NNRU News
Latest News
May 2013
Inaugural Lecture, Prof. Jill Maben: "Care, Compassion and Ideals: Nurses' experiences of Nursing"
Most nurses enter the profession because they are motivated by ideals of altruism and a desire to 'make a difference' in the lives of others. However, in some environments a transformation occurs so that over time these same people are forced to abandon their ideals and protect themselves against a system that erodes humanity and caring.
This inaugural lecture closely examined the experiences of nurses in their daily work, details the challenges and highlighted those aspects of the local culture and climate that support nurses to deliver high quality patient care.
Jill Maben's lecture earned great interest and feedback. David Foster, Department of Health: "Many congratulations on such a wonderful lecture. It was a great blend of challenge, excellent research and personal insight."
Following many requests for transcripts and copies of the slides we will be making a recording of Jill's lecture available soon. If you would like to be sent a link to the recording when it is available please contact Isabell Mayr.
March 2013
Using Experience based co-design (EBCD) to improve breast and lung cancer services
During a speech at the Nuffield Trust's health policy conference on the 8th March 2013, the Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt referred to the ‘patient experience’ project undertaken by Dr Vicki Tsianakas, Professor Jill Maben and Professor Glenn Robert along with colleagues at Guys and St Thomas Foundation trust as a positive example of hospitals ‘putting patients first’. The project sought to design better experiences for patients and health care staff from breast and lung cancer services across two teaching hospitals in London. It used Experience based co-design (EBCD), an approach developed by Professor Glenn Robert which combines (1) a user-centred orientation (by adopting a narrative storytelling approach) and (2) a participatory, collaborative change process, allowing staff to ‘see the person in the patient’ and placing patient and staff experience at the centre of service development and provision.
In his speech, Mr Hunt highlighted the importance of listening to patients and making meaningful improvements to service provision. He cited one of the improvements made as a result of the project which positively impacted patient experience:
"When breast cancer patients came in for day surgery, they used to be asked to put on their surgical robes and wait by themselves until it was time. But this meant that, at a time of great worry, they spent long periods alone, separated from their loved ones. So after listening to patients, they made a simple change to the schedule that now allows patients to wait with their family until just before the operation. A small change that cost nothing. And made a big difference."
For more information on the ‘patient experience’ project and the EBCD approach, please see the links below:
Tsianakas V, Maben, J, Wiseman T, Robert G, Richardson A, Madden P, Griffin M, Davies EA . Using patients' experiences to identify priorities for quality improvement in breast cancer care: patient narratives, surveys or both? BMC Health Services Research 2012; 12:271. DOI:10.1186/1472-6963-12-271.
Tsianakas V, Robert G, Maben J, Richardson A, Dale C, Wiseman T. Implementing patient-centred cancer care: using experience-based co-design to improve patient experience in breast and lung cancer services. Supportive Care in Cancer 2012; 20(11):2639-47. DOI:10.1007/s00520-012-1470-3.
For more information see the EBCD Tool Kit.
February 2013
Jill Maben joins panel discussion with Robert Francis QC at the King's Fund
Professor Jill Maben, Director of the NNRU, was an invited panel member at the King's Fund Conference, The Francis Inquiry: Assuring Patient Safety and Quality Across the System, in February 2013.
Joining David Behan from the CQC, Harry Cayton OBE from the Professional Standards Authority, Professor Sir Ian Kennedy, former Chair of the Healthcare Commission, and Peter Walsh from Action Against Medical Accidents, Professor Maben gave her reactions to the Francis Inquiry report, based on the research of the NNRU.
For more information and to watch a video of the panel discussion click here
NNRU research study available: Why Health Visiting? A review of the literature about key health visitor interventions, processes and outcomes for children and families
Research carried out by the National Nursing Research Unit has revealed that while health visitors deliver real benefits to patients and families, there is a need for more research and better education in order to develop the profession. The review entitled "Why Health Visiting?" supports the Deparment of Health's Health Visitor Implementation Plan 2011-2015.
The project was led by Professor Dame Sarah Cowley, Visiting Professor of Community Practice Development, who was honoured with a DBE in the 2013 New Year’s Honour’s for services to health visiting, as well as a Life Time Achievement Award from Community Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’ Association, in recognition of her contribution to the profession.
Please see further details about the study on following link: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/nursing/newsevents/news/2013/Health-Visitors.aspx
and full report with appendices.
December 2012
NNRU research study available: Sustaining and managing the delivery of student nurse mentorship: roles, resources, standards and debates
New research led by the National Nursing Research Unit has demonstrated the complex and resource intensive nature of the support from higher education and health care providers that underpins the delivery of student nurse mentorship in practice.
Undertaken in collaboration with Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the research team found that the delivery of mentorship is facing considerable challenge in a rapidly changing financial, organisational and professional climate and diverse views are in evidence about its future direction and resourcing.
Please see further details about the study here and there is a full report, short report and executive summary available.
High Quality Care Metrics for Nursing report launched at the CNO Conference
The NNRU report High Quality Care Metrics for Nursing was launched at the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) Conference in Manchester this week. Further details are available here.
The report is available here
November 2012
NNRU research study available: Exploring the relationship between patients’ experiences of care and the influence of staff motivation, affect and wellbeing
New research carried out by the National Nursing Research Unit at King’s College London strongly suggests that levels of satisfaction and wellbeing among NHS staff has a direct impact on patients’ experiences of healthcare. Investing in staff wellbeing is therefore not only important for the nursing workforce but also for quality of care overall.
The study, entitled “Exploring the relationship between patients’ experiences of care and the influence of staff motivation, affect and wellbeing”, aimed to determine which particular staff attitudes and behaviours impacted on patient experiences.
Please see further details on this link:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/nursing/newsevents/news/2012/Staff-wellbeing-impacts-patient-experience.aspx
NNRU Newsletter 2012
The latest NNRU Newsletter is now available: Newsletter issue 6, November 2012
CPHVA conference, Brighton
The Health Visitor Programme team presented at the Community Practitioners' and Health Visitors' Association (CPHVA) conference in Brighton, 7 November:
"What are the key components of health visitor interventions and relationships between the current health visiting service, its processes and outcomes?"
"Health Visiting : voice of service users"
"Start and Stay: examining recruitment and retention of health visitors"
and Prof. Sarah Cowley, lead of the NNRU's Health Visitor Programme, was awarded a life time recognition award of contribution to the profession by the CPHVA and received a standing ovation in the hall when announced.
October 2012
III International Conference on Nursing Research, Sao Paulo, Brazil on 29th-31st October
The University of São Paulo School of Nursing (EEUSP) promoted the III International Conference on Nursing Research on 29th-31st October 2012. The central theme of the event, “Nursing Research: advances in care, management, and policy” gathered information from the three areas that form the basis for the generation, synthesis, transference and implementation of nursing knowledge.
The event promoted the encounter between Brazilian and visiting nurses, to acquire innovating research data, disseminate their own results, and establish contacts with research groups that can strengthen nursing research initiatives.
Prof Jill Maben presented on "Nursing Workforce Research: strategies and tools to improve the quality of healthcare" and jointly presented a pre-conference course and conference session with Marina Peduzzi (Associate Professor of the Department of Professional Guidance at EEUSP) on “Intervention research in nursing and health management”.
At the Sao Paulo conference: Prof. Bick, Prof. Peduzzi and Prof . Maben (from left to right)
International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua) 29th International Conference, Geneva on 21st-24th October - presentations and best research poster prize won
Professor Glenn Robert presented on Understanding and improving patient experience: a national survey of training courses provided by higher education providers and healthcare organisations in England. The abstract is available here: ISQua-1299-Abstract
Laura Nasir presented on Spanning boundaries between primary and social care: examining knowledge exchange and the impact of integration efforts on healthcare quality. The abstract is available here: ISQua-1364-Abstract
Dr Jocelyn Cornwell (The King’s Fund) presented on the findings from a joint project with NNRU staff regarding What are healthcare organisations doing to measure and improve patient experience? 12 case studies from England. The abstract is available here: ISQua-1569-CaseStudies
Dr Jocelyn Cornwell (The King’s Fund) and Professor Glenn Robert jointly presented on Designing the future: approaches to measuring patient experience. The poster which won the best research poster prize is available here: ISQua-1568-Poster
Attended by over 1,000 delegates from 70 countries the conference attracted 300 posters. Professor Robert and Dr Cornwell’s winning poster reported on research carried out on behalf of the Department of Health in England to explore ‘what matters most’ to patients and the implications for the design of future approaches to measuring patient experience and improving the quality of care in the English NHS.
NNRU Lecture by Professor Pam Smith
The National Nursing Research Unit hosted a lecture by Professor Pam Smith on Tuesday 16th October entitled A personal research journey: ‘The Emotional Labour of Nursing’.
Pam Smith, Professor of Nursing at the University of Edinburgh, and Visiting Professor with the National Nursing Research Unit presented a well attended lecture on the emotional labour of nursing using the notion of the research journey to explore the influence of biography, history and imagination on developing a programme of research.
Professor Smith presented the findings of a number of interconnected studies which describe the learning and caring experiences of nurses in a changing world. These studies are featured in her recent book ‘The emotional labour of nursing revisited’ and include research on student nurses’ clinical learning - ‘can nurses still care?’, patient safety – ‘a caring nurse is a safe nurse’ and overseas’ nurses - ‘how do we capture all the talents?’
The presentation slides are available for download here: ProfSmith-LectureNotes.
September 2012
35th anniversary celebation
On Tuesday 11th September the National Nursing Research Unit (NNRU), along with nursing leaders and academics from across the country, celebrated thirty five years of research impact. The evening was a huge success, with fine food and wine, and live music played by a string quartet.
Professor Helen McCutcheon, Head of School, said:
“The unit is an example of what we can achieve when we work together for the common good. The NNRU can be held as a gold standard example of how
good research really can make an impact on patient and staff care.”
The event was also an opportunity for the NNRU to launch their latest publication, Policy + Review , which provides evidence of the Unit’s inquiries over the past five years and was available for all attendees to take home with them.
Director of the Unit, Professor Jill Maben, was presented with a piece of commemorative artwork for her hard work and expertise within the Unit and four of the previous Directors who were able to attend were also given gifts.
On receiving her gift, Jill said:
“What I have really cherished during my time in the NNRU is the very able colleagues I have had the privilege of working with and the opportunity to focus upon issues that affect Nursing Care quality that I am passionate about. I would like to thank the School for supporting the Unit so that we can continue providing evidence that will shape nursing policy and have a real impact on patients, carers and the wider healthcare system.”
Jul 2012
Nursing workforce pressures put patient care at risk
Results of a survey of nearly 3,000 nurses across England have revealed that nurse staffing and workforce issues have a significant impact on both staff satisfaction levels and patient care.
Led by researchers at the National Nursing Research Unit (NNRU) at King’s College London and the University of Southampton, the RN4CAST survey of nurses in over 400 general medical and surgical wards at 31 Trusts, was part of an international research programme looking at links between nursing workforce issues and patient outcomes across 15 countries.
Jane Ball, Deputy Director of the National Nursing Research Unit at King’s College London, said:
“The results provide clear evidence of the links between nurse staffing and the quality of care patients receive. On wards with poorer Registered Nurse staffing levels, nurses were more likely to say that care had been left undone due to lack of time. Working with inadequate staffing not only puts patients at risk, but places immense pressure on staff, and this has a knock effect on morale. Nearly half of the nurses we surveyed would leave their current job if they could. At a time when the number of nurses being trained is being cut, the service can ill-afford to lose this valuable expertise.
“We have now given the results to all the participating trusts and urge them to look at what their staff have said about staffing issues at ward level, and the effect this has on their working environments and patient care.”
For more information please see following link: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/nursing/newsevents/News/2012/RN4CAST-nursing-workforce.aspx
June 2012
35th Anniversary event
The National Nursing Research Unit's 35th Anniversary celebration due to be held on 27th June had to be cancelled due to a small fire which closed the host building on the Strand campus here at King's College London. Colleagues from the Unit and the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery contacted as many guests as possible to alert them to the building closure, and the event is now planned for September this year.
Professor Jill Maben, Unit Director, held an impromptu drinks party at 'Fernandez and Wells' in the East Wing of Somerset House, King's College London, for those guests who were in transit to the event venue and therefore were not contactable. Despite the setbacks, guests enjoyed a warm welcome and a warm evening in Somerset House's beautiful courtyard, as can be seen from the photos. We would like to take this opportunity to apologise to all our guests once again for any inconvenience caused, and we look forward to welcoming them in September.
Professor Jill Maben was an invited speaker at an International Collaborative meeting at Green Templeton College, Oxford, on 18th June. The meeting was attended by nursing scholars from all over the world, and in the light of nursing care quality issues, they spent the day examining the nursing contribution to the fundamentals of care for patients.
Jill presented on 'Staff morale and patient experience: Understanding factors that enable an optimum environment for staff to deliver excellent care'.
April 2012
24 April 2012: Professor Jill Maben joins Nursing and Care Quality Forum
Professor Jill Maben, Director of the National Nursing Research Unit (NNRU) based at the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King's College London, has been invited to join the Government’s new Nursing and Care Quality Forum. Professor Maben will act as expert advisor to the Forum, drawing on extensive national and international research undertaken by the National Nursing Research Unit into the healthcare and nursing workforce; improving care quality; measuring patient experience and links between Staff well-being and patient experience.
Professor Maben said:
“I am very pleased to have been invited to join the Forum and look forward to working with colleagues to look at the many issues affecting the quality of nursing care. My research has primarily focussed on how the quality of a nurse’s working life - from their working environment to their continued professional development - can affect the patient experience. I am passionate 
about how healthcare staff can be better supported to do their job and deliver the kind of compassionate care they joined the NHS to provide. I will also be drawing upon the wide ranging evidence and expertise across the unit to support the work of the forum.”
Professor Maben joins Sally Brearley, Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the NNRU, who chairs the Nursing and Care Quality Forum. Sally said:
“I am keen to ensure the Forum has good, effective input from those who know nursing and know about patient experiences of care. I am delighted Jill is joining us and sure that that we will learn from her research knowledge and from the substantial evidence base she has gathered. The NNRU has a long history of addressing major questions facing the nursing workforce and of influencing policy makers so it is only fitting that we should invite Jill as a representative.”
The first official meeting of the Nursing and Care Quality Forum was held on Tuesday 17 April at 10 Downing Street where members discussed some of the key issues facing nursing with Prime Minister, David Cameron, Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health, Anne Milton.
For more information contact:
Allie Johnstone
Communications Officer
Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery, King’s College London
T: 020 7848 3062
E: allie.johnstone@kcl.ac.uk
23 - 25 April 2012: RCN International Nursing Research Conference
Several members of the NNRU are attending and presenting at the RCN International Nursing Research Conference being held in London. On Tuesday 24 April, The Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery is hosting an evening drinks reception, following day two of the conference, at the Florence Nightingale Museum, London. Current King’s College London Student Ambassadors from the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery will guide delegates from the Connaught Rooms to the Florence Nightingale Museum. Peter Carter, General Secretary and Chief Executive for the RCN, will also be attending this evening reception.