Sveta Alladi is a Paediatric Registrar in London, who is currently a National Medical Director Fellow at Health Education England. She’s just joined the team at The Network and is organising the video abstracts for the Agents for Change conference, June 2014
This blog is brought to you by BMJ Quality. For more quality improvement resources go to quality.bmj.com
No, its not the latest Johnny Depp movie setting up on Starlight ward, (wishful thinking)….but the F1 and ST4 in Paediatrics creating and starring in their very own blockbuster hit in quality improvement. These innovative trainees have just demonstrated that using the SBAR ((situation, background, assessment and recommendation) tool in their department has vastly cut down handover times and helped prioritise the sickest children for review.
What better way to highlight their outstanding achievements than to take starring roles in their very own short video documentary. A quick and easy video shoot using their smartphone – some quick edits on a laptop and it is ready for upload and release on YouTube.
The Network (www.the-network.org.uk ) is an online forum which hopes to host and showcase the leading lights in healthcare, who work hard in their day jobs but also take time to improve services and care for patients. The Network has been set up by a passionate group of healthcare trainees who strongly believe in the value of the culture of quality improvement.
They want to recognise the achievements of frontline healthcare professionals who innovate, create, improve and deliver changes to their environment by displaying their projects for all to access, learn from and share.
I’ve recently joined the team at the Network and even I – old enough to have managed university without a mobile phone- can see it’s quite simple really. Almost all health professionals have access to a smart phone, and the majority can figure out how to use it as a video camera – even the most technologically naive.
The videos can be in any form – it can be an interview with a colleague who coordinated the project, an interview with a patient who experienced the benefits of the projects or any format you think best to showcase your work. Using the Network as a host – the video can then be shared far and wide – via Facebook/twitter (@TheNetwork001) and reach professionals all over the globe. You can promote work you have already published in BMJ Quality Improvement Reports by making a video or create a video before submitting your work to the journal to give your project a higher impact factor.
Everyone has time to watch a quick three minute video – on the tube to work, on a quieter night shift, or waiting for the kettle to boilA short video has huge potential to inform and influence – think of the impact a TV advert or a movie trailer can have on the choices you make.
The world is moving on; you can say so much more in a 3 minute video than you can with written text.
If you are still feeling a little unsure – there is lots of advice on how to make a video on our website: http://www.the-network.org.uk/ and you can see some of the videos already uploaded here: http://youtu.be/SKQxICMUhPw
The Network is hosting a launch event in Manchester on Monday 12th May in Salford (see www.the-network.org.uk for more details). We hope many of you will take some time to think about a project you are involved in and share it with us for this event.
Upload your video to YouTube then send the link to thenetwork.org.uk@gmail.com. We will automatically enter you for the 2014 Network Improvement competition. There will also be prizes (including free licenses to BMJ quality and a free place to the 2015 Patient Safety Congress).
We want to connect improvers from across the globe. The videos will be indexed and accessible for all to see, learn from and then connect to the authors.
This is your opportunity to showcase your work on a global platform. So, go on – what’s stopping you? The deadline for submitting your video is 1st April 2014.