Supporting and Valuing Nurses, Midwives and Allied Health Professionals in Practice
Project Update for Effective Practitioner Development Group
June 2013
1. EFFECTIVE PRACTIONER: ENGAGE, DISCUSS AND SHAPE TO 2016
The Effective Practitioner took place on 30th April 2013 at the Beardmore conference
centre in April attended by 130 nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. Hazel
Dykes, co-chair of the Effective Practitioner steering group chaired the event. Belinda
Dewar, Professor of Practice Improvement, University of the West of Scotland gave a
thought provoking keynote speech that included developing a practice model for
compassionate care for everyone.
It was fantastic to hear practitioners sharing their local projects at concurrent sessions, and
also hear feedback from the national evaluation. Dr Lesley Holdsworth, Chair National
NMAHP ehealth Network gave a keynote speech on ‘Effective Practice in the Digital Age’
that encouraged us to think differently about how we could use technology to the benefit of
patients and practitioners. A Releasing Time to Learn workshop was very popular – it was
very appropriate to include this workshop as lack of time is a reason cited for not using the
Effective Practitioner resource.
Delegates informed the development of the Effective Practitioner initiative over the next 3
years in a visioning environment. Messages included … “Effective Practitioner will be a
resource that everyone uses in NHSScotland” . “Practitioners will be empowered to
facilitate change and influence practice” and “There is a culture where work based learning
is valued and supported”.
Video footage of the presentations, photos and copies of the posters are all available at
http://www.effectivepractitioner.nes.scot.nhs.uk/info-centre/events.aspx
See Appendix 1 for the evaluation of the National Event.
See Appendix 2 for the feedback from the Visioning Environment
2. FUNDED PROJECTS
During 2012-2013 NHS Education for Scotland invited Health Boards to act as a test site
to progress a small number of projects within their NHS Board from a funding allocation
from NHS Education for Scotland (NES). 5 Boards were selected.
The funding aimed to support nurses, midwives and allied health professionals to enhance
care through focussed learning projects/activities which made an explicit link to one or
more of the NHSScotland Quality Ambitions (NHSScotland Quality Strategy 2011).
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This formed part of the next evaluation phase of the initiative focussing on the generation
of new evidence related to how the Effective Practitioner resources are being used in
practice.
The thirteen funded projects reported on 28th February and experience and lessons
learned are being used to further support implementation. Four of the projects were
subject to more in-depth evaluation to establish the experiences and impact of Effective
Practitioner on practice.
The funded projects were supported to develop poster presentations and deliver
concurrent sessions at the National event.
3. SUPPORTING IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION
The supporting infrastructure for Effective Practitioner includes the NHS Board Leads,
Practice Educators, and Practice Education Leads. Additional support was provided by
Blake Stevenson Ltd integrated with evaluation of the Funded projects.
The support provided across Scotland and the evaluation findings have been reported
collectively and relevant findings will be disseminated. These findings will also be used to
further develop, raise awareness, embed and sustain Effective Practitioner.
4. TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT LEARNING
There are currently a range of approaches used to support learning by the large and
diverse NMAHP audience. It is recognised that segments of our audience may already be
using or have the potential to use new technologies.
4.1 Mobile Application
NHS Education for Scotland is now progressing the development of a mobile application
for Effective Practitioner. There will native apps for iPhone followed by Android during this
financial year.
The rationale for this approach is
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To get learning resources closer to practitioners
To maximise the use of technology to support learning
To engage users in a contemporary and interactive learning environment
To relay the message that learning takes place anywhere
To widen access by reaching our audience who already do or potentially could
value learning using smart phone / tablet technology
To test learning using mobile technology to inform future developments
To enable reflection on practice during or soon after a learning experience
A rapid design workshop; user focus groups, and telephone consultations have taken
place to ensure the functionality meets user expectations and need. There will be
continued user engagement throughout development.
The key functions of the mobile application will include a modified interactive self
assessment tool; targeted learning activities selected from the web resource; push
notifications; just in time reflective tool for audio and text input, plus tips for learning and
inspirational quotes.
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4.2 Survey Poll
This is a facility on the Effective Practitioner website which enables user engagement. The
first poll is asking users how they currently access the Effective Practitioner web resource
from
- Work Computer
- Home Computer
- Tablet (e.g. ipad)
- Smartphone (e.g. iphone, samsung)
- Other
This aim of this poll is to
- Increase two way engagement with our users
- Contribute to understanding of our audience
- Raise awareness that EP and learning generally can be accessed from tablets
and smartphones
4.3 Stay Connected
This is a new function to encourage users to stay connected with Effective Practitioner so
that we can give information and updates. It also provides us with a database of users to
encourage two way communication and feedback. There are presently 250 users on our
database.
4.4 Social media
We are currently communicating through NES twitter account on a regular basis. We used
the #effectivepractitioner to communicate throughout the National event. Although this was
only used by a few delegates it promoted the message that social media is a tool for
education.
We are currently looking to develop a Social Marketing Plan and will progress this over the
next few months.
4.5 Demo Presentation
Practice Educators in the North Region and Dumfries & Galloway are working with the
Effective Practitioner team to development of a demo version of the web resource. This is
for a number of purposes a) to enable off- line demonstration when internet connection is
poor. b) to enable use by other educators / senior clinical staff to promote effective
practitioner locally, c) as a stand alone for individual users to access in order to
understand context and functionality. This will be available by August 2013.
5. WEB ANALYTICS
The Effective Practitioner web resource continues to be accessed regularly – accuracy of
some aspects of analytics are dependent on users accepting cookies; but they do provide
some useful insights into how the resource is being accessed.
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10, 897 people visited the site in the 6 month period Dec 2012 – May 2013
New visits continue to be around 67% when compared to returning visitors.
Top referral web sites include Flying Start NHS; Evidence into Practice;
Knowledge Network, Postregistration Career Development Framework
Top referrals from staff intranet sites are Tayside, Lothian Grampian, and
Orkney
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Frequency of visits per user remains primarily only 1 visit (n=7,383). Visits
between 8 and 25 time n=581. With visits 25-100 times n = 333. Suggesting a
regular users of the site defined as more than 8 times = 924
Access is 90% from a personal computer.
Access is 10% is from mobile technology – primarily Apple iPad (n = 503) and
Apple iPhone (n= 230)
Most popular pages are : home page; clinical practice; self assessment; learning
activities; equality and diversity; resources; enhanced person centred care;
We are now seeing the new learning resources under Leadership; evidence
resrearhc and development; and facilitation of learning featuring more in
analytics.
When comparing two x 3 month periods (Dec to Feb and March to May 2013)
- There was a 26.9% increase in visitors and 21.8% increase in page views
- Access from Mobile/Tablets increased by 50% (n=986 visits compared to n =
655)
- The news and events section has increased from 170 to 1,002
We will use the above and the more detailed analytics to continue to get insight into use of
the site to inform development, evaluation and marketing.
Ann Rae
Educational Projects Manager 24/05/2013
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Appendix 1 Evaluation of the National Event
Delegates were invited to complete an evaluation through Questback. 56 responses were received
as at 21st May 2013 representing 43% of the audience.
Please find a flavour of the feedback below
What did delegates hope to get out of attending the event?
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More knowledge of the Effective Practitioner and how its use can help support my
career.
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Share discussions around future improvements/uses of Effective Practitioner.
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An up to date account of the implementation of the EP initiative within NHS Scotland
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I hoped to hear what my colleagues have used the Effective practitioner resources for,
and to meet with my peers … who haven't yet used it to share their ideas and possible
concerns.
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Overview of how EP is being used in other health boards, where staff have engaged
with it and what sections and resources they have used.
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Was unsure of what Effective Practitioner was about and hoped to gain some insight
into its purposes and uses.
45% felt their expectations were met; 4*% partially met; 7% (n=4) not met;
The reason for their answers included
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The conference gave me an opportunity to get ideas from others and gave me some
ideas to consider.
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I didn't know what to expect. I suppose if I had spent more time, before the event, on
the website I would have been better prepared.
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Unfortunately, I felt that the conference was aimed more at nurses. I felt that the
workshops I attended were of no relevance to me as an AHP.
Feedback on the Event Programme
All delegates found the Keynote speeches Excellent (54%) Very good (35%) and Good (11%).
The concurrent sessions; the visioning environment, the releasing time to learn workshop and the
market place / networking were all viewed similarly – scoring Excellent or Very Good (60%) Good
(30%) and satisfactory (10%).
Here are some comments:
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The keynote speeches by Belinda Dewar and Lesley Holdsworth were particularly
useful in setting the context for the importance of CPD and the role of EP within this.
Key note speakers were very encouraging and motivating.
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I liked the Visioning environment interactive session. It gave me the opportunity to talk
to others and discuss any problems they found when they used it.
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Meeting other staff from different divisions and sharing experiences with us. Hearing
from those involved in projects using Effective Practitioner and the navigation support
they recieved.
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The funded presentations demonstrated how effective practitioner could be used.
Previous to this I had been given the impression that it was 'just another CPD' resource
that brought all other resources to one place. I had been on the site but didn't have time
to realise the potential.
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The releasing time to learn session was very beneficial as I manage a new team and
thought suggestions were very good to help.
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I found the entire day useful. I was inspired by the keynote speakers I was enthused by
the funded project sessions and I had my mind opened to a number of new possibilities
in the market place.
Engaging experience
82% of delegates who completed the questback felt there was enough time for discussion and
91% felt there was enough time for networking. 86% felt the resources were useful.
96% intended to share the information with their teams after the event.
Here are some ways they suggested how they would do that
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Staff meetings, email of information gained at the event, utilising ideas obtained through
discussion and sharing information on leaflets given at the event.
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Through team discussions and by using and encouraging the use of the Effective
Practitioner website to all the team.
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I am going to set aside some time to look at the site resources myself and we have
some ideas for projects
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I will highlight where to access the posters when made available.
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Discuss the event with the ward team and try to implement learning points from the
presentations within the ward environment.
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I am making people aware of the site as I thought more people know about it, and
because I find it helpful I will make others aware of this.
Other comments
- Need better organisation of refreshments as queuing took time out of networking and
looking at resources
- Food was lovely thank you
- Maybe next event should be advertised more as if I hadn't have been involved I doubt I
would have known about it as my colleagues also had seen no information regarding
event.
- I appreciated the time, effort and striving to achieve the best for everyone attending.
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Appendix 2 Collated Feedback from the Visioning Environment to 2016 at the
Effective Practitioner National Event.
Practical suggestions
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Address time by protecting learning time
Increase marketing as many people do not know about it
Text alerts
Increasing awareness: practitioners, managers, pre and
post reg students
Ensure easy to access to information and bite sized
learning
Sharing experience of others to help teams to implement
Use top-down as well as bottom up approach – buy in
Support practitioners to use the resource
Phase implementation for early / late adopters,
Improving Content Suggestions
• Increase content for different settings / professions
• Increase care and compassion aspects – promoting
wellbeing
• Ensure bite sized education and information
• Social media : forum/chat, wiki/blog, discussion forums
• Strengthen messages about for accountability,
revalidation, CPD, PDP, KSF,
• Strengthen links between Effective Practitioner,
Releasing Time to Care, KSF, Flying start, Mental Health
work, and work in other Enabling boards
• Provide more examples of good practice, projects,
completed forms, learning activities, KSF,
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Future Development Suggestions
 Long term investment regardless of the political
environment & continue to expand & develop resources
to keep pace with the changing & challenging
environment.
 Respond to Health and Social Care integration
• Embracing technology but account for challenges
relating to hardware, accessibility and individuals
capability
• Touch screens may be more valuable than leaflets
• Incentivised (prizes, loyalty points)
Vision for 2016
Supporting
practitioners
to use
technology
Really need to
empowering
practitioners to
facilitate change and
influence practice –
leadership
development
ing
Ongo from
ort
supp for
NES
e
futur
cts
e
proj
That there is a
culture where
work-based
learning is
valued and
supported
Staff feeling valued
and feel they have
ownership of their
learning and are
supported by senior
leaders
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Vision for 2016
I wa
evid nt a mul
enc
tipu
app e based rpose
t
h
a
dem
t I ca website
on
/
n
evid strate m use to
ence
y pe
rs
base
d pra onal
ctise
.
Reassurance that
effective practitioner
will still be in place
after 2016 to ensure
engagement
NHS organisations will be
fully digitally enabled and
technology is available
where the patient is
2016 Headlines
Effective Practitioner the
resource everyone
uses in NHS
Scotland
International
conference
reports on NHS Scotland’s
EP projects and successes
The one-stop shop
for support and
professional development
Effective Practitioner bringing
nurses, midwives
and AHP’s together
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Appendix 3
Effective Practitioner Website Analytics
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