MAP Community

Renal Unit ‘Adopt a Librarian’ pilot project

October 16, 2015 Comments Off

Title of project: Renal Unit ‘Adopt a Librarian’ pilot project

Project team: Victoria Kirk, Clinical Librarian; Gwyneth Marshman, Clinical Librarian; Lauren Gould, Senior Staff Nurse; Jon Casey, Clinical Nurse Lead (Renal)

Resources required

Staffing: The Clinical Librarian will require dedicated time to:

be available on the ward for 2 hours per week
attend the Multi Disciplinary Team (MDT) meeting to feed back on search results and progress
conduct any searches or training that results from the library surgery
record and collate the necessary data in order to evaluate the pilot

A pilot service will enable staff time requirements to be measured in more detail.

Library Assistant support may also be required for the additional administrative tasks that may be involved (e.g. processing search requests).

Electronic resources: The Clinical Librarian will need access to the evidence base via:

Health related databases
Evidence based resources

Timeframe: The pilot will be conducted between 1^st February 2011 and 30^th April 2011 [may be subject to change].

Description of product/service: The Renal Unit has been successful in attaining Level 2 Practice Development Unit status from the University of Leeds. In order to drive forward practice development, the Renal team would benefit from having regular access to a qualified health information professional at the point of need.

The information professional, as part of the multidisciplinary team, can encourage the consultation of research literature and provide a mechanism for getting research into practice, as well as stimulating a questioning and learning culture within healthcare teams.

A Clinical Librarian will be available on the Renal Unit (Ward 31) at Arrowe Park Hospital for 2 hours per week at a specified time to provide a ‘library surgery’ to staff and students on placement.Results from evidence searches and progress on the pilot will be reported back to the Renal Multi Disciplinary Team (MDT) meeting.

Services available to staff and students via the ‘library surgery’ will include:

Individual assistance with searching for the latest evidence / literature searching
Tailored ‘ad hoc’ training in accessing health information resources (e.g. NHS Evidence, Pubmed, Cochrane Library)
Collecting literature searches on topics resulting from patient care on the ward (e.g. issues arising from ward round) and feeding back results to the team
General enquiries and advice

The project will be conducted as a 3 month pilot. An evaluation of the pilot will determine if it is feasible to launch this as a permanent service.

Alignment to local, regional and national drivers: This service fulfils part of the ‘vision of the future’ identified in the ILS strategy, to ‘increase support offered to divisions by the Clinical Librarian service’. The ILS strategy states that one of the purposes of the ILS is to ‘provide support to clinical teams in the workplace and enable the evidence based decision making process.’

This service fulfills the ILS objectives to support:

Clinical effectiveness and governance
Education and training, professional development and life-long learning
High quality evidence-based health care

The service supports the clinical governance agenda in the Trust.
The service supports the four key purposes of health libraries as identified by the Peter Hill Review:

Clinical decision making by patients, their carers as appropriate, and health professional
Commissioning decision and health policy making
Research
Lifelong learning by health professionals.

The service also supports the vision of the 2010 white paper, Equity and excellence: liberating the NHS, which highlights the need for patient care quality standards to be based on the ‘best available evidence’ (p.23).

Intended outcome for customer / organisation / library: Outcomes measured will be the amount of activity generated as a result (e.g. literature searches). Additionally, a very brief evaluation questionnaire will be completed by each person who utilises the ‘library surgery’. The questionnaire results will provide some impact data as well as helping to identify any ‘critical incidents’ that require follow-up.

Next steps: The project will be reviewed in May 2011

Planning a project: Part 1

October 12, 2015 Comments Off

Recently, I added some old project plans to the toolkit, which hadn’t transferred over from the platform. As I copied and pasted the text over, I remembered how useful I’d found the templates and reflected on how I could use them in my new team to plan and record upcoming projects. We have 2 templates on the toolkit, the Project plan template and the Case study template. Part 1 will consider the project plan template and Part 2 will consider the case study template (2 posts for the price of one!).

The Project plan template has been adapted and refined since the MAP began in 2008. Initially, we found the template to be too long, but now some people might think it does not include enough detail. The template is very much intended to be a basic planning tool, but please feel free to use it and adapt locally for your needs. I’m a great believer in making something fit, don’t stick to the format if it doesn’t work for you.

The template is structured under the following headings and includes some guidance notes to help you:

Project title
Project team
Resources required
Expected timeframe
Description of product/service/project
Alignment to local/national and regional drivers
Intended outcome
Next steps

It includes some of the same sections as the case study template which helps to evaluate impact or success. What it doesn’t provide is the opportunity to develop a detailed project plan and this may be a gap in the MAP toolkit. We have project plans and case studies which bookmark either side of a project, but there is a void in terms of examples of detailed project plans and ongoing evaluation. This is something that we would like to develop, so if you have any examples that you are willing to share, please get in touch.

The tool is very useful for scoping a project and starting to think about what you hope to achieve. Just getting your ideas down on paper can provide real clarity. I personally find that without some form of a plan from the outset, projects can end up taking too long, may fail before they get started, don’t specify what “success” looks like and can end up costing more than anticipated. This tool provides space for you to really think about these things before you get started by helping you to think about what resources you need, to identify useful contacts or partners and to be clearly linked to organisational, NHS and Library objectives right from the beginning. All of this can be really useful information which you can tap into at any point during the project should you need to influence others or apply for funding. I always like to look back over these as well to see how projects have moved on as sometimes a small project can have a greater impact than originally anticipated.

Thanks to Victoria Treadway for her comments.

Protected: MAP Meeting September/October 2015

August 12, 2015 Comments Off

Providing Evidence for Supplies Group University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS FT

August 6, 2015 Comments Off

Title of project: Providing Evidence for Supplies Group

Project team: Head of Procurement and Supplies; Productive Ward lead/Senior Nurse;
Clinical Librarian; Nurse Practitioner; Accountant; Practice Educators; Ward Managers; Departmental representatives

Resources required: Clinical Librarian time, literature searching, Supplies account for document supply.

Intranet: Supplies Group rep will manage the Intranet content.

Intranet publishing: CL needs Cutepdf installing on computer – liaise with IT

Timeframe: Ongoing: 2010-2011 initially

Description of product/service: The University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust is committed to providing high quality research based care within the resources available. The purpose of the Trust Supplies Group is to consider the research around the clinical efficacy and safety of clinical items available for use and make recommendations based on clinical and cost effectiveness.

A Clinical Librarian will attend the Trust Supplies Group meetings and will provide a literature searching service to support decision-making around procurement. The CL will summarise the search results and recommendations in an evidence based summary which will be published on the Intranet.

Alignment to local, regional and national drivers:

Trust Business Plan 2010-11: “To provide excellent value for money for tax payers and provide sustained long term financial viability”

National: Productive Ward; QIPP; Operating Framework 2010-2011

McKinsey Report page 37

Intended outcome for customer / organisation / library: Support evidence based practice in purchasing; Raise the library profile; Demonstrate contribution to organisational objectives. The aim of the Trust Supplies Group is to save money and streamline ordering for 2010-2011. The Library contribution promotes evidence based decision-making and demonstrates a contribution to achieving the Trusts savings.

Next steps: CL continued attendance at Trust Supplies Group Monthly meetings; CL present highlight report/update at each full team meeting

Milestones:

Deliver evidence summaries when requested
Create ‘Supplies’ account for document supply
Manage content/update Intranet site
Manage status of proposals on Intranet

Update: This project won the Sally Hernando Ward 2011 for Product Innovation and was presented at a Procurement Conference in 2013

Read the case study which has been added to the Toolkit

Clinical Librarian Systematic Review : North West Clinical Librarian Collaboration

August 6, 2015 Comments Off

Title of project: NW Clinical Librarian Systematic Review

Project team: Dr Alison Brettle: Research fellow (Salford University);Michelle Maden-Jenkins; Clinical information Specialist (Edge Hill); Lucy Anderson; Outreach Librarian (Bury PCT); Ros McNally; Librarian (University of Manchester); Anne Webb; Library Operations Manager (Christie); Tracey Pratchett; Clinical Librarian (Morecambe Bay); Jenny Tancock; Clinical Librarian (Morecambe Bay); Debra Thronton; Library manager (Blackpool)

Resources required:

Staff involved: 8 librarians from different organisation throughout the NW. Possible use of library assistants for document supply.

Time: Contributors will be expected to travel to meetings (approx 1 per month), meet with colleagues for small group work and allocate time accordingly. Each member will maintain a diary of time dedicated to the project.

Costs: Refworks; Travel costs; Refreshments; Conference costs

Resources: Grouploop to manage documentation and communicate; Refworks to manage References and share with group; PbWiki – used to supplement Grouploop; Databases – to undertake a comprehensive literature search

Training required: Refworks; Statistics training

Timeframe: Start date: April 2008 – Publication date: 2010
*May continue after publication date in terms of presenting process, reflection etc

Description of product/service: This is a collaborative project involving 8 Librarians from the North West. The project will contribute to the professional body of work relating to Clinical Librarianship by delivering a Systematic review. In addition, the contributors also want to develop their own skills base and understanding of the processes involved and this learning will be shared through a reflective process model.

Alignment to local, regional and national drivers:

Local drivers
UHMBT Strategic Direction Document 2003-8 “We are here to provide … A resource for teaching and research and development, generating new knowledge leading to improvements in population health and in health care delivery”

By learning valuable skills in the systematic review process, this can be translated librarian support and advice for Trust staff undertaking this type of research.

National drivers
Hill review 2008 highlights that health libraries are essential for supporting clinical decision making, commissioning & policy making, life-long learning and research.

By developing skills in this aspect of research, CLs at Morecambe Bay can help to deliver Hill’s view of contributing to these areas.

Intended outcome for customer / organisation / library: By contributing to this regional project, I will further understand research processes and pitfalls involved in undertaking a systematic review. This will enable me to support and collaborate with researchers within my Trust who are interested in undertaking a systematic review.

Next steps: This project was completed and published online in late 2010 and was presented at Health Libraries Group Conference in 2010; winner at DREaM Conference (2012) North West Clinical Librarian Systematic Review and Evaluation Group wins Practitioner Researcher Excellence Award

Publication:
Brettle et al (2010) Evaluating clinical librarian services: a systematic review Health Information & Libraries Journal Volume 28, Issue 1, pages 3–22, March 2011

Linked Case Study “Systematic Review”

Raising the Bar. Shape of Caring:

July 24, 2015 Comments Off

Title of driver: Raising the Bar. Shape of Caring: A Review of the Future Education and Training of Registered Nurses and Care Assistants

Source: Link to main document:

Publication format: PDF

Date of publication: March 2015

Summary of driver:

A review chaired by Lord Willis on the current education and training for care staff and registered nurses which recognises the importance of providing the correct education and training for registered nurses and care assistants.

The review states that the health system cannot continue in its present state. Registered nurses and care assistants are the largest workforce group and need to be part of the radical solution in which healthcare changes from an illness-based, provider-led system to a patient-led, preventative model.

Registered nurses and care assistants will play a more enhanced role in the community and helping patients with both preventative care and self-care and will need the skills to deliver this change in working practice.

The recommendations in the review have been based on the need to celebrate and promote existing good practice and to generate a research culture. The majority of the recommendations are aimed at HEE.

This review references HEE’s National Strategic framework 15, HEE Talent for Care Strategy, HEE Research and Innovation Strategy and other HEE documentation as well as the NHS England ‘Five Year Forward View’.

Key features of driver:

The following eight themes are discussed:

Valuing the care assistant role
Widening access for care assistants who wish to enter nursing
Developing a flexible model
Assuring a high-quality learning environment for registered nurses
Assuring high-quality, on-going learning for registered nurses
Assuring sustainable research and innovation
Assuring high quality funding and commissioning

Each theme has a set of recommendations and examples of good practice in relation to the theme.

Primary audience: HEE, NMC, LETBs, NHS England, Higher Education Institutes, NHS Trusts, NHS staff.

Impact on library policy/practice:

This driver links to library policy and practice by offering opportunities to promote information skills training to the staff groups involved. This would support staff in maintaining the portfolio skills passport and the Care Certificate.

There are opportunities to link into the lifelong learning and information literacy aspects of the report and promote the services that we already deliver. Using the technology available, we could consider delivering some services such as training in a different way to help those users in the community.

Other ways that this driver impacts on library policy and practice include:

Critical appraisal training
Journal clubs
‘Training the trainer’ events- to help those staff who are teaching patients how to use technology to get the best evidence available, in order to allow them to self-care
Sessions on new technologies and how to use them- e.g. apps. E-learning platforms/remote access issues
RSS/Journal ToC’s etc. for the latest research to provide better patient care
Opportunity to strengthen links with Research and Development department

Specific quotes that can be mapped back to LKS.

Page 26, on information literacy ‘nurses and care assistants must receive appropriate training to ensure that they and their patients can access the best evidence and information available, in order to underpin their practice through the use of up-to-date prescribing practice, technology and treatment interventions, enabling excellent self-care and professional care’.

Page 57, when talking about a flexible workforce the report mentions ‘broad research awareness and the ability to engage in critical inquiry and adopt ‘curiosity’

Page 61, on education programmes and employers are asked to ‘encourage employers to support care assistants and registered nurses to remain within their employment by providing them with opportunities to advance their careers and to engage in life-long learning’.

Date last updated: July 2015

Due for review: July 2016

Group member responsible: LK

Protected: MAP Meeting 3pm 6th August 2015

June 23, 2015 Comments Off

The reconfiguration of clinical services. What is the evidence?

April 23, 2015 Comments Off

Title of driver: The reconfiguration of clinical services. What is the evidence?

Source: The Kings Fund

Link to main document:

Publication format: PDF

Date of publication: November 2014

Summary of driver:

This paper builds on the analysis of reviews of service reconfigurations commissioned by the National Institute of Health Research and conducted by the National Clinical Advisory Team.

A majority of specialist services are now commissioned by NHS England and there is an assumption that service reconfiguration will deliver substantial savings. This paper has concerns about the quality of evidence available to guide the reconfiguration of clinical services. Whilst the evidence available does not suggest that service reconfiguration will deliver significant savings, the evidence does imply that improvements in quality could be achieved.

The paper sets out policy and service context across 13 clinical service areas and the key drivers for change evident for reconfiguration by summarising the research evidence and professional guidance available.

Key features of driver:

Paper identifies five key drivers of reconfiguration –quality, workforce, finance, access and technology.
There is no ‘optimal design’ for any service. Reconfiguration will depend on local context and the balance between the five main drivers listed above.
Each clinical service area is divided into the following sections: what changes were being proposed?, key drivers, context and relevant policy, evidence that needs to be taken into account when reconfiguring the relevant service, key clinical and service interdependencies and finally, the relevant college guidance.
Technology can reduce the need to travel, provide quicker diagnosis and has potential to deliver clinical services more effectively.
Delivering improvement will require new ways of working such as minimum hours for consultant cover and non-medical staff being utilised in different ways to provide safe patient care. The concept of ‘what’ staff do as opposed to ‘who’ is a recurring theme.
Change needs to be as evidence-based as possible.

Primary audience: Senior NHS and healthcare management, leaders in health and social care.

Impact on library policy/practice: No direct impact identified. Possible rise in requests for information on changes in working patterns or service delivery.

Date last updated: April 2015

Due for review: April 2016

Group member responsible: LK

Stars to guide your way

April 13, 2015 Comments Off

Image: (CC): http://pixabay.com/en/compass-antique-map-of-the-world-429772/

Graham Breckon from Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust provides us with an example an important role which libraries deliver within their organisations.

As library staff we often have a good working knowledge of the organisation, particularly with regard to departments, key contacts and internal processes. We are often asked about this by staff or students who are new to the Trust and still trying to find their way around the organisation. I was working on the enquiry desk when a junior doctor approached and asked where the ‘Audit Department’ was. I explained that, rather than having a dedicated Audit Department, each division in the Trust has a Clinical Governance Co-ordinator whose role includes assisting junior doctors with their mandatory responsibility to complete an audit. I directed the doctor to the appropriate Clinical Governance Co-ordinator so that the doctor could contact her and arrange to meet with her.

On the library desk we are often an approachable and accessible point of enquiry and are frequently asked these kinds of questions. Although this is a small example, it’s an illustration of how the library service quite often helps to match the right person to the right knowledge.

Leader of the Pack

March 30, 2015 Comments Off

Lucy Anderson from Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust tells us how keeping up with Twitter

Image: (CC): http://pixabay.com/en/shield-transport-panel-board-229112/

has raised the profile of the knowledge service:

I keep up to date with Twitter and regularly read tweets from my Trust. I noticed that a service director had tweeted about how forward thinking one of our falls prevention teams is. I had just done a communication about horizon scanning bulletins and thought I would email him directly to make him aware of the Falls Prevention Horizon Scanning Bulletin.

This caught his interest and he came to see the Knowledge Service team to find out about what we do.

He was just setting up a team to produce ‘data packs’ to inform trust strategy developments. He could immediately see how we could fit in with this team.

The Knowledge Service was invited to be on a working group to produce the ‘data packs’. Accompanying us was Information and Performance, Communications and Finance.

The final ‘data pack’ informed a group of senior managers when they were discussing strategy and business plans. The ‘data pack’ team now know more about each other’s areas of expertise and feel at ease contacting each other. It was great for the Knowledge Service to get exposure with other services linked to Knowledge Management activities.