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Showing results for tags 'Communication'.
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News Article
Physician associates told they must not call themselves doctors
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Staff without medical training who fill gaps in the NHS workforce must tell patients they are “not a doctor” when introducing themselves, under new guidance. The advice has been issued to “physician associates” (PAs), a type of clinical role that requires less training than doctors receive, amid a row over their use in the NHS. PAs complete a two-year postgraduate qualification, but no medical degree, and can diagnose and treat patients. They can work in A&E or GP surgeries. NHS England has set out plans to expand the number of PAs to deal with staff shortages, with a workforce of 10,000 PAs wanted over the next decade. The plan has been met with opposition from doctors’ leaders, who say the growing use of PAs instead of fully qualified doctors is leading to missed diagnoses and deaths. Guidance published by the Faculty of Physician Associates, a part of the Royal College of Physicians, said that PAs must not mislead patients into thinking they are doctors. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 6 October 2023 -
Content ArticleMedicines talk is a website hosting a collection of stories to inspire new avenues for discussion between healthcare professionals and their patients about their medicines and care. Story 1: Life is meant for laughing Story 2: What is it all for? Story 3: 'Keeping going': Are my medicines a help or a hindrance? Story 4: I look after myself Story 5: Is there anything we can stop today? Story 6: A glimpse of the future? Story 7: Polluting the planet The stories were co-authored by Professor Deborah Swinglehurst and Dr Nina Fudge, based on research conducted between 2016 and 2021 at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). The researchers studied 24 people aged 65 or older who had been prescribed ten or more different items of regular medication, through home visits, interviews and attending appointments for up to two years. They also observed and spoke with health professionals in three general practices and four community pharmacies.
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Content ArticleThe Patient Safety Commissioner for England was asked by the UK Government to run a series of policy sprint meetings to set out what would make Martha’s Rule a success in England. Martha’s Rule would mean that if a patient, family member or carer suspected deterioration or a serious concern, they would have the right to easily call for a rapid review or second opinion from an doctor within the same hospital. In this letter to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Steve Barclay MP, the Patient Safety Commissioner outlines the process and outcome of these meetings and a set of recommendations for the implementation of Martha’s Rule.
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Content ArticleThis guide is a self assessment tool to enable Primary Care to become dementia friendly. It includes a checklist for GP practices to help people with dementia and their carers access high quality care and support. People with dementia, carers and staff in GP practices have worked together to co-design and develop this guide. It outlines the benefits for general practice in becoming dementia friendly and includes checklists covering: General practice systems General practice culture Patient diagnosis, care and support Physical environment This guide is adapted from the Alzheimer’s Society’s Guide to Making General Practice Dementia Friendly.
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Content ArticlePeople with chronic pain need personalised care – an approach offering patients choice and control over their mental and physical health, basing care on what matters to them personally, and focusing on individual strengths and needs. People in this position need someone to listen and acknowledge that these symptoms are real, not all in their head. They need someone to explain their chronic pain and other symptoms, but also someone for everything else too. As well as medical care, people need time and emotional care. But how on earth can this be achieved in UK primary care in 2023? Is this really the role of a modern GP? Even if it was how can it now be in our over-stretched, fragmented, target-driven services? In North-West London, Selena Stellman and Benjamin Ellis have tested a personalised care model to improve the care offered to patients with fibromyalgia and high impact chronic pain. In this opinion piece in BJGP Life, they discuss the two key changes in their approach.
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Content ArticleGood patient communication is key, particularly when a patient is waiting for planned care or treatment. From referral by a primary care clinician through to discharge from secondary care, clear, accessible communication is vital throughout. This guide from NHS England sets out key communication principles to help providers deliver personalised, patient-centred communications. It includes considerations for communicating to patients about new models of care as well as helpful information and resources. It covers key aspects of patient communication while waiting for care including personalisation, using clear language, shared decision making, managing delays and cancellations and offering interim health information.
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Content ArticleInpatient falls are one of the most common patient safety incidents reported in rehabilitation wards in Australia and can result in serious adverse patient outcomes, including permanent physical disability and occasionally death. Camden Hospital in Australia implemented a multidisciplinary review meeting (Safety Huddle) following all inpatient falls and near miss falls, which developed strategies in consultation with the patient to prevent the incident from reoccurring.
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Content Article
D-coded diabetes
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Diabetes
D-coded diabetes is a tool that aims to simplify complex research studies about diabetes making the science accessible to everyone living with the condition. It uses simple language and images to explain the methodology and results of studies and trials. D-coded diabetes was created by The Diabesties Foundation, a nonprofit organisation aimed at delivering impact by revolutionising advocacy, education and support for people living with Type 1 Diabetes. -
Content ArticleIn this article, Professor Paul Bowie, Programme Director for Safety & Improvement at NHS Education for Scotland (NES), outlines an NES research project which aimed to critically review the safety-related content, language and assumptions of a small but diverse range of health and care safety learning reports, policies, databases and curricula.
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Content ArticleThis video made by Health Education England and the Restraint Reduction Network looks at the impact of inappropriately used restraint practices in mental health and learning disability services. Three people with lived experience of restraint discuss the impact it has had on their lives and why they are campaigning for change.
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Content ArticleThis blog published by the Irish Health Service Executive (HSE) tells the story of Mark, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia 15 years ago, aged 15. It describes the issues he and his mother faced in getting him the care he needed, including being treated inappropriately and without dignity during emergency department visits, problems accessing ongoing community support and a reluctance to assist him with reducing his medication dosage. It also highlights how his family were not included in care plans and treatment decisions, and their needs as carers were rarely considered.
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Content ArticleThese online resources are designed to help healthcare professionals improve conversations with their patients about suicidal ideation, self-harm and other common mental health problems. The resources are based on a field of research known as Conversation Analysis, which micro-analyses verbal and non-verbal communication to study the consequences of different ways of communicating. Resources include research findings and real examples from video-recorded psychosocial assessments with mental health nurses, social workers and other healthcare professionals. To access the resources, you need to be a healthcare professional and will need to create an account.
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Content ArticleThis survey from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) looks at the experiences of people receiving community mental health services. The 2020 community mental health survey received feedback from 17,601 people who received treatment for a mental health condition between 1 September 2019 and 30 November 2019. This report shows that people are consistently reporting poor experiences of NHS community mental health services, with few positive results. For example, poor experiences were reported for crisis care, accessing care, and involvement. It also found disparity in the experiences of different groups of people, especially among respondents with different diagnoses.
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Content Article
Healthcare Improvement Scotland: Mental Health portfolio
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Mental health
The Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) is part of Healthcare Improvement Scotland's Improvement Hub supporting improvement across health and social care. The aim of theSPSP for Mental Health is People are and feel safe. -
Content Article“It’s not something we talk about or that everybody experiences to the same degree but I think most of us are affected, be it subconsciously or consciously by antiquated, competitive, hierarchical values. Revered doctors are those that work above and beyond the hours they are paid for, that come in even when they are sick, that prioritise work over their families, over sleep and their own health. Doctors that are kind and compassionate but that don’t allow themselves to be affected by their experiences. Doctors that would go from one cardiac arrest to the next without letting their judgement cloud or their actions falter.” This blog by Dr Natalie Ashburner who is the Doctors Association UK (DAUK) Editor emphasises the importance of doctors speaking up about their mental health.
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Content Article
The NHS has declared climate change a health emergency, but are trust leaders and healthcare staff talking and acting on this? Angela Hayes, Clinical Lead Sustainability at the Christie Foundation Trust, discusses climate change and the impact it has on all of our lives and health. She believes healthcare professionals have a moral duty to act, to protect and improve public health, and should demand stronger action in tackling climate change.- Posted
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Content ArticleThis easy-read guidance outlines what the Care Quality Commission (CQC) expects good care to look like for autistic people and people with a learning disability. It explains how the CQC aims to help health and adult social care services develop and run services that are right for the people they serve.
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Content ArticleThe Accessible Information Standard gives disabled people and people with sensory loss the right to get healthcare information they can understand and communications support if needed. A survey conducted by HealthWatch between February and May 2022 aimed to investigate whether the standard is being delivered by health services, and whether it offers enough support to patients. While the survey participants were self-selected, their views are likely to reflect those of a significant group of people who need communications support. HealthWatch hopes that the survey's findings will help NHS and social care decision-makers hear what is working and what could be better from the public's perspective.
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Content ArticlePeople with a learning disability and autistic people should have the right support in place to live an ordinary life and fulfil their aspirations, in their own home. This action plan from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) aims to strengthen community support for people with a learning disability and autistic people, and reduce reliance on mental health inpatient care. This action plan outlines the government's policy to achieve this by: strengthening community support. reducing the overall reliance on specialist inpatient care in mental health hospitals. improving the experiences of people with a learning disability and autistic people across public services such as health, social care, education, employment, housing and justice. It brings together the commitments that have been made by different organisations to realise these aims, and aims to drive long-term change for people with a learning disability and autistic people.
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Content ArticleThis report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) looks what people with a learning disability and autistic people experience when they need physical health care and treatment in hospital. People with a learning disability face huge inequalities when accessing and receiving health care, and initiatives to try and improve people’s experiences have not brought about improvement at the speed or scale needed. The consequences of this are serious, as when people do not get care and support that meets their individual needs, it can lead to avoidable harm and premature death. Equity for people with a learning disability and autistic people is therefore a critical patient safety issue.
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Content ArticleLifelong and persistent sensory sensitivities are a diagnostic characteristic of autism. As public transport, waiting areas and other clinical settings are more likely to be inaccessible to autistic people, they may reach crisis before receiving healthcare. Inpatient settings without adaptations for autistic people’s sensory needs may risk autistic people being distracted or overwhelmed during therapy and/or excluded and segregated from the ward environment. Environments that are not ‘autism friendly’ can: impede the effectiveness, or hamper the delivery of, therapeutic intervention exacerbate poor mental health lead to the use of restrictive practices such as restraint, seclusion or segregation. NHS England provides this resource pack to improve the sensory environment throughout healthcare.
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Content ArticleThis survey from Kopecky et al. assessed the in-hospital needs of patients diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs).
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Content ArticleAs the number of Pennsylvanians diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) continues to grow, healthcare facilities are seeing an increase in the number of these individuals seeking care. Negative interactions with the healthcare system and concerns about the quality of care provided to this population have been reported by individuals with ASD, their families, and healthcare providers. The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority received 138 reports of events involving patients with ASD from July 2004 through August 2014. Qualitative analysis of event report narratives revealed 12 patient safety concern themes involving patients with ASD. Injury to self or potential injury to self was identified as the most frequently reported concern (n = 75), followed by interference or lack of cooperation with care (n = 30). Other events included aggressive behavior and/or injury to others, use of chemical or physical restraints, patient communication difficulties, and caregiver communication difficulties and/or consent issues. The patient safety concerns commonly encountered by ASD patients and their families as reported to the Authority are consistent with the concerns cited in the published literature. Resources such as those developed by the Western Pennsylvania Autism Services, Education, Resources, and Training Collaborative are available to help healthcare facilities improve care for this population.
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Content ArticleThis is an easy read document explaining the importance of sharing information about your support needs. These are sometimes called reasonable adjustments.
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Content ArticleA team of ward nurses from Merseyside took part in the 2018–19 cohort of the Innovation Agency's coaching for culture programme. The team, led by ward manager Sharon Mcloughlin, were all from the Dott Ward at The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust, a specialist trust in north Liverpool dedicated to providing comprehensive neurology, neurosurgery, spinal and pain management services.
