Photo of Ruth Baxter

Ruth Baxter

Programme Manager

Email: Ruth Baxter

 

Background

Ruth is based between the Yorkshire Quality and Safety Research (YQSR) group at the Bradford Institute for Health Research BIHR and the School of Psychology at the University of Leeds. She currently holds a prestigious Post-Doctoral Fellowship funded by THIS Institute (University of Cambridge) which explores how Resilient Health Care can be translated into practice to support improvements in the safety of care. Ruth is also the Programme Manager for a NIHR Programme Grant for Applied Health Research called ‘Single and Safe Intervention for MEDication administration’ (SaSI-MEDs). This programme aims to develop and evaluate an intervention to de-implement unnecessary double-checking of medicines.

 

Ruth graduated from Newcastle University in 2007 with a BSc (Hons) in Psychology, and she completed a MSc in Psychological Approaches to Health at the University of Leeds in 2013. Ruth was awarded her PhD in 2016 following a joint studentship with the YQSR group and the University of Leeds. Her PhD research, which was funded by The Health Foundation, explored how the positive deviance approach can be applied within healthcare organisations to improve patient safety. Following her PhD, Ruth worked on a NIHR funded Programme Grant for Applied Health Research called ‘Partners At Care Transitions (PACT)’ which aimed to improve the safety and experience of older people (and their family/carers) as they move from hospital to home.

 

Ruth conducts applied health services research with a broad interest in improving the quality and safety of patient care. She is particularly interested in exploring how new approaches and theories can be used to support patient safety improvements and how patient and family involvement can enhance safety. She has experience of using a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods. She is a co-applicant on the NIHR Quality, Safety and Outcomes Policy Research Unit and an academic advisor for the ‘Safer systems, cultures and practices’ theme of the NIHR funded Yorkshire and Humber Patient Safety Research Collaboration.

Research interests

Ruth’s broad research interests include patient safety and applied health services research with a specific focus on healthcare improvement. She is interested in new approaches and theories to improving safety including Resilient Healthcare / Safety-II, the application of Safety Science, and positive deviance. Ruth is also interested in patient involvement in patient safety.

Recent Publications

Clark D, Lawton R, Baxter R, et al. (2024). Do healthcare professionals work around safety standards, and should we be worried? A scoping review. BMJ Quality & Safety, Published Online First: 27 September 2024. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2024-017546

Lawton, R., Murray, J., Baxter, R. et al. (2023). Evaluating an intervention to improve the safety and experience of transitions from hospital to home for older people (Your Care Needs You): a protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial and process evaluation. Trials, 24: 671 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-023-07716-z

Haraldseid-Driftland, C., Lyng, H.B., Guise, V. et al. (2023). Learning does not just happen: establishing learning principles for tools to translate resilience into practice, based on a participatory approach. BMC Health Serv Res, 23: 646 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-09653-8

Murray. J., Baxter, R., Lawton, R., Hardicre, N., Shannon, R., Langley, J., Partridge, R., Moore, S., & O’Hara, J.K. (2023). Unpacking the Cinderella black box of complex intervention development through the Partners at Care Transitions (PACT) programme of research. Health Expectations, 1- 13. DOI:10.1111/hex.13682

Baxter, R., Murray, J., Cockayne, S., Baird, K., Mandefield, L., Mills, T., Lawton, R., Hewitt, C., Richardson, G., Sheard, L., & O’Hara, J.K. (2022). Improving the safety and experience of transitions from hospital to home: a cluster randomised controlled feasibility trial of the ‘Your Care Needs You’ intervention versus usual care. Pilot and Feasibility Studies; 8(1), 1-13.

Shannon, R., Baxter, R., Hardicre, N., Mills, T., Murray, J., Lawton, R., & O’Hara, J.K. (2022). A qualitative formative evaluation of a patient facing intervention to improve care transitions for older people moving from hospital to home. Health Expectations, 25(6), 2796-806.

Tillbrook, D., Absolom, K., Sheard, L., Baxter, R., & O’Hara, J.K. (2022). What Do Patients and Their Carers Do to Support the Safety of Cancer Treatment and Care? A Scoping Review. Journal of Patient Safety, 18(8):779-87. DOI: 10.1097/pts.0000000000001031

Baxter, R., Shannon, R., Murray, J., O’Hara, J.K., Sheard, L., Cracknell, A., & Lawton, R. (2020). Delivering exceptionally safe transitions of care to older people: a qualitative study of multidisciplinary staff perspectives. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1), 780. DOI: 10.1186/s12913-020-05641-4

Baxter, R., Murray, J., O’Hara, J.K., Hewitt, C., Richardson, G., Cockayne, S., Sheard, L., Mills, T., & Lawton, R. (2020). Improving patient experience and safety at transitions of care through the Your Care Needs You (YCNY) intervention: a study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled feasibility trial. Pilot and Feasibility Studies, 6(1), 123. DOI: 10.1186/s40814-020-00655-5

O’Hara, J.K., Baxter, R., & Hardicre, N. (2020). ‘Handing over to the patient’: A FRAM analysis of transitional care combining multiple stakeholder perspectives. Applied Ergonomics, 85,103060. DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2020.103060

Baxter, R., Taylor, N., Kellar, I., & Lawton, R. (2019). A qualitative positive deviance study to explore exceptionally safe care on medical wards for older people. BMJ Quality & Safety, 28, 618-626. DOI: 10.1136/bmjqs-2018-008023

Baxter, R., O’Hara, J.K., Murray, J., Sheard, L., Cracknell, A., Foy, R., Wright, J. & Lawton, R. (2018). Partners at Care Transitions: exploring healthcare professionals’ perspectives of excellence at care transitions for older people. BMJ Open, 8, e022468. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-022468.

Baxter, R., Taylor, N., Kellar, I., Pye, V., Mohammed, M.A., & Lawton, R. (2018). Identifying positively deviant elderly medical wards using routinely collected NHS Safety Thermometer data: an observational study. BMJ Open, 8(2), e020219. DOI:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020219

Baxter, R., Taylor, N., Kellar, I., & Lawton, R. (2016). What methods are used to apply positive deviance within healthcare organisations? A systematic review. BMJ Quality and Safety, 25, 190-201.

Baxter, R., Taylor, N., Kellar, I., & Lawton, R. (2015). Learning from positively deviant wards to improve patient safety: an observational study protocol. BMJ Open, 5:e009650. DOI:10.1136/bmjopen-2015-009650

 

Book chapters:

Baxter, R., & Lawton, R. (2022). The Positive Deviance Approach (Elements of Improving Quality and Safety in Healthcare). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781009237130

O’Hara, J., Baxter, R., & Murray, J. (2021). ‘Muddling through’ care transitions – the role of patients and their families. In: Braithwaite J, Hollnagel E, Hunte G. (eds.), Resilient Health Care: Muddling Through with Purpose, Volume 6. USA: CRC Press, p. 147-166.

Funding

Baxter R. ‘Moving from theory to practice: Operationalising Resilient Health Care to improve patient safety’. Post-Doctoral Fellowship funded by THIS Institute, University of Cambridge (2022-2025). £224,976.23.

Baxter R, Foy R, Lawton, R. Positive deviance and the Care Quality Commission. Research Capability Funding (2016-2017). £26,948