CNO fellows' research projects look to improve staff wellbeing and patient care

Six OUH nurses and allied health professionals (AHPs) who have taken part in an initiative to support research and practice improvement by nurses, midwives and allied health professionals have presented the findings of their research projects.

The six CNO fellows - four nurses, a radiographer and a speech and language therapist - were the second cohort of staff to be selected for the Oxford Hospitals Charity Chief Nursing Officer Fellowship scheme.

Their six-month research projects all addressed key priorities for the Trust, such as the transition of patients from children’s to adult services, prevention of falls, staff retention, the role of Professional Nurse Advocates and the violence and aggression towards staff and patients

Funded by Oxford Hospitals Charity, the initiative aims to encourage staff to look at improving patient care through practical and impactful solutions to a number of hospital challenges.

Yvonne Christley, OUH's Chief Nursing Officer, said: "It has been a privilege to hear about the CNO Fellows' experiences of developing and advancing their improvement work. The fellowships have enabled these colleagues to step back from their regular duties and delve into the challenges their teams encounter. Each should be very proud of the advanced solutions they have formulated to complex issues that the Trust and the broader NHS confront. Celebrating the fellows' achievements over the past six months has been a pleasure. We want to assure them that we are committed to supporting them in continuing to develop and integrate their work.

"In today's presentations, we observed that it is crucial to support these fellowships to empower our nurses, midwives, and AHPs to use their clinical expertise and unwavering commitment to innovate, improve, and transform patient and staff experiences. I want to thank the Oxford Hospitals Charity for supporting this initiative and for their positive impact on the fellows, patient care, and staff wellbeing."

Douglas Graham, CEO of Oxford Hospitals Charity, which is funding the scheme, said: "It was wonderful to hear the passion and enthusiasm of all the staff involved - and to see how their work will drive improvement within our hospitals in a practical manner, helping both patients and NHS staff.

"Both I and our trustees were really impressed by the high quality of the research presented and delighted to hear how positive the fellows were about the programme, which has given them the confidence to continue with research and improvement within their roles. To hear one Sister say this was the highlight of her 15-year career really showed us how important this work is."

Each of the fellows will have an experienced nurse researcher mentor, as well as regular access to a senior clinical expert and quality improvement lead to support them. They are given two days a week for six months to focus on their research projects.
The six CNO fellows were:

Giada Donnini, Manager in the Tarver Dialysis Unit, looked at how to improve staff retention, specifically around flexible working in SUWON division.

Jordan Thomas, Speech and Language Therapist in the Upper Airways Service, researched transition from children's to adult services, specifically looking at people with severe asthma. 

Reem Ali, staff nurse from Catheterisation laboratory, explored how to reduce falls specifically looking at the implementation of a new Trust falls policy, focusing on two clinical areas, at the Horton General Hospital and the Churchill Hospital.

Kamaldeep Bhatti, Therapeutic Radiographer at the Oxford Cancer Centre, focused on the transition from children's to adult services, with a focus on oncology patients.

Jessica Pountney, senior sister in Oxford Critical Care, looked at the Professional Nurse Advocate role and how it impacts on service improvements.

Aziza Abubakar, deputy sister in complex medicine, studied violence and aggression towards staff and patients, looking in particular at the Emergency Department, Oxford Centre for Enablement and gastroenterology.

Jessica said: "I feel like I've finally found my meaning again. I love my job, but I've been doing it for a very long time. This has allowed me to explore other avenues; it's got my mind ticking again. I've met lots of new people in the hospital who I didn't know existed and seen the services they provide and how everything works together. It's given me a better insight into the hospital and helps me do my job better.

"I've come into every study day enthralled by what these people want to teach us. I never used to like research but that's because I thought it was all medical. I never really saw the frontline bedside impact of it. To be able to do this as a nurse and show how small things can have a massive impact has been so valuable to me."

Kamaldeep commented: "I was really glad that people engaged with my presentation. I'm really passionate about the topic of young people and improving the service we offer as a Trust. I really enjoyed learning the quality improvement (QI) skills and how to approach a topic like this, engaging with stakeholders and finding out meaningful information. I'm already using these QI skills in training that I'm implementing in my department."

Jordan said: "The fellowship is an excellent initiative. Speech and language therapists don't often get opportunities like this. I would absolutely encourage other people to do it. The key themes are really relevant to the areas you work in, which means you get to challenge yourself, do different things.

"I got the opportunity to talk to a huge number of people as part of this project - getting a better idea of what's happening in our service, how it's all managed. I never understood that before, so that's been hugely valuable. Transition is such a massive issue nationally; here in OUH there are so many great things we could do, and we could make some big organisational changes so that it's better for young people moving to adult services."

Reem added: "I'm really grateful because it was really great experience. Having the study days to focus on this project is a brilliant idea and I'd like to thank the charity and everyone who thought about this. In my opinion it will help with retention of staff. I'm really interested in research, and I was approaching everyone asking about an opportunity like this and luckily I got this chance. To do a quality improvement project and engage with stakeholders, all this was new to me, and I think it will help with my career development."

Giada said: "I wanted to see if research was something I might like to do in future - and I definitely do like it. It's something that I would like to consider continuing with. I would encourage anyone considering research as a career to consider applying for it. Professionally, it has given me a lot of insight into other areas and what they do, as well how to improve my own area."

Oxford Hospitals Charity provides additional support across OUH, creating more comfortable and welcoming spaces for patients of all ages, funding specialist high-tech medical equipment and supporting the wellbeing of hospital staff. The charity also funds specialist research and training to enhance and improve the hospitals - all thanks to the generosity of their donors and fundraisers.

Pictured left to right: Reem Ali, Giada Donnini, Sheera Sutherland (Divisional Research Lead and CNO fellowship coordinator), OUH Chief Nursing Officer Yvonne Christley, Jessica Pountney, Kamaldeep Bhatti and Jordan Thomas.