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Integrating Quality Assessment and Quality Improvement

NHS services are increasingly required to respond to quality assurance data. We aim to enhance integration of national audit data to facilitate local & regional improvement in critical care services.

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  • Idea
  • 2019

Meet the team

Also:

  • Prof Kathy Rowan - ICNARC
  • Dr Chris Langrish -Chair of the SLACCN
  • Bhavesh Radia - Educational Department GSTT

What is the challenge your project is going to address and how does it connect to your chosen theme?

Increasingly NHS institutions and services are quality assessed via national benchmarking programs. Whilst designed to measure and compare important patient-centred outcomes, effective translation to those coordinating and delivering patient care at institutional and regional level remains a concern.  A  recent HQIP report identified understanding data collection, analysis and reporting as key barriers to institutions effectively engaging with national clinical audit for  improvement. Such barriers can be between assessors and providers or within institutional clinical and administrative  structure and process. Working in close collaboration with the Intensive Care Audit National Audit Research Centre (ICNARC), source of national clinical audit data for critical care, we seek to develop a program  aimed at bridging such service assessment/delivery  boundaries,  as a first step to  facilitating engagement with local and regional service improvement around national benchmarking outcomes.

What does your project aim to achieve?

In collaboration with ICNARC and the South London Critical Care Network (SLACCN) (a group of 11 district and tertiary centres responsible for delivering ~11% of UK critical care) we propose:

i) Development of an existing on-line learning module aimed at improving understanding of ICNARC  national clinical audit for critical care (the Case Mix Program (CMP)) reporting, with particular emphasis on “individual institution” and “SLACCN-wide” feedback.

ii)  Using quality improvement methodology, develop implementation packages to optimise effects of on-line learning  strategies across clinical and administrative boundaries of care delivery team.

iii) using an informed multi-disciplinary team , devlop a SLACCN QI  group to identify and address  individual institution/network improvement ideas using a shared learning approach.

How will the project be delivered?

1. The educational department  at GSTT have extensive experience in the development of on-line learning resources.  is a recognized expert in the delivery and assesment of on-line learning. Using this combined expertise maximises the quality of the proposed learning product and it’s subsequent evaluation.

2. Via the CMP, ICNARC  is central to the provision of high quality information to promote improvement in UK critical care. It  has a strong reputation for conducting high quality research to improve the care and outcomes of critically ill patients. In its recent 5 year strategy, it has commited to working with the critical care community to develop and support new ideas to improve patient care.

3. The project will be nested within SLACCN, whose aim is to improve equity of access, experience and health outcomes for patients within South London, across healthcare organisations and geographical boundaries, through collaborative projects aimed at increasing co-operation and communication.

What and how is your project going to share learning throughout?

1.  The SLACCN includes 11 NHS and 4 Independent hospitals – estimated to represent 11% of  UK critical care delivery. In addition to the direct learning from the intervention, outcomes will be shared by members the co-ordinating QI group and via its annual conference of members.

2. Via the CMP,  ICNARC provides  national audit data to 99% intensive care units in England, Wales and NI –  over 200,000 patient episodes annually. Any learning and improvement therefore has huge potential for dissemination and effect amongst CMP institutions. Also, Given ICNARC’s goal to develop “a community to collaborate and innovate,” this preliminary project has potential to scale up to wider UK critical care provision.

3.  Whilst this project focuses on critical care, potential learning will be applicable across the expanding HQIP National Audit Benchmarking Program and similar programs elsewhere.

4. The project would be conducted with aim of publication in an appropriate QI Journal to maximise learning.

How you can contribute

  • 1. Expertise in how to effectively measure knowledge uptake
  • 2. Expertise around the development and assessment of interactive on-line learning approaches to drive knowledge uptake
  • 3. Translating/Presenting data to improve knowledge and clinical outcomes
  • 4. Improving uptake and improvement from National Audit

Plan timeline

1 Jul 2020 Complete Development of e-module
1 Jul 2020 Complete evalauation protocol
30 Apr 2021 Complete evaluation of emodule
31 May 2021 Presentation of findings at ICNARC _CMP Annual Conference
1 Jul 2021 Target completion SLACCN QIP
31 Dec 2021 Identification SLACCN QIP

Comments

  1. Dear Andrew,

    we have been using national audit data in our HIP QiP programme here at Northumbria. Happy to link you up with folk to discuss how we then drove up quality.

    good luck

    best wishes

    Anna

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