PL0600 INTERPROFESSIONAL WORKING

SW0607 COLLABORATIVE PRACTICE FOR SERVICE IMPROVEMENT

(SOCIAL WORKERS)

Collaborative working for service improvement

Aims of Today To introduce you to the module – Inter-professional

Working To revisit the concepts of inter-professional working To develop your understanding of the benefits of

patient/service user and carer involvement in making services safer

To enable you to understand the concepts of service improvement

To enable you to engage with the concepts of systems theory, improvement theory and leadership of change

To critique current practice in relation to service improvement

To provide you with a framework to apply service improvement principles to practice for the benefit of users and carers

Aims of ModuleTo provide a critical appraisal of: a) the rationale for inter-professional, patient/ client/ service user

focused health and social care delivery. b) the underpinning evidence base for providing an inter-

professional service in a specific practice area and/or patient/ client/ service user group in relation to safety and service improvement.

c) the factors influencing the ongoing improvement and delivery of an inter-professional service in a specific practice area and/or patient/ client/ service user group.

Social Workers: This module is one of four modules that together comprise learning, teaching and assessment of your level 6, 100 day placement. Therefore this module provides you with opportunity to contribute to the demonstration of competence relating to the National Occupational Standards units 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, & 19.

Module Learning OutcomesOn completion of the module the students will be able to: a) appraise the rationale for safe inter-professional

working in patient/ client/ service user focused health and social care delivery.

b) critically discuss the nature and types of evidence underpinning the provision of a person centred, inter-professional service in a specific practice area and/or to a patient/ client/ service user group in relation to safety and service improvement.

c) critically analyse the range of factors affecting the ongoing improvement and delivery of inter-professional, evidenced based, health and social care in relation to a specific practice area and/or to a patient/ client/ service user group.

d) explore the implications of the debates within a, b and c (above) for service improvement and their own future role as a member of the inter- professional team.

Module Learning Outcomes for Social Workers

By the end of the module student should be able to:

1. Critically appraise the value of their profession specific contribution in collaborative, inter-professional service improvement (NOS Units 5, 6, 8, 11, 14 &17)

2. Critically analyse the range of factors affecting the delivery of evidence based collaborative working within and between different practice settings (NOS Units 3, 5, 6, 7 & 17)

3. Understand the relevance of user/carer perspectives in inclusive, collaborative service improvement (NOS Units 3, 5, 6, 7 & 8)

4. Demonstrate and critique effective communication with other professionals in a collaborative, practice based learning setting (NOS Units 5, 6, 7, 11, 15, 16 & 17)

5. Critically appraise their inter-professional service improvement learning experience and its implications for their continuing professional development (NOS Units 14, 15, 16 & 19)

6. Demonstrate fitness to practice in accordance with Codes of Practice for Social Care Workers

 

Module assessment - overview Stage 1 – undertake a service improvement project

related to your practice experience. Social workers to do this in collaboration with practice

assessor as evidence towards NOS. Stage 2 – Present your project, in the form of an

electronic poster, to a supportive group who will give you feedback on your work

Social workers – poster to be discussed with Practice Assessor for formative feedback prior to stage 3.

Stage 3 – submit an A4, hard copy of your poster with a bullet point annotation (max 500 words) based on feedback received during assessment and your experience in the service improvement process

Social Workers will produce a 600 word reflective critique instead of the bullet points mentioned above.

Stage 1 - Your Project You should plan and if possible undertake, a small scale

practice based project focused on improving the service user experience and their safety in the system.

This should be small and realistic, it is likely that you will be proposing change and not necessarily implementing the plan in the time you have available

It should be based on the real experience of a service user or carer, an experience where they may have been at risk and where they think their experience could be improved.

Changes can be small, focused on your own behaviour change or bigger, proposing changes to larger systems. The choice is yours. However students have in past benefited from actually carrying out the project and learning from the experience.

Stage 1 cont…. The key point is that you can demonstrate your

understanding of the concept of service improvement It will also need to demonstrate that you have developed

the skills to analyse, from a system perspective, an issue related to patient/ service user/ carer safety and understand how you could use service improvement tools to effect change.

Examples will be provided on the e learning portal for reference

This project will provide the basis of your summative module assessment

Examples from previous student projects

Communication – how do you speak service users, can you improve their feeling of being safe in the system? Ever explained something to someone in such a way that it heightened their anxiety and thought that you could have handled it better?

Information giving – could information be provided in a better way to service users/carers to protect them in the system? E.g.

Midwifery project to raise awareness of the IP team in a maternity department about the maternity information in other languages freely available on the web. Added to a local care-plan checklist of things to consider in an initial assessment

Interprofessional information sharing – how do we communicate in teams to minimise the risk of harm to service users ? E.g.

Local implementation of national guidance on timely dispensing of medication – stickers on notes, information for patients, posters etc all already available, but the local implementation improved the service user experience in that local setting or

Physio student’s implementation of a “traffic light” system on white board by the patient’s bedside indicating to the wider team the patient’s mobility level

Examples from previous student projects cont….

Improving existing practice – how can existing work be enhanced through small scale improvements?

E.g. offering hand wipes with meals in a hospital ward, small scale for the student but with the potential for real impact on the hospital system in the longer term

Practice in an emerging area – how are you utilising your specialist skills in a ‘non traditional’ area to reduce service users/ patients/ carers’ risk from harm?

E.g Implementation of a “nurture group” in a primary school, opportunity to showcase the potential contribution the SW role can make to a school environment and the experience of vulnerable children in an education setting

Educating others about your role – how can you do this in order to improve the service offered and what is its impact on safety?

E.g. Implementation of an information leaflet for police custody staff about the role a social worker can play in supporting parents of young offenders, including contact information to be given to parents

Interprofessional buddy group In your seminars you will be put into small IP buddy

groups Students last time found this a supportive way to

undertake the module It is not a requirement that you physically meet outside of

the timetabled sessions. However you may find it useful to swap contact details so you can provide each other with peer support and perhaps offer a different perspective on project ideas and progress

This peer support will be useful in your assessment and reflection on Interprofessional implications of your project and your learning experience.

Stage 2 - Your presentation (see module handbook for more details)

As a professional you will be expected to be able to confidently speak to groups of other professionals in the course of your work or possibly at conferences. This assessment offers an opportunity to practise this core professional skill.

Your SI project will be presented in the form of a conference standard, electronic poster.

This is summatively assessed using a set of criteria It will be presented to your small interprofessional buddy

group and your assessor. There may also be a service user and/or a placement provider representative to give you feedback/ discussion on the presentation

A seminar two weeks prior to your assessment will provide an opportunity to work with your buddy group to share your idea and get formative feedback prior to undertaking the summative presentation

Stage 3 – Reflecting on your learning

A hard copy of your poster presentation will be submitted with a bullet point summary of your key learning on the back of it.

Reminder: Social Workers will produce a 600 word reflective critique instead of the bullet points mentioned above. This will be included in your practice portfolio, submitted at the end of placement.

In addition to your presentation, this final stage will contribute to your final mark.

There will be an overall mark awarded. See module handbook for more detail.

Finally….

Your experience today will take you through the stages you will need to go through in your projects.

What Is Improvement?

Definition:Continually working together to improve the experience and outcomes for patients and service users; Looking for other ways to provide health and social care, that continuously improves the way it meets the needs of those who depend on it and the working lives of staff who provide it.

Key Improvement Themes

Personal and organisational development

How to recognise and value differences in

style and preferences, including yourself, and build a culture

that supports improvement

Process And Systems

ThinkingHow to understand

your work processes and systems and all the linkages within them, looking for ways to increase

capacity and reduce demand and waste

Making it a habit; initiating, sustaining

and spreadingHow to build

improvement into daily work: making it something that we

don’t think about as special but we just

get on and do it

Involving users, carers,

staff and publicHow to involve and

understand the experience and needs of your

patients, service users, their carers

and your colleagues

Improvement is having the VISION to look at the way you work and the CREATIVITY to do things differently

“Vision is seeing the potential hidden in the

chaos of the moment”

William Van Dusen Wishard

What Does Improvement Involve?

What Does Improvement Involve?

Having the belief in yourself and others that you have the power to improve and to install an IMPROVEMENT CULTURE that welcomes change!

“When building a culture of improvement, you need to

work like a farmer, planting seeds and nourishing the ground.”

Marshall 2002

Having improvement knowledge, skills, tools and techniques – and knowing how to use them!

What Does Improvement Involve?

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”

J Wolfgang von Goethe

Making Improvements within complex Systems

1. Structures

2. Processes

3. Patterns

Source: Frijot Capra 2002

What next?

The rest of today’s seminars will introduce you to the tools and techniques needed for service improvement and give you hands on experience at using them

This will help with undertaking your project and assessment

Any questions?