Publication

British Journal of Healthcare Management has published a peer-reviewed article featuring four ImproveWell partner organisations.

The article, titled “Quality improvement in practice – part two: applying the joy in work framework to healthcare”, presents results from four organisations using the ImproveWell digital solution to support the implementation of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)’s Framework for Improving Joy in Work. It can be accessed in full here.

The article highlights short-, medium- and long-term programmes in four different healthcare systems:

1. Dragon’s Heart Hospital, a COVID-19 surge hospital in Wales, utilised the ImproveWell solution over a period of seven weeks to capture real-time frontline feedback.
2. Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust’s maternity department saw significant impact from an initial 12-week pilot which subsequently underpinned a three-year programme.
3. M Health Fairview (USA)’s department of orthopaedic surgery’s case study details the improvement in staff engagement within two years of introducing the ImproveWell solution.
4. East London NHS Foundation Trust, a mental health, community health and primary care provider, has been applying quality improvement to improve staff experience, supported by the ImproveWell solution, since 2017.

The case studies demonstrate:

• the effective application of quality improvement to create and enhance joy in work in four different healthcare systems;
• the benefits of involving staff in the process of understanding factors that impact on experience at work, as well as developing and testing creative ideas that can make a difference; and
• how utilising a digital solution to capture ideas and measure staff experience is an important means of engaging staff and enabling all to contribute towards a shared goal.

“The ImproveWell solution has been designed to give everyone a voice, and we are proud to support our partner organisations on their mission to improve staff experience and wellbeing at work. We are a data driven company, building evidence-based solutions; to see multiple case studies published in a peer-reviewed article is testament to the effectiveness of our digital solution in helping organisations to implement IHI’s Framework for Improving Joy in Work.” Lara Mott, CEO and Co-founder of ImproveWell

“For more than five years, health systems around the world have used IHI’s Joy in Work Framework to ask staff ‘what matters to you?’ and make systems-based changes to improve joy in their workplaces. The four health systems highlighted in this article have leveraged existing organizational assets while engaging new technological solutions to easily collect staff experience data as well as real-time ideas for improvements that matter most to their staff. These are meaningful changes that are helping to restore joy and wellbeing to the workforce, and we hope others can learn from their success.” Jesse McCall, Director and Improvement Advisor at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)

“Staff wellbeing and experience is a priority for every health system globally. This article describes the experience of applying a systematic quality improvement approach to enhancing joy in work. We hope this will encourage others to shift the focus from large organisation-wide initiatives, to supporting and enabling our teams to focus on what matters to them and apply QI to test new ideas that can make a real difference to our daily experience at work.” Lead author, Dr Amar Shah (East London NHS Foundation Trust)

“ImproveWell has enabled us to hear directly from our physicians and staff about their most urgent needs. We want teams to feel engaged and committed to their work by encouraging them to identify solutions to everyday challenges. Together, our teams navigate through unprecedented times of uncertainty and experience a sense of autonomy and personal contribution using the ImproveWell platform.” Author, Joy Harken (M Health Fairview)

“ImproveWell was introduced in our maternity service in 2018 following a period of extreme challenge within the service, unfavourable independent enquiries, and poor Care Quality Commission ratings. The impact of ImproveWell exceeded all expectations, resulting in a plethora of fabulous quality improvement ideas from frontline staff. The implications were not only for the quality and safety of Cornish maternity services, but also on staff morale and the reputation of the unit. Positive impact on resources, sickness and absence rates, service delivery, staff surveys and patient experience were also evidenced locally with an independent evaluation by South West Academic Health Science Network.” Author, Zoe Nelson (Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust)

Read the full article here

Read our Press Release article on this publication here

Download a printable infographic of findings here

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