Senior Research Fellow
Email: ruth.baxter@bthft.nhs.uk
Tel: 01274 383421
Twitter: @RuthMBaxter
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7631-2786
Background
Ruth is a Senior Research Fellow within the YQSR Group. She graduated from Newcastle University with a BSc (Hons) in Psychology in 2007 and completed her 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 research, which was funded by The Health Foundation, explored how the Positive Deviance approach can be applied within healthcare organisations to improve patient safety. Ruth is currently working on a NIHR funded Programme Grant for Applied Health Research called ‘Partners At Care Transitions (PACT)’. This programme of work aims to improve the safety and experience of care for older patients (and their family/carers) as they move from hospital to home. Prior to conducting health services research, Ruth worked in the NHS (acute mental health) and within Human Resources (leadership and development).
Research interests
Ruth’s research interests focus on improving the safety of patient care. She is interested in the use and evaluation of Improvement Science methods such as the positive deviance approach, adopting a Safety-II and resilience engineering approach to improving healthcare, patient involvement in patient safety, and using psychological approaches to improve the quality and safety of healthcare services.
Recent Publications
O’Hara J, Baxter R, Murray J. ‘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. FL, USA: CRC Press; 2021. p. 147-166.
Baxter R, Shannon R, Murray J, O’Hara JK, 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. 20:780. DOI: 10.1186/s12913-020-05641-4
Baxter R, Murray J, O’Hara JK, 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. 6:123. DOI: 10.1186/s40814-020-00655-5
Baxter R, O’Hara J, Murray J, et al. Partners at Care Transitions: exploring healthcare professionals’ perspectives of excellence at care transitions for older people. BMJ Open 2018;8:e022468. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-022468.
Baxter R, Taylor N, Kellar I, Pye V, Mohammed MA, Lawton R. Identifying positively deviant elderly medical wards using routinely collected NHS Safety Thermometer data: an observational study. BMJ Open. 2018;8(2):e020219. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020219
Baxter, R., Taylor, N., Kellar, I., & Lawton, R. (2015). What methods are used to apply positive deviance within healthcare organisations? A systematic review. BMJ Quality and Safety, Published online first 20th November. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2015-004386
Baxter, R., Taylor, N., Kellar, I. and 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