To promote a culture og learning in a ward

Project summary

Background: A national coordination reform (2009) in Norway lead to new establishment of nursing departments in the municipalities. In one municipality in western Norway this reform resulted in a relocation and co-location of staff and patients from to different nursing homes into one new establishment of rehabilitation and reception beds in a restored building. The new ward supposed to receive a large number of nursing students in their practical studies. We had already a relation to the different nursing homes and the new situation gave opportunities to follow and facilitate the change process.

Objective: To explore the process of external facilitation and management in a nursing home through a change processes where the goal was to be one culture characterized by learning and innovation.

Method: Prospectively informed by participatory action research (PAR), which means that the participants are actively involved in the different stage of the project. The project build on the PD (Practice Development) mythology. The PD approach focuses on developing knowledge and skills. The process could change the culture and organization that cares for care. An important principle of PD work is to have a continuous process in relation to improvement and innovation. The data is student and staff notes, group interviews, and process notes/reports from the facilitation process.

Method

Method: Prospectively informed by participatory action research (PAR), which means that participants are actively involved through the project (Reason & Bradbury, 2011). The project team consists of a section manager, a department manager and two professional staff in addition to a staff representative.

 

The project is inspired by PD (Practice Development) methodology.  PD is a continuous journey where one develops and thinks new about care settings so that the patient / resident, family and team are engaged in a person-centered way (Dewing, McCormack & Titchen, 2014). Furthermore, this commitment will be to develop knowledge and skills and be able to change the culture and organization that cares for care. An important principle of PD work is to have a continuous process in relation to improvement and innovation.

An important step in the PD process is that participants know and demonstrate common values ​​and attitudes. A workshop for the entire staff together with the management was arranged in 2017. We have had about 10 meetings with the project group during 2016-2017 where we have utilized creative PD methods. The meetings are documented in reports. In the analysis process, we plan to use a creative hermetic combination of data where the facilitation and what has happened in the context of the nursing home will be analyzed. In addition, students and staff will write a log related to the project "Activity Dosette". The project "Activity Dossette" is a subproject that was initiated based on the facilitation and feedback from patients and relatives.

 

References:

Dewing, J., McCormack., B & Titchen., A. (2014). Practice Development Workbook for nursing, health and social care teams. UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Reason, P., & Bradbury, H. (Eds.) (2011). The handbook of action research. Cosy Paperback Edition Thouisand Oaks, Calif: SAGE.