| Summary: | Background: In the acute hospital environment deconditioning is a major risk factor, with around 90% of the day spent sitting or lying down. A physiotherapy and occupational therapy Active Wards Special Interest Group was formed to provide peer support and act as a platform for sharing resources and ideas to increase opportunities for physical activity in the inpatient setting. Drawing on the nine principles of Practice Development, a person-centred, participatory approach was adopted. These values promote time and space for the team to grow and develop together, accounting for best evidence, personal and professional experience. The group co-produced a toolbox of resources, active wards principles and formed a group of experts to help others.
Aim: To evaluate the experience of staff engaging in this work with the objective of learning from the experience and make recommendations for replication and continuation of the improvement process.
Methods: Members of the special interest group and their team leads were invited to complete an online self-reporting questionnaire defining their experiences of participating in the group.
Results: Engaging clinicians in improvement through person-centred practice development processes delivers benefits for patients, services and clinicians. Key findings for staff development were identified as significantly improved (response rate of 78%) through i) active learning principles used for meetings, ii) effective and diverse communication strategies, and iii) group cohesion by engaging in a practice-based initiative. Group members and team leads observed personal, professional and service development. Participants made new connections, had a sense of a common vision and felt part of a collaborative process where ideas and feedback were shared. Where changes in patient activity levels had been observed, at least two-thirds of teams attributed this to having a team member in the group.
Conclusions and implications for practice:
Clinicians require adequate time, space and support to achieve improvements
When engaged with active learning and participatory approaches, clinicians make better use of meetings to develop and form principles of practice relevant to their clinical context and patient groups
Engaging in person-centred practice development processes enables clinicians to develop transferable skills
Practice development methods can be readily replicated for initiating and engaging clinicians in other practice-driven development projects
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