Patient_Safety_Learning
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Community PostPatients are increasingly being asked to access online systems to: request prescriptions or make medication requests access healthcare records and test results make appointments communicate health concerns sign consent forms. These developments can have a positive impact but they can also carry potential challenges, as highlighted in this recent blog - Digital-only prescription requests: An elderly woman sent round the houses. We'd like to hear your experiences of using online systems in healthcare. Have they made things easier? Does it feel like your care is more joined up for it? Have any of these changes been challenging? If so why? Comment below (sign up first for free) or contact us directly at content@patentsafetylearning.org to share your experience.
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Content Article
This blog is part of a series written by Dr Charlie*, taking a closer look at some of the patient safety issues affecting people lives today. In this blog Dr Charlie describes how their homeless friend Robbie* has struggled to access the care and clarification he needed around his liver abscesses. Dr Charlie explains how important it is for healthcare professionals to take into account individual circumstances if they are to provide people with the information and care they need. *not their real name -
Content ArticleThis article published by The Justice Gap highlights new research that has revealed the psychological toll of the inquest system on people whose loved ones die in contested circumstances, including struggling with a complicated legal process and suffering due to cuts to the system.
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Community Post
Pain during IUD fitting
Patient_Safety_Learning replied to PatientSafetyLearning Team's topic in Women's health
@blueiii I am so sorry to hear about your painful and traumatic experience. The points that you and many others have raised, are incredibly important and we refer to this forum when we connect with others in the gynae space, highlighting the need for urgent improvement. More recently we have been seeking examples of good practice to share, with the aim of helping others learn from their work to provide safer care. We have also been working with researchers who have been exploring this area. I am including a few links below to content that may be of interest. Many of the issues raised by patients undergoing IUD procedures mirror those we have heard in relation to hysteroscopies. So I have also included a piece we wrote calling for action on that. Better data collection, patient reported outcomes and making sure women can have access to all of the available pain relief options (with the relevant information) would be a start to improving things. You'll see from the example in one of the links below that the team in Oxford also have a complex pathway for patients who they identify as having the potential to experience high levels of pain or trauma. It is a flexible system, based on listening to the patient - another key area for improvement. There is so much to learn in this space, to make sure patients don't continue to suffer as you have or lose trust. Fitting coils: developing a safe and supportive service Pain experiences during intrauterine device procedures: a thematic analysis of tweets (11 June 2024) Coil procedures: Exploring negative experiences through qualitative research (an interview with Sabrina Pilav) The ripples of trauma caused by severe pain during IUD procedures (BMJ Opinion, July 2021) Hysteroscopy: 6 calls for action to prevent avoidable harm- Posted
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Content ArticleThe Framework serves to guide efforts to deliver safe and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), health care waste management and reliable electricity in all health care facilities. The ultimate aim is to provide quality care for all. The Framework reflects a global consultative process and includes data and recommendations articulated in recent WHO/UNICEF global reports on WASH, waste and electricity in health care facilities. It also provides an operational roadmap for implementing the 2023 United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on WASH, waste and electricity in health care facilities. The target audiences for this Framework include health leaders and programme managers at the global and national levels; policymakers; WASH, waste and energy leaders and technical experts; development partners and finance institutions; and actors and experts on gender equality, disability and social inclusion and climate; and, more generally, civil society. The Framework addresses the WASH, waste and electricity elements of the WHO comprehensive approach to build safe, climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable health care facilities.
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Content ArticleThe combined pituitary clinic (CPC) at the Royal Victoria Infirmary is a unique ‘hybrid’ clinic that enables patients to attend a multi-professional clinic that mirrors that of a multidisciplinary team. Patients have the opportunity to interact with all members of the MDT, provide their personal values and preferences and discuss treatment options. Interestingly the professional viewpoint on this topic has been well characterised in the literature, however the patient experience and participation in an MDT setting has not been explored for any cancer. The CPC provides an exclusive and timely opportunity to characterise the patient response to an MDT-like setting. This PowerPoint slide (link below) explains more about the project and the findings.
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Content ArticleHow are community groups bridging some of the gaps between Black mothers and health and care services? What can the health and care system learn in response? Siva Anandaciva speaks to Amanda Smith, founder and Chief Executive of Maternity Engagement Action CIC, Benash Nazmeen, Professor of Midwifery and co-founder and co-director of the Association of South Asian Midwives CIC, and Chrissy Brown, founder and Chief Executive of the Motivational Mums Club CIC, to find out.
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Tanya Buxton is a medical tattoo artist providing 3D areola-nipple tattoos within the NHS and private healthcare. In this Blog, she explains more about her work and how it can benefit a patient post-surgery. Tanya also raises a number of safety concerns relating to poor standards of education in this area of healthcare, highlighting the harm this can cause patients both physically and emotionally. -
Content ArticleDuring the diagnostic process, clinicians may make assumptions, prematurely judge or diagnose patients based on their appearance, their speech or how they are portrayed by other clinicians. Such judgements can be a major source of diagnostic error and are often linked to unconscious cognitive biases - faulty quick-fire thinking patterns that impact clinical reasoning. Patient safety is profoundly influenced by cognitive bias and language, i.e. how information is presented or gathered, and then synthesised by clinicians to form and communicate diagnostic decisions. Here, authors discuss the intricate links between interpersonal communication, cognitive bias, and diagnostic error from a patient's, a linguist's and clinician's perspective. They propose that through patient engagement and applied health communication research, we can enhance our understanding of how the interplay of communication behaviours, biases and errors can impact upon the patient experience and diagnostic error. In doing so, they provide new avenues for collaborative diagnostic error research striving towards healthcare improvements and safer diagnosis.
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The Voicing Loss project is a collaboration between the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research at Birkbeck, University of London, and the Centre for Death & Society at the University of Bath. The research was conducted from May 2021 to May 2024, with funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. The research examined the role of bereaved people in coroners’ investigations and inquests, as defined in law and policy and as experienced in practice. It also explored ways in which the inclusion and participation of bereaved people in the process can be better supported. A range of project outputs are available via the dedicated Voicing Loss project website. They include a short research summary, along with thematic research reports and policy and practice briefings. The website also has an information and resources section for the general public, and an Expert Insights blog to which many stakeholders have contributed. Many of the study’s key findings, and the research context and methodology, are presented in the papers listed on the website. Implications of these findings for policy and practice are considered in a series of briefings also available through the website which you can access via the link below. -
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Anthony O’Connor is a co-production and lived experience consultant. In Anthony's first blog for Patient Safety Learning, he looked lived experience, its definition, its usage, and its impact. In this blog, he talks about the benefits of co-production and why it is essential to patient safety. Anthony gives examples of how co-production can be used more in healthcare and encourages everyone to develop their knowledge of co-production and start embedding it into their work. -
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I work primarily in the areas of lived experience and in co-production, and I strive to have both of these concepts better understood, and more effectively utilised wherever possible. Nowhere is this more important than the world of patient safety. In this first blog for Patient Safety Learning I will concentrate on lived experience, its definition, its usage, and its impact. -
Content ArticleIn June 2021, high-profile testimonials in the media about pain during intrauterine device (IUD) procedures in the UK prompted significant discussion across platforms including Twitter (subsequently renamed X). Authors of this study published in BMJ Sexual and Reproductive Health, examined a sample of Twitter postings (tweets) to gain insight into public perspectives and experiences. They harvested tweets posted or retweeted on 21–22 June 2021 which contained the search terms coil, intrauterine system, IUD or intrauterine. They analysed the dataset thematically and selected illustrative tweets with the authors’ consent for publication. They conclude that these findings attest to the need for strategies to improve the patient experience for those opting for IUD as a clinical priority. Further research should explore IUD users' experiences, expectations and wishes around pain management. Read the full paper via the link below.
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This report from National Voices called People’s experiences of diagnosis, brings together insights from people with lived experience and our members on the entire process of diagnosis – from trying to get an appointment for a diagnostic referral, to undergoing tests, and experiences post-diagnosis. The report covers the themes of challenges in diagnosis, inequalities in diagnosis, and new innovation in diagnosis, before concluding with nine recommendations for improving patient experience of diagnosis. These nine recommendations include: Adjustments and adaptations to enable access Provide better support while waiting Listen to the patient Better communication around diagnosis Make sure people have a plan Provide access to support groups Collect better data to understand the driver of diagnostic health inequalities, and act on it rapidly Upskill, coordinate and ultimately increase the workforce Have health equity embedded into new innovations the start. -
Content ArticleMillions of unpaid carers across the UK provide support to a family member, friend or neighbour due to a disability, illness or frailty due to old age. Yet a majority of unpaid carers have no choice but to take on a caring role. While providing unpaid care can be rewarding, it also comes with significant negative impacts on carers’ lives. Carers Week commissioned YouGov to carry out polling of the general public, including adults who are currently providing unpaid care.
