Improving Patient Safety through Junior Doctors Forums Dr

Improving Patient Safety through Junior Doctors Forums Dr Patrick Howlett Dr Arief Gunawan Dr Matthew Burman

Introduction • Why 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 as a Resource 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

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 Email 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” FY 1 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?