Improving Services - Comparative Framework
Ensuring Patient Safety
Undergraduate
- Takes part in patient safety or other clinical audit
- Complies with infection control policies and procedures while on clinical placement
- Takes part in risk assessment
- Critically analyses significant events/critical incidents and is able to see the effect on patient outcomes
- Ensures (personal) safe practice within clinical guidelines
Postgraduate
- Takes part in clinical governance processes within the organisation
- Promotes safe working practices and a culture that facilitates safety through consultation with patients
- Undertakes a risk assessment of a clinical service area
- Presents risk-reduction proposals to multidisciplinary team/departments
- Works to develop systems that are safe and reliable and prevent harm from occurring
Continuing Practice
- Introduces systems to measure risk, and practices to diagnose and quantify risk
- Contributes to the development of clinical governance strategies and practices and makes contact with relevant national collaborative projects
- Develops and implements audit tools for managing risk
- Promotes a safety culture within the service or organisation
Critically Evaluating
Undergraduate
- Takes part in a service improvement project
- Leads on a student union initiative eg. to improve student facilities
- Can identify factors affecting delivery of a particular service using patient feedback
- Takes part or leads an extra-curricular initiative
- Gives feedback on educational activities
Postgraduate
- Evaluates the outcome of change following clinical audits
- Generates ideas for service improvement for discussion within multidisciplinary teams/in multi- agency settings and with patient groups
- Uses proven improvement techniques to develop service improvement proposals
- Works with managers to support service change/improvement
- Listens to the views of staff and patients/service users and their representatives about potential for improvement
Continuing Practice
- Supports more junior colleagues to lead a service improvement project
- Works with healthcare colleagues and patients/service users and their representatives to establish the most appropriate means of collecting and analysing patient and carer feedback
- Supports colleagues to evaluate and audit the outcomes of healthcare improvement projects
- Ensures that protocols and policies are established and followed consistently
Encouraging Improvement and Innovation
Undergraduate
- Seeks patient opinions while on clinical placement
- Identifies and communicates with positive role models
- Uses small group learning as opportunity to debate and question with peers
- Provides feedback about teaching and learning experiences in order to improve education provision
Postgraduate
- Uses multidisciplinary team, patient feedback and other settings to debate and question current systems and practices
- Takes part in multi-agency case conferences
- Undertakes multi-profession audit and research
- Identifies area for improvement and intitiates appropriate projects
Continuing Practice
- Creates and promotes opportunities for colleagues and patients/service users and their representatives to generate, discuss and openly debate ideas for improvement and change, encouraging them to feel safe to challenge existing practice
- Systematically appraises current practice, systems and processes
- Sets challenging and stretching goals for service improvement and monitors their performance
Facilitating Transformation
Undergraduate
- Leads a group to carry out a review eg. of student union activities based on student views
- Through discussion with patients, identifies areas for improvements for patients whilst on clinical placements
- Recognises successful change processes
Postgraduate
- Prepares recommendations for service change based on patient views, for presentation within multidisciplinary team meeting
- Tests feasibility of implementing change with patients, colleagues and staff
- Takes an active role in a change in the clinical setting
Continuing Practice
- With senior colleagues, reviews patient satisfaction information to develop strategies for implementing and managing change within the organisation
- Offers support to more junior colleagues and others who are affected by change
- Actively seeks to understand why change is necessary and so support new initiatives
