25 September 2017
A team of researchers based at the University of Southampton is looking
at how to improve care for patients in hospitals, by involving them in
decisions about their care.
Professor Lisette Schoonhoven, an expert in healthcare, leads the new
research study.
Professor Schoonhoven says. “A series of investigations (such as the
Francis Inquiry) have shown the quality of care in NHS hospitals varies
enormously. For patients, the consequences of poor fundamental care can be
devastating, leading to suffering, long-term disability and avoidable death
Research suggests hospital care can be safer when patients are involved,
but patients can worry about seeming ‘difficult’ when asking for what they
want.”
The National Institute for Health Research funds the study – NIHR is the
research arm of the NHS.
In order to develop plans for improving fundamental care, researchers
started by asking a range of patients, carers and members of the public how
they thought it could improve. They said they wanted their care to be more
tailored to their needs and to get more involved in care choices.
Essential aspects of care like taking on enough fluids, skin care, going
to the toilet, keeping active, stopping bedsores from developing and eating
healthily are known as ‘fundamental care’ and are essential to patient recovery
and wellbeing.
As a result researchers at Southampton have launched the new study called
“Improving Fundamental Care in Hospitals”, which aims to make it easier for
patients to get involved in decisions about their care.
The research team are now looking for people who have stayed in hospital
to be part of this important new research. Volunteers would be asked to chat to
researchers and others about their views on hospital care.
Dr Jo Hope, a Research Fellow from the project says “The views of people who
have recently been in hospital are central to improving care. Understanding how
to make it easier for patients to be involved in choices about their care and
how nurses can support that is crucial.” (More
follows)
Previous research in the UK and elsewhere shows that three things have worked – separately - to increase patient involvement and improve care. These are:
In the Improving
Fundamental Care in Hospitals study, Professor Lisette Schoonhoven’s team will
use these three things together to see if they improve patient involvement in
care. Her team will be working with wards across the South of England to see if
this will make a difference to patients’ views about the care they receive and
their health when they leave hospital. The results from this study will be used
to help the team plan a larger, nationwide trial to improve fundamental care in
hospitals.
If you have been in hospital within the last
two years and are interested in chatting to researchers about your experiences,
please email Dr Lisa Gould at L.J.Gould@soton.ac.uk or call 02380 595292.
Expenses and lunch will be provided as well as a gift voucher to say thank you.
Building capacity for academic writing.. by Professor Anne Rogers
‘publication tsunami that is now an exponential wave’. The effects of this tsunami are well rehearsed: the enormous pressure on peer review processes; reduction in the time researchers have to read individual outputs; and, perhaps most commented on, the growth of a commercial market of fee-for-publication-based journals which lack the usual bulwarks of scientific credibility read blog >We would be pleased to hear from you if you are interested in becoming involved in our research and implementation.
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