Implementation Plan (HVIP)?

Design

The paper draws upon a scoping study and narrative review.

Review methods

We used three complementary approaches to search the widely dispersed literature:
(1)
broad, general search,

(2)
structured search, using topic-specific search terms,

(3)
seminal paper search.

Our key inclusion criterion was information about health visiting practice. We included empirical papers from United Kingdom (UK) from 2004 to February 2012 and older seminal papers identified in search (3), identifying a total of 348 papers for inclusion. A thematic content analysis compared the older (up to 2003) with more recent research (2004 onwards).

Results

The analysis revealed health visiting practice as potentially characterized by a particular ?orientation to practice.? This embodied the values, skills and attitudes needed to deliver universal health visiting services through salutogenesis (health creation), person-centredness (human valuing) and viewing the person in situation (human ecology). Research about health visiting actions focuses on home visiting, needs assessment and parent?health visitor relationships. The detailed description of health visitors? skills, attitudes, values, and their application in practice, provides an explanation of how universal provision can potentially help to promote health and shift the social gradient of health inequalities.

Conclusions

Identification of needs across an undifferentiated, universal caseload, combined with an outreach style that enhances uptake of needed services and appropriate health or parenting information, creates opportunities for parents who may otherwise have remained unaware of, or unwilling to engage with such provision. There is a lack of evaluative research about health visiting practice, service organization or universal health visiting as potential mechanisms for promoting health and reducing health inequalities. This paper offers a potential foundation for such research in future.

As the population ages, there is a pressing need to cost-effectively manage the care of increasing numbers of people with long-term conditions and prevent unnecessary hospitalisation. If we are to meet these needs as efficiently as possible in the future, we need to better understand the potential contribution of nurses working in general practice, and ask what we know about the efficacy and cost benefits of their contribution.
In the 10 years since the introduction of the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), the reported number of registered nurses employed in GP practices is estimated to have increased by 15%, and stands at 23 833 nurses in the equivalent of 14 943 full-time posts (Figure 1).1 Practice nurses make up over one-third (37%) of the clinicians in general practice.

Yet little is known about the ways in which practice nurses are deployed within each practice: their numbers, the mix relative to other practice staff, or level of specialist skills and experience. Although the NHS in England has started to collect and publish more data on the numbers of nursing staff employed by practices1 the information is sparse. The GP workforce census for 2013 included &

Background

In 2011?2012, we carried out a programme of research to inform the Department of Health's strategy for strengthening health visiting services in England. Our research included a study of parents' views of their experiences with health visiting services in two geographical areas in England. Here, we draw upon data from this work to illustrate valuable aspects of family support outside the home reported in parents' accounts of their experiences of health visiting. We also explore the usefulness of relational autonomy as a theoretical lens for understanding the mechanisms through which this support operates.

Design

We draw upon data from semi-structured interviews with 44 parents across two ?Early Implementer Sites? of the ?new service vision? in England. Our thematic analysis of the data was informed by grounded theory principles.

Findings and discussion

Parents valued being able to attend child health clinics and group activities outside the home; this helped them to avoid social isolation and to identify, choose and use the forms of advice and support that best suited them. We suggest that health visiting outside the home and children's centres services may also foster parental autonomy, especially when this is understood in relational terms.

Conclusions

Health visiting outside the home and children's centres services are an important complement to health visiting in the home; both dimensions of family support should be available in the community. Relational readings of autonomy can help illuminate the ways in which these services can foster (or undermine) parents' autonomy.

Objectives:

Understanding barriers to early diagnosis of symptomatic breast cancer among Black African, Black Caribbean and White British women in the UK.

Design:

In-depth qualitative interviews using grounded theory methods to identify themes. Findings validated through focus groups.

Participants:

94 women aged 33-91?years; 20 Black African, 20 Black Caribbean and 20 White British women diagnosed with symptomatic breast cancer were interviewed. Fourteen Black African and 20 Black Caribbean women with (n=19) and without (n=15) breast cancer participated in six focus groups.

Setting:

Eight cancer centres/hospital trusts in London (n=5), Somerset (n=1), West Midlands (n=1) and Greater Manchester (n=1) during 2012-2013.

Results:

There are important differences and similarities in barriers to early diagnosis of breast cancer between Black African, Black Caribbean and White British women in the UK. Differences were influenced by country of birth, time spent in UK and age. First generation Black African women experienced most barriers and longest delays. Second generation Black Caribbean and White British women were similar and experienced fewest barriers. Absence of pain was a barrier for Black African and Black Caribbean women. Older White British women (e70?years) and first generation Black African and Black Caribbean women shared conservative attitudes and taboos about breast awareness. All women viewed themselves at low risk of the disease, and voiced uncertainty over breast awareness and appraising non-lump symptoms. Focus group findings validated and expanded themes identified in interviews.

Conclusions:

Findings challenged reporting of Black women homogenously in breast cancer research. This can mask distinctions within and between ethnic groups. Current media and health promotion messages need reframing to promote early presentation with breast symptoms. Working with communities and developing culturally appropriate materials may lessen taboos and stigma, raise awareness, increase discussion of breast cancer and promote prompt help-seeking for breast symptoms among women with low cancer awareness.

Purpose

The aim of this paper was to briefly describe how
the experience-based co-design (EBCD) approach was used
to identify and implement improvements in the experiences
of breast and lung cancer patients before (1) comparing the
issues identified as shaping patient experiences in the different
tumour groups and (2) exploring participants' reflections
on the value and key characteristics of this approach to
improving patient experiences.

Methods

Fieldwork involved 36 filmed narrative patient interviews,
219 h of ethnographic observation, 63 staff interviews
and a facilitated co-design change process involving patient and staff interviewees over a 12-month period. Four of the staff
and five patients were interviewed about their views on the
value of the approach and its key characteristics. The project
setting was a large, inner-city cancer centre in England.

Results

Patients from both tumour groups generally identified
similar issues (or 'touchpoints') that shaped their experience of
care, although breast cancer patients identified a need for
better information about side effects of treatment and end of
treatment whereas lung cancer patients expressed a need for
more information post-surgery. Although the issues were
broadly similar, the particular improvement priorities patients
and staff chose to work on together were tumour specific.
Interviewees highlighted four characteristics of the EBCD
approach as being key to its successful implementation: patient
involvement, patient responsibility and empowerment, a
sense of community, and a close connection between their
experiences and the subsequent improvement priorities.

Conclusion

EBCD positions patients as active partners with
staff in quality improvement. Breast and lung cancer
patients identified similar touchpoints in their experiences,
but these were translated into different improvement priorities
for each tumour type. This is an important consideration
when developing patient-centred cancer services
across different tumour types.

Background:

Patients? experiences have become central to assessing the performance of healthcare systems
worldwide and are increasingly being used to inform quality improvement processes. This paper explores the
relative value of surveys and detailed patient narratives in identifying priorities for improving breast cancer services
as part of a quality improvement process.

Methods:

One dataset was collected using a narrative interview approach, (n = 13) and the other using a postal
survey (n = 82). Datasets were analyzed separately and then compared to determine whether similar priorities for
improving patient experiences were identified.

Results:

There were both similarities and differences in the improvement priorities arising from each approach. Day
surgery was specifically identified as a priority in the narrative dataset but included in the survey recommendations
only as part of a broader priority around improving inpatient experience. Both datasets identified appointment
systems, patients spending enough time with staff, information about treatment and side effects and more information
at the end of treatment as priorities. The specific priorities identified by the narrative interviews commonly related
to ?relational? aspects of patient experience. Those identified by the survey typically related to more ?functional?
aspects and were not always sufficiently detailed to identify specific improvement actions.

Conclusions:

Our analysis suggests that whilst local survey data may act as a screening tool to identify potential
problems within the breast cancer service, they do not always provide sufficient detail of what to do to improve
that service. These findings may have wider applicability in other services. We recommend using an initial
preliminary survey, with better use of survey open comments, followed by an in-depth qualitative analysis to help
deliver improvements to relational and functional aspects of patient experience.

Objectives

To first, validate in English hospitals the internal structure of the ?Patient Evaluation of Emotional Care during Hospitalisation? (PEECH) survey tool which was developed in Australia and, second, to examine how it may deepen the understanding of patient experience through comparison with results from the Picker Patient Experience Questionnaire (PPE-15).

Design

A 48-item survey questionnaire comprising both PEECH and PPE-15 was fielded. We performed exploratory factor analysis and then confirmatory factor analysis using a number of established fit indices. The external validity of the PEECH factor scores was compared across four participating services and at the patient level, factor scores were correlated with the PPE-15.

Setting

Four hospital services (an Emergency Admissions Unit; a maternity service; a Medicine for the Elderly department and a Haemato-oncology service) that contrasted in terms of the reported patient experience performance.

Participants

Selection of these acute service settings was based on achieving variation of the following factors: teaching hospital/district general hospital, urban/rural locality and high-performing/low-performing organisations (using results of annual national staff and patient surveys). A total of 423 surveys were completed by patients (26% response rate).

Results

A different internal structure to the PEECH instrument emerged in English hospitals. However, both the existing and new factor models were similar in terms of fit. The correlations between the new PEECH factors and the PPE-15 were all in the expected direction, but two of the new factors (personal interactions and feeling valued) were more strongly associated with the PPE-15 than the remaining two factors (feeling informed and treated as an individual).

Conclusions

PEECH can help to build an understanding of complex interpersonal aspects of quality of care, alongside the more transactional and functional aspects typically captured by PPE-15. Further testing of the combined instrument should be undertaken in a wider range of healthcare settings.

Background

Supplementary prescribing (SP) is a drug therapy management model implemented in the United Kingdom since 2003. It is a voluntary partnership between an independent prescriber; a supplementary prescriber, for example, nurse or pharmacist; and the patient, to implement an agreed patient-specific clinical management plan (CMP).

Objective

To investigate pharmacist prescribers' views and experiences of the early stages of SP implementation.

Methods

A qualitative, longitudinal study design was used. A purposive, maximum variability sample of 16 pharmacist supplementary prescribers, trained in Southern England, participated. Eleven were hospital pharmacists, owing to the overrepresentation of hospital pharmacists in the first cohort. Two semistructured interviews were conducted with each participant, at 3 and 6 months after their registration as prescribers. The Framework approach was used for data collection, management, and analysis.

Results

Three typologies of pharmacists' experiences were identified: ?a blind alley?, ?a stepping stone? and ?a good fit?. Despite some delays in its implementation, SP was seen as a step forward. Some participants also believed that it improved patient care and pharmacists' integration in the health care team and increased their job satisfaction. However, there was a concern that SP, as first implemented, was bureaucratic and limited pharmacists' freedom in their decision making. Hence, pharmacists were more supportive of the then imminent introduction of a pharmacist independent prescribing (IP) role.

Conclusions

Despite challenges, the SP role represented a step forward for pharmacists in the United Kingdom. It is possible that pharmacist SP can coexist with IP in the areas suitable for CMP use. Elsewhere, SP is likely to become more of a ?stepping stone? to an IP role than the preferred model for pharmacist prescribing. Future research needs to objectively assess the outcomes of pharmacist SP, preferably in comparison with IP, to inform decision making among pharmacists regarding the adoption of such an innovative role.

Background

An association between quality of care and staffing levels, particularly registered nurses, has been established in acute hospitals. Recently an association between nurse staffing and quality of care for several chronic conditions has also been demonstrated for primary care in English general practice. A smaller body of literature identifies organisational factors, in particular issues of human resource management, as being a dominant factor. However the literature has tended to consider staffing and organisational factors separately.

Aims and objectives

We aim to determine whether relationships between the quality of clinical care and nurse staffing in general practice are attenuated or enhanced when organisational factors associated with quality of care are considered. We further aim to determine the relative contribution and interaction between these factors.

Method

We used routinely collected data from 8409 English general practices. The data, on organisational factors and the quality of clinical care for a range of long term conditions, is gathered as part of ?Quality and Outcomes Framework? pay for performance system. Regression models exploring the relationship of staffing and organisational factors with care quality were fitted using MPLUS statistical modelling software.

Results

Higher levels of nurse staffing, clinical recording, education and reflection on the results of patient surveys were significantly associated with improved clinical care for COPD, CHD, Diabetes and Hypothyroidism after controlling for organisational factors. There was some evidence of attenuation of the estimated nurse staffing effect when organisational factors were considered, but this was small. The effect of staffing interacted significantly with the effect of organisational factors. Overall however, the characteristics that emerged as the strongest predictors of quality of clinical care were not staffing levels but the organisational factors of clinical recording, education and training and use of patient experience surveys.

Conclusions

Organisational factors contribute significantly to observed variation in the quality of care in English general practices. Levels of nurse staffing have an independent association with quality but also interact with organisational factors. The observed relationships are not necessarily causal but a causal relationship is plausible. The benefits and importance of education, training and personal development of nursing and other practice staff was clearly indicated.

National Nursing Research Unit director Jill Maben reveals how research findings show a strong connection between staff happiness and patient satisfaction

Boosting staff morale may be one of the best things senior leaders can do to improve patient care, according to recent findings by the National Nursing Research Unit (NNRU) at King?s College London

In its first edition, Practice Development in Nursing made an important contribution to understanding practice development and its core components. Now fully updated to take into account the many developments in the field, the second edition continues to fill an important gap in the market for an accessible, practical text on what remains a key issue for all members of the healthcare team globally.
Practice Development in Nursing and Healthcare explores the basis of practice development and its aims, implementation and impact on healthcare, to enable readers to be confident in their approaches to practice development. It is aimed at healthcare professionals in a variety of roles (for example clinical practice, education, research and quality improvement) and students, as well as those with a primary practice development role, in order to enable them to effectively and knowledgeably develop practice and the practice of others.

Background.?

Few empirical studies have directly examined the relationship between staff experiences of providing healthcare and patient experience. Present concerns over the care of older people in UK acute hospitals ? and the reported attitudes of staff in such settings ? highlight an important area of study.

Aims and objectives.?

To examine the links between staff experience of work and patient experience of care in a ?Medicine for Older People? (MfOP) service in England.

Methods.?

A mixed methods case study undertaken over 8 months incorporating a 149-item staff survey (66/192 ? 34% response rate), a 48-item patient survey (26/111 ? 23%), 18 staff interviews, 18 patient and carer interviews and 41 hours of non-participant observation.

Results.?

Variation in patient experience is significantly influenced by staff work experiences. A high-demand/low-control work environment, poor staffing, ward leadership and co-worker relationships can each add to the inherent difficulties staff face when caring for acutely ill older people. Staff seek to alleviate the impact of such difficulties by finding personal satisfaction from caring for ?the poppets?; those patients they enjoy caring for and for whom they feel able to ?make a difference?. Other patients ? noting dehumanising aspects of their care ? felt like ?parcels?. Patients are aware of being seen by staff as ?difficult? or ?demanding? and seek to manage their relationships with nursing staff accordingly.

Conclusions.?

The work experiences of staff in a MfOP service impacted directly on patient care experience. Poor ward and patient care climates often lead staff to seek job satisfaction through caring for ?poppets?, leaving less favoured ? and often more complex patients ? to receive less personalised care.

Implications for practice.?

Investment in staff well-being and ward climate is essential for the consistent delivery of high-quality care for older people in acute settings.

This article examines the importance of some informal work practices among community nurses during a period of significant organizational change. Ethnographic fieldwork in two purposively selected adult community nursing services in England comprised 79 hours of observation of routine practice, 21 interviews with staff and 23 interviews with patients. We identified the informal work practice of ?catching up?, informal work conversations between immediate colleagues, as an important but often invisible aspect of satisfying work relationships and of the relational care of patients. Drawing on anthropological literatures on ?communities of practice? the article examines two central issues concerning the practices of ?catching up?: (1) how informal learning processes shape community nursing work; (2) how this informal learning is shaped both in relation to the ideals of community nursing work and the wider political and organizational contexts of community nursing practice. Our findings highlight the distinctive value of informal workplace ?catch ups? for nurses to manage the inherent challenges of good home care for patients and to develop a shared ethic of care and professional identity. Our findings also indicate the decline of ?catching up? between nurses along with diminishing time and opportunity for staff to care holistically for patients in present service climates.

Purpose ?

This paper aims to focus on facilitating large-scale quality improvement in health care,
and specifically understanding more about the known challenges associated with implementation of
lean innovations: receptivity, the complexity of adoption processes, evidence of the innovation, and
embedding change. Lessons are drawn from the implementation of The Productive Ward: Releasing
Time to Caree programme in English hospitals.

Design/methodology/approach ?

The study upon which the paper draws was a mixed-method
evaluation that aimed to capture the perceptions of three main stakeholder groups: national-level
policymakers (15 semi-structured interviews); senior hospital managers (a national web-based survey of
150 staff); and healthcare practitioners (case studies within five hospitals involving 58 members of staff).
The views of these stakeholder groups were analysed using a diffusion of innovations theoretical
framework to examine aspects of the innovation, the organisation, the wider context and linkages.

Findings ?

Although The Productive Ward was widely supported, stakeholders at different levels
identified varying facilitators and challenges to implementation. Key issues for all stakeholders were
staff time to work on the programme and showing evidence of the impact on staff, patients and ward
environments.

Research limitations/implications ?

To support implementation, policymakers should focus on
expressing what can be gained locally using success stories and guidance from ?early adopters?.
Service managers, clinical educators and professional bodies can help to spread good practice and
encourage professional leadership and support. Further research could help to secure support for the
programme by generating evidence about the innovation, and specifically its clinical effectiveness and
broader links to public expectations and experiences of healthcare.

Originality/value ?

This paper draws lessons from the implementation of The Productive Ward
programme in England, which can inform the implementation of other large-scale programmes of
quality improvement in health care.

Aim and objective.?

To explore why innovations in service and delivery are adopted and how they are then successfully implemented and eventually assimilated into routine nursing practice.

Background.?

The ?Productive Ward? is a national quality improvement programme that aims to engage nursing staff in the implementation of change at ward level.

Design.?

Mixed methods (analysis of routine data, online survey, interviews) to apply an evidence-based diffusion of innovations framework.

Method.?

(1) Broad and narrow indicators of the timing of ?decisions to adopt? the Productive Ward were applied. (2) An online survey explored the perceptions of 150 respondents involved with local implementation. (3) Fifty-eight interviews in five organisational case studies to explore the process of assimilation in each context.

Results.?

Since the launch of the programme in May 2008 staff in approximately 85% of NHS acute hospitals had either downloaded Productive Ward materials or formally purchased a support package (as of March 2009). On a narrower measure, 40% (140) of all NHS hospitals had adopted the programme (i.e. purchased a support package) with large variation between geographical regions. Four key interactions in the diffusion of innovations framework appeared central to the rapid adoption of the programme. Despite widespread perception of significant benefits, frontline nursing staff report that more needs to be carried out to ensure that impact can be demonstrated in quantifiable terms and include patient perspectives.

Conclusions.?

The programme has been rapidly adopted by NHS hospitals in England. A variety of implementation approaches are being employed, which are likely to have implications for the successful assimilation of the programme into routine nursing practice.

Relevance to clinical practice.?

This paper summarises the perceived benefits of the Productive Ward programme and highlights important lessons for nurse leaders who are designing (or adapting) and then implementing quality improvement programmes locally, particularly in terms of how to frame such initiatives ? and provide support to ? ward-level staff.

Objective

Several systematic reviews have suggested that greater nurse staffing as well as a greater proportion of registered nurses in the health workforce is associated with better patient outcomes. Others have found that nurses can substitute for doctors safely and effectively in a variety of settings. However, these reviews do not generally consider the effect of nurse staff on both patient outcomes and costs of care, and therefore say little about the cost-effectiveness of nurse-provided care. Therefore, we conducted a scoping literature review of economic evaluation studies which consider the link between nurse staffing, skill mix within the nursing team and between nurses and other medical staff to determine the nature of the available economic evidence.

Design

Scoping literature review.

Data sources

English-language manuscripts, published between 1989 and 2009, focussing on the relationship between costs and effects of care and the level of registered nurse staffing or nurse?physician substitution/nursing skill mix in the clinical team, using cost-effectiveness, cost-utility, or cost?benefit analysis. Articles selected for the review were identified through Medline, CINAHL, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects and Google Scholar database searches.

Review methods

After selecting 17 articles representing 16 unique studies for review, we summarized their main findings, and assessed their methodological quality using criteria derived from recommendations from the guidelines proposed by the Panel on Cost-Effectiveness in Health Care.

Results

In general, it was found that nurses can provide cost effective care, compared to other health professionals. On the other hand, more intensive nurse staffing was associated with both better outcomes and more expensive care, and therefore cost effectiveness was not easy to assess.

Conclusions

Although considerable progress in economic evaluation studies has been reached in recent years, a number of methodological issues remain. In the future, nurse researchers should be more actively engaged in the design and implementation of economic evaluation studies of the services they provide.

Aims.

To synthesize evidence and knowledge from published research about nurses? experiences of nurse-patient relationships with adult patients in general,acute inpatient hospital settings.

Background.

While primary research on nurses? experiences has been reported, it has not been previously synthesized.

Design.

Meta-ethnography

.Data sources.

Published literature from Australia, Europe, and North America,written in English between January 1999?October 2009 was identified from databases: CINAHL, Medline, British Nursing Index and PsycINFO.

Review methods.

Qualitative studies describing nurses? experiences of the nurse-patient relationship in acute hospital settings were reviewed and synthesized using the meta-ethnographic method.

Results.

Sixteen primary studies (18 papers) were appraised as high quality and met the inclusion criteria. The findings show that while nurses aspire to develop therapeutic relationships with patients, the organizational setting at a unit level is strongly associated with nurses? capacity to build and sustain these relationships.The organizational conditions of critical care settings appear best suited to forming therapeutic relationships, while nurses working on general wards are more likely to report moral distress resulting from delivering unsatisfactory care. General ward nurses can then withdraw from attempting to emotionally engage with patients.

Conclusion.

The findings of this meta-ethnography draw together the evidence from several qualitative studies and articulate how the organizational setting at a unit level can strongly influence nurses? capacity to build and sustain therapeutic relationships with patients. Service improvements need to focus on how to optimize the organizational conditions that support nurses in their relational work with patients.

Aim(s)?

To examine the evidence of how poorly performing nurses and midwives are managed in the UK National Health Service (NHS).

Background?

Nurses and midwives form the largest clinical group in the NHS. There is little evidence, however, about poor performance and its management in nursing and midwifery literature.

Method(s)?

The present study comprised a literature search, analysis of recent Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) data and observation at NMC fitness to practice hearings.

Results?

Nurses and midwives are the clinical groups most likely to be suspended in the NHS; Trusts do not report data on suspensions therefore no data exist on numbers, reasons for suspensions, managerial processes, gender, area of work, or ethnicity of those suspended; the few major research projects identify variable management practices, the significant financial cost to the NHS and the personal cost to those suspended; there is evidence that inexperienced, poorly trained, or poorly supported managers use suspension inappropriately. Our observation supported this.

Conclusion(s)?

There is a need for robust data gathering and research in the field of NHS managerial practice.

Implications for nursing management.?

Managers should refrain from adopting punitive forms of performance management. Frontline staff and management need better training and support for dealing with poor performance.

A global shortage of health care workers has led to an increase in international migration, often from low-income ?sending? countries in Africa, India and the Phillipines (Lorenzo et al., 2007; Seboni, 2009; Hamada et al., in press) to high income ?receiving? countries including the UK and the US (Bach, 2007; Brush and Sochalski, 2007; Smith et al., 2006). In the Middle East, many countries have come to rely on international recruitment to staff their burgeoning health care facilities but they are now forced to compete with other countries in an increasingly global market.

Background: In many UK general practices, nurses have been used to deliver results against the indicators of the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), a ?pay for performance? scheme.

Aim: To determine the association between the level of nurse staffing in general practice and the quality of clinical care as measured by the QOF.

Design of the study: Cross-sectional analysis of routine data.

Setting: English general practice in 2005/2006.

Method: QOF data from 7456 general practices were linked with a database of practice characteristics, nurse staffing data, and census-derived data on population characteristics and measures of population density. Multi-level modelling explored the relationship between QOF performance and the number of patients per full-time equivalent nurse. The outcome measures were achievement of quality of care for eight clinical domains as rated by the QOF, and reported achievement of 10 clinical outcome indicators derived from it.

Results: A high level of nurse staffing (fewer patients per full-time equivalent practice-employed nurse) was significantly associated with better performance in 4/8 clinical domains of the QOF (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension, P = 0.004 to P

Conclusion: Practices that employ more nurses perform better in a number of clinical domains measured by the QOF. This improved performance includes better intermediate clinical outcomes, suggesting real patient benefit may be associated with using nurses to deliver care to meet QOF targets.

Medication errors can occur at any stage of the
medication process including prescribing, dispensing,
preparation, administration and monitoring
(Vincent et al 2009). Medication administration
is acknowledged as a process in which patient
safety can be compromised easily (Department of
Health 2003) and it is argued that any distraction
or interruption during medication administration can
result in errors. This Policy+ reviews the contribution
to medication administration errors of interruptions
to nurses? work and considers how such interruptions
can be reduced.

Background:

Ever-growing demands on care systems have increased reliance on healthcare support workers. In
the UK, their training has been variable, but organisation-wide failures in care have prompted questions about
how this crucial section of the workforce should be developed. Their training, support and assessment has
become a policy priority.

Objectives:

This paper examines: healthcare support workers? access to training, support and assessment; perceived
gaps in training provision; and barriers and facilitators to implementation of relevant policies in acute
care.

Design and settings:

We undertook a qualitative study of staff caring for older inpatients at ward, divisional or
organisational-level in three acute National Health Service hospitals in England in 2014.

Participants:

58 staff working with older people (30 healthcare support workers and 24 staff managing or
working alongside them) and 4 healthcare support worker training leads.

Methods:

One-to-one semi-structured interviews included: views and experiences of training and support;
translation of training into practice; training, support and assessment policies and difficulties of implementing
them. Transcripts were analysed to identify themes.

Results:

Induction training was valued, but did not fully prepare healthcare support workers for the realities of
the ward. Implementation of hospital policies concerning supervision and formal assessment of competencies
varied between and within hospitals, and was subject to availability of appropriate staff and competing demands
on staff time. Gaps identified in training provision included: caring for people with cognitive impairment;
managing the emotions of patients, families and themselves; and having difficult conversations. Access to ongoing
training was affected by: lack of time; infrequent provision; attitudes of ward managers to additional
support workforce training, and their need to balance this against patients? and other staff members? needs; and
the use of e-learning as a default mode of training delivery.

Conclusions:

With the current and unprecedented policy focus on training, support and assessment of healthcare
support workers, our study suggests improved training would be welcomed by them and their managers.
Provision of training, support and assessment could be improved by organisational policy that promotes and
protects healthcare support worker training; formalising the provision and availability of on-ward support; and
training and IT support provided on a drop-in basis. Challenges in implementation are likely to be faced in all
international settings where there is increased reliance on a support workforce. While recent policies in the UK
offers scope to overcome some of these challenges there is a risk that some will be exacerbated.

This is the second of two papers reporting evidence from a programme of research that focused on how health visiting works, including service user and workforce perspectives. Evidence and professional expertise indicate that a set of essential features enable health visitors to achieve the desired impact of improving child public health. These include organising services in a way that enables positive parent/health visitor relationships, continuity and co-ordination and the flexibility to use professional knowledge and autonomy in practice. Where service specifications give careful attention to this evidence, it is more likely that health visitors will be able to deliver a successful child health programme for the early years.

The altered landscape surrounding commissioning of public health provision has affected the nature and range of health visitor services across England. This is the first of two papers reporting evidence from a programme of research that focused on how health visiting works, also reporting service user and workforce perspectives. Evidence for a service model is offered, based on universal principles and maximising the capacity of the health visiting resource. Where service specifications fail to give careful attention to this evidence, the reshaped services for children and families may miss core ingredients that enable health visitors to make a difference, delivering a proportionate and successful child health programme for the early years.

Objectives:

(i) To synthesise the evidence-base for Schwartz Center Rounds® (Rounds) to assess any impact on healthcare staff and identify key features; (ii) to scope evidence for interventions with similar aims, and compare effectiveness and key features to Rounds.

Design:

Systematic review of Rounds literature; scoping reviews of comparator interventions (Action Learning Sets; After Action Reviews; Balint Groups; Caregiver Support Programme; Clinical Supervision; Critical Incident Stress Debriefing; Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction; Peer Supported Storytelling; Psychosocial Intervention Training; Reflective Practice Groups; Resilience Training).

Data Sources:

PsychINFO, CINAHL, MEDLINE, and EMBASE, internet search engines; consultation with experts.

Eligibility criteria:

Empirical evaluations (qualitative or quantitative); any healthcare staff in any healthcare setting; published in English.

Results:

The overall evidence base for Rounds is limited. We developed a composite definition to aid comparison with other interventions from 41 documents containing a definition of Rounds. Twelve (ten studies) were empirical evaluations. All were of low/moderate quality (weak study designs including lack of control groups). Findings showed the value of Rounds to attenders, with a self-reported positive impact on individuals, their relationships with colleagues and patients, and wider cultural changes. The evidence for the comparative interventions was scant and also low/moderate quality. Some features of Rounds were shared by other interventions, but Rounds offer unique features including being open to all staff and having no expectation for verbal contribution by attenders : Evidence of effectiveness for all interventions considered here remains limited. Methods that enable identification of core features related to effectiveness are needed to optimise benefit for individual staff members and organisations as a whole. A systems approach conceptualising workplace wellbeing as arising from both individual and environmental/structural factors, and comprising interventions both for assessing and improving the wellbeing of healthcare staff, is required. Schwartz Rounds could be considered as one strategy to enhance staff wellbeing.

Although investment in staff development is a prerequisite for high-quality and innovative care, the training needs of front line care staff involved in direct care have often been neglected, particularly within dementia care provision. The Care Certificate, which was fully launched in England in April 2015, has aimed to redress this neglect by providing a consistent and transferable approach to the training of the front line health and social care workforce. This article describes the early stages of an 18-month evaluation of the Care Certificate and its implementation funded by the Department of Health Policy Research Programme.

The ?Care Certificate? was introduced in April 2015 as a new training programme that all new care workers (Health Care Assistants and Social Support Workers) should achieve before working unsupervised.
This research aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Care Certificate in achieving an improved induction and training so that care workers are better-prepared to provide high quality care.
We carried out a national telephone survey with 401 staff who have responsibility for the induction of care workers in care organisations. We also interviewed 68 care staff and 24 managers at 10 different care organisations to get a more detailed understanding of their experiences of the Care Certificate training.
We found that the uptake of the Care Certificate has been good, and it is widely welcomed as providing a standardised approach to improving the care skills and confidence of those new to care. However, there is a proportion of smaller care organisations where the Care Certificate has not been implemented, largely due to lack of resources and capacity.
The Care Certificate was not widely used as a transferable qualification to support the movement of care staff between organisations. Most organisations required new recruits who had completed the Care Certificate elsewhere to repeat some or all of this training due to scepticism about the quality of any prior training.
There has been considerable variation in how the Care Certificate is being used which has undermined the credibility and portability of the Care Certificate, leading to calls for greater regulation and standardisation in its provision.
Organisational size, leadership, capacity and resources were major factors in determining the effectiveness of Care Certificate. Where organisations had the resources to devote particular staff to develop the training or adapt it into their existing induction programmes, then the potential benefits of the Care Certificate were most likely to be reported.

Background
Schwartz Center Rounds® (Rounds) were introduced into the UK in 2009 to support health-care staff to deliver compassionate care, something the Francis report (Francis R. Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry. London: The Stationery Office; 2013) identified as lacking. Rounds are organisation-wide forums that prompt reflection and discussion of the emotional, social and ethical challenges of health-care work, with the aim of improving staff well-being and patient care.

Objectives
How, in which contexts and for whom Rounds participation affects staff well-being at work, increases social support for staff and improves patient care.

Design
(1) A scoping review of Rounds literature and comparison with alternative interventions; (2) mapping Rounds providers via a survey, telephone interviews and secondary data; (3) a two-wave survey of (i) new attenders/non-attenders in 10 sites to determine the impact on staff engagement and well-being; and (ii) interviews with Rounds attenders, non-attenders, facilitators, clinical leads, steering group members, board members and observations in nine case study sites to (4) describe experiences and (5) test candidate programme theories by which Rounds ?work? (realist evaluation).

Setting
(1) International literature (English); (2) all Rounds providers (acute/community NHS trusts and hospices) at 1 September 2014 (survey/interview) and 15 July 2015 (secondary data); (3) 10 survey sites; and (4 and 5) nine organisational case study sites (six of which also took part in the survey).

Participants
(1) Ten papers were reviewed for Rounds and 146 were reviewed for alternative interventions. (2) Surveys were received from 41 out of 76 (54%) providers and interviews were conducted with 45 out of 76 (59%) providers. (3) Surveys were received from 1140 out of 3815 (30%) individuals at baseline and from 500 out of 1140 (44%) individuals at follow-up. (4 and 5) A total of 177 interviews were conducted, as were observations of 42 Rounds, 29 panel preparations and 28 steering group meetings.

Results
(1) The evidence base is limited; compared with 11 alternative interventions, Rounds offer a unique organisation-wide ?all staff? forum in which disclosure/contribution is not essential. (2) Implementation rapidly increased between 2013 and 2015; Rounds were implemented variably; challenges included ward staff attendance and the workload and resources required to sustain Rounds; and costs were widely variable. (3) There was no change in engagement, but poor psychological well-being (12-item General Health Questionnaire) reduced significantly (p

Limitations
Rounds outcomes relied on self-report, fewer regular attenders were recruited than desired, and it was not possible to observe staff post Rounds.

Conclusion
Rounds offer unique support for staff and posi

Objectives

There is an international policy trend for building government hospitals with greater proportions of single?occupancy rooms. The study aim was to identify advantages and disadvantages for patients and nursing staff of a pending move to 100% single room hospital, in anticipation of the challenges for nurse managers of a different ward environment. This paper presents these findings, summarising potential advantages and disadvantages as well as comparison with findings from similar studies in England.

Methods

Mixed method case study design was undertaken in four wards of a large hospital with multi?bed rooms. Three components of a larger study are reported here: nurse surveys and interviews, patient interviews of their experiences of the current multi?bedroom environment and expectations of new single room environment. Integration was achieved via data transformation where results of the nursing staff survey and interviews and patient interviews were coded as narrative allowing for quantitative and qualitative data to be merged.

Results

Four constructs were derived: physical environment; patient safety and comfort; staff safety; and importance of interaction.

Conclusion

There are important factors that inform nurse managers when considering a move to an all single room design. These factors are important for nurses? and patients? well?being.

Implications for nursing management

This study identified for nurse managers key factors that should consider when contributing to the design of a 100% single room hospital. Nurses? voices are critically important to inform the design for a safe and efficient ward environment.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to identify: 1) the extent to which final year chiropractic students used components of person-centred care in a clinical setting; and 2) determine the effect of chiropractic students? use of person-centred care on musculoskeletal pain.

Design/setting: An observational study was conducted at three Western Australian chiropractic teaching clinics.

Interventions: Pragmatic individualised chiropractic care was delivered to 108 adults who experienced non-specific spinal pain.

Main outcome measures: The instruments used in this study were the Consultation and Relational Empathy questionnaire, Picker Musculoskeletal Disorder Questionnaire, and Numerical Rating scale for Pain intensity.

Results: Participants experienced reductions in pain that exceeded the level required for minimal clinically reported improvement. In addition, high levels of empathy and patient-centred care were reported. Ceiling effects for the measures assessing empathy and patient-centred care precluded analyses examining the relationship between changes in pain intensity, empathy, and patient-centred care.

Conclusions: The participants in this study displayed very positive attitudes about most aspects of the chiropractic students? person-centred care skills. Person-centred care processes for which there was considerable scope for improvement included advice about alternative treatment options, and the adaptation of lifestyle and workplace situations to alleviate pain and enhance health. Our findings also showed that the participants experienced clinically important improvement in pain. However, the skewed nature of our dataset precluded identifying whether the students? person-centred care skills influenced such improvement.

Calls by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) for more research in NHS trusts and the Care Quality Commission?s (CQC) decision to award extra points to trusts doing research, seem to signal a new era for research in the NHS.

The RCP statement Delivering Research for All says every NHS clinician should be supported to take part in research. Highlighting evidence that research active trusts have better patient outcomes, the college calls for protected time for doctors, nurses, and other clinicians to undertake research. In collaboration with the National Institute for Health Research, the CQC will add questions to the leadership inspection framework for providers (the well led framework) that recognise the role of research in high quality patient care and strengthen the assessment of research activity.

An increase in research capacity is welcome, but there are serious challenges to implementation. Substantial change, some might say a revolution, will be required in the way research is conducted in the NHS.