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Previous Seminars

THE IMPORTANCE OF WORK ENGAGEMENT FOR NHS STAFF: Professor Jeremy Dawson, 11 May 2016

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Abstract: Research on engagement, a multi-faceted concept covering a variety of positive work attitudes and experiences, has gained substantial traction in the last decade. Since 2009, it has been measured as part of the NHS staff survey – an annual questionnaire with more than 200,000 respondents each year. This talk will describe how engagement fits with other work-related constructs, why it is seen as important, and uses data from the NHS staff survey and other routinely collected sources to demonstrate its effects on staff well-being outcomes as well as associations with patient care. It will also explore how aspects of line management can promote engagement to achieve these outcomes.

Biography: Jeremy Dawson is Professor of Health Management at the University of Sheffield, where he works jointly between the Institute of Work Psychology (part of the Management School) and the School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR). His research includes a range of topics in the areas of health services management, and research methodology. He has led several large-scale projects in the NHS, particularly focussing on team working, staff engagement and well-being and their links with patient outcomes, and he led the team that ran the NHS national staff survey between 2003 and 2010. Amongst his other research interests include team and organisational climate, and work group diversity. He is a statistician by background, and teaches a wide variety of subjects in the fields of statistics and research methods, as well as researching in these areas. He has published over 40 papers in refereed academic journals, as well as numerous project reports and articles in practitioner publications. He is an editorial board member of six journals, and an Associate Editor of the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology.

Presentation slides available here

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT FROM THE OUTSIDE IN: HOW PATIENTS ARE HELPING THE NHS GET BETTER: Dr James Munro, 28th April 2016

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Abstract: Over the past decade the notion of “patient experience” has come to be seen as one of the three pillars of high quality healthcare, alongside clinical effectiveness and patient safety. Over the same period, the rise of digital communication and social media has transformed the way that both patients and professionals communicate (although not with one another). Coincidentally, over the same period we have developed Patient Opinion, a national non-profit service enabling people to share their experiences of health and care services online. Currently, over 140,000 experiences of care are available via Patient Opinion. They have been read over 75 million times and we receive 100,000 visitors per week. Most English NHS Trusts and all Scottish health boards use the service at some level, with 7,000 staff and students receiving alerts to relevant feedback.
This seminar will introduce the still-evolving Patient Opinion service, consider impacts for individuals, services and wider culture, and suggest a range of applications in both research and education.

Biography: Dr James Munro is chief executive of Patient Opinion, the UK’s leading independent online feedback service for health and social care. His background is in clinical medicine, public health, and academic research.

Presentation slides available here

INNOVATION FROM WITHIN: USING VIDEO-REFLEXIVITY TO IMPROVE PATIENT SAFETY: Dr Jessica Mesman, 11 February 2016

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Abstract: In this presentation Jessica Mesman will take the opportunity to discuss her efforts to make a difference in practices related to patient safety. She will reflect critically on the dominant understanding of patient safety. According to her the improvement of patient safety should not only be based on error-reducing activities, but also on a sophisticated understanding of the vigor of health care practices. The exploration of latent resources can be considered as a form of exnovation. This approach can be characterized as ‘innovation from within’. In her presentation she will outline an alternative agenda: one that has its focus on the presence of safety and on the competencies of frontline clinicians to preserve adequate levels of safety within real-life complexities.

Biography: Jessica Mesman is Associate Professor in the field of Science and Technology Studies at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. Her current research interests include the anthropology of epistemic cultures in medicine, the method of exnovative ethnography and video-reflexivity, as well as the development of a positive approach to patient safety. In order to develop her arguments in these areas she studies informal and unarticulated dimensions of establishing and preserving safety in health care practices