Improving Patient Safety through Junior Doctors Forums Dr Patrick Howlett Dr Arief Gunawan Dr Matthew Burman
Introduction Why do we do we need Junior Doctors Forums? What is a Junior Doctors Forum? What have Junior Doctors Forums achieved? What did we learn? What are the challenges ahead?
Where have we established Junior Doctors Forums? Royal London Hospital North Middlesex Hospital
Junior Doctors are on the front line of service provision interact with every team/department in the hospital informally problem solve on a daily basis uniquely move between organizations on a yearly basis Junior Doctors as a Resource
Why do we need Junior Doctors Forums? To develop a culture of patient safety and quality improvement amongst Junior Doctors To help Junior Doctors learn how to develop and lead quality improvement projects To improve collaboration between Senior Managers/Clinicians and Junior Doctors
What is a Junior Doctors Forum? Regular time and place (every 2-3 months) Who attends – Junior Doctors – Senior Clinicans – Managers Idea/project presented followed by group discussion Progress review of ongoing/previous projects
Principles of the Forum Patient-centred ideas Projects are solution-orientated 2-way communication between doctors and managers Promotes leadership and management education
How was the JDF established? Informal conversations between junior colleagues: “frustrations” and “potential” Identifying senior clinicians and managers Publicity Organised by core group of interested junior doctors
How was the JDF publicised? Word of mouth Announcements at formal teaching sessions Posters Trust-intranet
Incentives: a Key to Participation? Food Projects for CV/Portfolio Training in Quality Improvement/leadership Publications/Presentations
Example Projects from the Forum Phlebotomy “Meet the Managers” FY1 Induction booklets Weekend Handover Medical Handover Neurology Day Unit Patient Pathway
What were the Challenges? Sustainability Lack of protected time for Forum/Projects “Change Fatigue” and Pessimism Lack of training in principles of Patient Safety/Quality Improvement Senior Clinician “Buy-in” beyond the Forum
Lessons Learnt Importance of local networks No project is too small Quality Improvement/Leadership Education Resilience Flexibility
Conclusion Junior Doctors Forums – Can develop a culture of quality improvement – Provide experiential learning – Improve communication between Junior Doctors and Managers BUT – Creates significant workload – Requires buy-in from Doctors and Managers – Sustainability is difficult within current training progammes
Any Questions?