Innovative learning from simulated patient complaints

Repeated inquiries have highlighted issues with patient safety, communication and the exploration of complaints, emphasising the interplay between each in securing the optimum patients’ journey through health and social care provision (Francis 2013, Keogh 2013). The Care Quality Commission (2014) highlighted that every concern or complaint is an opportunity to improve. A complaint may signal a problem, with the potential to help save lives, and well-handled concerns can help to improve the quality of patient care. Despite these potential benefits there is a wide variation in how complaints are handled or the fostering of an open culture where all complaints are welcomed and learnt from. The University of Derby in delivering pre-registration nursing education utilises simulation to explore patient complaints in order to facilitate recognition of the value they offer, providing transferability to enhance nursing practice and improve patient safety. The simulated experience consists of examining the reasons for complaints; impacts upon service users; lessons for nurses and other health professionals; means of address and preventing repetition of similar incidents;enhancements for practice and lessons for organisations. As part of this process the inclusion and effects of Human Factors are explored from the inception of the simulation experience. Students’ simulate three phases: root cause analysis; the development of a response letter; and a proposal for practice enhancement. These are all subsequently explored via a simulated Boardroom experience. This consists of a panel of allocated ‘experts’ to which the students’ present their findings and recommendations to enhance potential future patient experience and safety. Robust exploration of students’ thought processes and actions are incorporated within this experience via questioning, observation and reflections of the panel. Resulting from this simulation, students develop key transferrable skills: critical thinking; team working; leadership; knowledge of systems and processes; communication skills; customer care; quality assurance, governance and promoting patient safety that are mapped against the competencies outlined in the Nursing and Midwifery Council (2010) Standards for Pre-registration Nursing Education. This experience and feedback is recorded within each students practice document. This is used for subsequent review by their practice mentor, and can be used as part of their practice assessment at the applicable progression point. Learning from service user complaints is high on the agendas of commissioners and healthcare providers. This simulated experience has the potential to be transferred in to not only nursing practice but also any other healthcare professional pre-registration education and continued professional development. References Care Quality Commission (2014) Complaints Matter. Newcastle Upon Tyne: CQC. Francis, R. (2013) Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry, London: The Stationery Office. Keogh, B. (2013) Review into the Quality of Care and Treatment Provided by 14 Hospital Trusts in England: An overview report. London: The Stationary Office. Nursing and Midwifery Council (2010) Standards for Pre-registration Nursing Education. London: NMC. Key words: • simulation • complaints • patient safety • enhancing practice. Bullet points that indicate how your work contributes to knowledge development: • innovative approaches to teaching and learning through the application of simulated complaints • enhancement of patient safety and the quality of care • development of transferable competence for nursing practice

Book review: Coaching and mentoring for academic development by Kay Guccione and Steve Hutchinson

In Coaching and Mentoring for Academic Development, Kay Guccione and Steve Hutchinson make the case for mentoring and coaching as key to building a learning culture in higher education, exploring how coaching and mentoring programmes can be embedded to provide learning opportunities as well as support and growth for academic and research staff. Jo Collins welcomes this invaluable and timely book for offering tools, clarity and a framework for those supporting mentoring programmes to develop practice and experiment. Coaching and Mentoring for Academic Development. Kay Guccione and Steve Hutchinson. Emerald Publishing. 2021

Systematic Visuo-Textual Analysis: A Framework for Analysing Visual and Textual Data

As qualitative research has evolved, researchers now often combine interviews with the production of photographs, artefacts, collages, maps or drawings and the like. However, in practice, the artefacts produced are used to eliciting experiences and stimulating conversations rather than as data, per se, which is often due to the lack of guidelines for how to deal with the artefacts as data in a systematic analytical process. In this article, we present the Systematic Visuo-Textual Analysis, a framework developed to provide much-needed support for qualitative researchers in analysing artefacts in combination with interviews. Drawing on existing frameworks for visual and textual analysis the focus of this framework is to analyse visual and textual datasets separately and in conjunction with one another through several levels of interpretation from noticing descriptive elements and focussing on specific linguistic and artistic elements through to developing conceptual themes. Drawing on examples from our own research, we will demonstrate the practical application of the Systematic Visuo-Textual Analysis

Can emerging African Stock Markets improve their informational efficiency by formally harmonising and integrating their operations?

Despite experiencing rapid growth in their number and size, African stock markets remain highly segmented, small, illiquid and technologically bankrupt, severely affecting their informational efficiency. On this basis, with specific focus on the weak-form of the efficient markets hypothesis, we attempt to empirically ascertain whether African stock markets can improve their informational efficiency by formally harmonising and integrating their operations using a new robust non-parametric variance-ratios test in addition to its parametric alternative. On average, we find that irrespective of the diagnostic used, all the 24 African continent-wide indices applied returns’ display better normal distribution properties than those of the 8 individual national stock price indices examined. We record evidence of statistically significant improvements in the informational efficiency of the African continent-wide stock price indices over the individual national stock price indices used irrespective of the test statistic applied. The potential improvement in efficiency to be gained is much higher in economic sectors indices than in size and regional indices. Finally, consistent with prior evidence, (eg., Wright, 2000; Belaire-Franch and Opong, 2005, Ntim, et al., 2007), the results of the Lo and MacKinlay (1988) parametric variance-ratios test are ambiguous. By contrast, the ranks and signs alternative offer consistent results throughout.African stock markets, Integration, Efficiency, Variance-ratios, Ranks and signs

A massive abdominal wall desmoid tumor occurring in a laparotomy scar: A case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Desmoid tumors are benign but locally aggressive tumors of mesenchymal origin which are poorly circumscribed, infiltrate the surrounding tissue, lack a true capsule and are composed of abundant collagen. History of trauma to the site of tumor origin is elicited in up to 1 in 4 cases and they most commonly develop in the anterior abdominal wall and shoulder girdle but they can arise in any skeletal muscle. The clinical behavior and natural history of desmoid tumors are unpredictable and management is difficult with many issues remaining controversial, mainly regarding early detection, the role, type and timing of surgery and the value of non-operative therapies.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report a case of a 23 year old male referred from a district hospital to a national referral hospital in Kenya, after developing a huge abdominal wall desmoid tumor following laparotomy for a blunt abdominal injury fourteen months earlier. The tumor was successfully excised and the abdominal wall defect reconstructed using a vicryl/prolene mesh and a unilateral groin flap. The patient had a non-eventful recovery and was discharged through radiotherapy clinic.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Wide margin tumor excision alone is a reasonable option in the management of desmoid tumors.</p

Graduate Teaching Assistants and Transcultural Classrooms

This project explores the experiences of international Graduate Teaching Assistants. A pilot project looked at experiences of GTAs from postcolonial countries, mapping their teaching philosophies and experiences teaching in UK higher education. Data was collected by interviews and reflective exercises

The Influence of Followers on the Leadership Effectiveness of Clinical Research Leaders

Lack of competent followers in the leadership process may result in a disengaged workforce and diminished organizational growth. In the contemporary business environment, some leaders fail to recognize and engage competent followers in the leadership process. Grounded in the situational leadership and followership theories, the purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationship among follower active engagement (AE), follower independent, critical thinking (ICT), and the dimensions of leadership effectiveness (LE) to engage competent followers. The participants (N = 52) completed 2 online questionnaires: Leader Behavior Analysis II Other Questionnaire and Kelley’s Follower Questionnaire. The linear regression analysis results indicated the full model, containing 2 predictor variables (Follower AE; Follower ICT), was not significant in predicting the outcome variable, LE, to engage competent followers, F(2, 49) = .036, p = .964, R2 = .001. Leaders must analyze work environments and understand which followers present barriers to achieve organizational goals and fail to provide the leader with critical information. The implications for positive social change include the potential for clinical research leaders to self-assess their leadership and evaluate followers\u27 impact in delivering clinical research to local communities

How El Nino affects energy consumption: a study at national and regional levels

El Niño is typically viewed as an episode of destructive weather anomalies that can last from a few months to several years. The majority of research looks at the negative impacts of this event. However, not all impacts of El Niño are necessarily bad. This study outlines areas of the United States that are most highly impacted by anomalous temperature and rainfall during El Niño years and determines whether these anomalies affect energy consumption. These effects will be examined on both a national and regional scale. Areas of the northwestern and southeastern United States exhibit anomalous temperatures during El Niño years. The southern US and Great Plains area receives positive anomalous precipitation during El Niño years while an area of the east central US experiences negative anomalous precipitation. Natural gas consumption in the northwestern US is reduced by the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO). During an ENSO event consumers actually save money because less is spent on natural gas for home heating purposes. Hydroelectricity may also be affected by ENSO in the southeastern US but the results at this time are inconclusive. At the national level, ENSO influences the consumption of nuclear electricity