Supporting and Valuing Nurses, Midwives and Allied Health Professionals in Practice

Project Update - November 2012

Awareness raising and implementation activity for the Effective Practitioner Initiative is progressing across NHS Scotland.

1. NHS BOARDS

Boards continue to raise awareness of the initiative through local masterclasses; drop in sessions; and working with local teams. The Board Leads for Effective Practitioner; Practice Educators and Practice Education Leads are working together to start to embed Effective Practitioner to support the Quality Ambitions.

2. TEST SITES for Funded projects

The baseline evaluation of Effective Practitioner undertaken in 2011-2012 established that the initiative was being well received. The current evaluation phase is focussing on the generation of new evidence to determine how the Effective Practitioner resources are being used in practice. All NHS Boards were invited to act as test sites for a small number of funded projects which would support delivery of one or more of the Quality Ambitions through the use of the Effective Practitioner resource.

A panel selected 5 boards (from submissions by 12 Boards) to act as test sites. The sites selected enabled a range of teams and different learning resources to be evaluated. A total of 13 projects are currently being undertaken and 4 of these are the subject of in-depth case study evaluation.

The individual NHS Board projects aim to demonstrate all of the following:

·  The focus is on work-based learning

·  The support is primarily for team-based learning

·  Each project supports learning using the Effective Practitioner resource.

·  Outcomes are directed to enhancing person centred, safe and effective care.

·  The outcomes should be sustainable after the funding ceases.

Outcomes from the funded projects and the 4 in-depth case studies will provide rich data of the how Effective Practitioner is being used and how it is supporting patient care.

Lessons learned from the test sites will be used to progress further projects to evaluate; embed and sustain Effective Practitioner more widely within NHS Scotland.

3 ADDITIONAL SUPPORT

NES continues to provide additional support to the Boards through Blake Stevenson consultancy. The Board leads have been contacted and Blake Stevenson is responding to requests. The consultancy is also following up those who contributed to the baseline data collection and are undertaking the in-depth case study evaluation as described above.

4. 2012-2013 DEVELOPMENTS

Introductory Booklet and Getting started guide

An introductory booklet is now available to increase ways to reach our large audience. It is helpful to those who do not routinely access the internet to learn to enable them to see what is available to them. The booklet contains useful learning resources and gives a flavour of Effective Practitioner. A quick guide to the site titled “Getting started” leaflet has also been developed and is proving useful.

Learning Resources

The Learning, Teaching and Supervision; Evidence-based Practice; and Leadership and Management pillars are being developed to mirror the Clinical Practice Pillar structure. The key knowledge and skills are strongly aligned to the new Post-registration Career Development Framework. (available at http://www.careerframework.nes.scot.nhs.uk/)

There remain some IT access issues in some Health Board areas which reduces opportunity to use the resources in Effective Practitioner in some areas.

Mobile Development

The Effective Practitioner site is now mobile enabled and analytics suggest that access is slowly increasing via smart phones and iPads. The video podcasts have been moved to the Vimeo platform which provides wider access as it does not require the use of flash software.

A proposed function and visual representation of a mobile application/tool is being reviewed by users/stakeholders and the technical implications are being assessed. A final decision to progress with the development of a mobile application for Effective Practitioner will be dependant on this feedback.

Info Centre

An information section has been added to the website, which aims to act as the central point for sharing and locating helpful information about how to implement and promote the initiative. Each sub-section contains useful documents and practical information to assist in finding out about the development of Effective Practitioner. It includes marketing materials; presentations, project updates and news items. This means all the information about Effective Practitioner is held in one place. This should be helpful to the Board leads/ Practice Educators/Practice Education Leads and anyone who want to find out more.

Ann Rae

Educational Projects Manager

31/10/2012

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Project Update November 2012