Title: | STANLAB – Standardising Line Labelling |
Project Description: | Efforts to improve quality in healthcare show mostly inconsistent and patchy results. While there is increasing interest in explaining why and in identifying the barriers and enablers to improvement, published accounts of quality improvement (QI) studies often offer limited descriptions both of the interventions and the mechanisms by which they work. More detailed evaluations of promising QI programmes are needed. Improved and standardised labelling is one method of reducing the risk of error and harm associated with catheters – for example when using injectable medicines – but no consistent approach has been adopted. During the past 30 months, the development of the line labelling programme was led by Trusts, supported by the Department of Health in Northern Ireland. It is currently being implemented in all hospitals and care homes across the country.
The aim of our study is to conduct a theory-based analysis of how the programme partners created an enabling infrastructure to support the implementation of a QI programme across an entire health system. We will examine the technical, social and organisational challenges that programme personnel faced, and elucidate how they overcame these challenges. In order to do this, we will use a mixed-methods approach to elicit the programme theory (or theories) of the partners involved in the programme in detail, identifying the underpinning assumptions and rationales about mechanisms which link the programme’s processes and inputs to the desired outcomes. The study design will involve (i) conducting semi-structured telephone interviews with the various partners in the programme; and (ii) analysing programme documentation. We will assess the extent to which the various stakeholders share the same views of what is going on with the programme and identify areas of divergence and convergence regarding the most significant aspects of the programme and how it works. We will discuss the results of our evaluation in the wider context of QI implementation and how we can create a culture of learning from such programmes. The outcomes will be a report to the NI Chief Medical Officer and colleagues, suitable for sharing with the UK Department of Health and the Health Foundation, and published as a scientific report and a digest-style output for use by clinicians and improvement practitioners. |
Funder: | Wellcome Trust |
Collaborators: | Professor Mary Dixon-Woods, Dr Rebecca Simmons |
Project organisation | |
Start date: | 1st January 2017 |
End date: | 31st December 2017 |
Contact person: | Dr Natasha Kriznik |
Contact Details: | Telephone: 01223 761012 E-mail: nmk33@medschl.cam.ac.uk |
Further Information, References and Publications | |