Changing the culture around patient safety using multimedia communication strategies Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust

The Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust project tested different ways to communicate with staff about patient safety, to encourage the reporting of incidents and to promote a learning culture.

Working with a journalist, the team explored the cultures of different staff groups and developed a strategy for communicating safety information. They then developed and launched a range of multimedia interventions under a new 'Learn, Prevent, Protect' brand:

• a mobile phone app providing safety information for key areas of harm
• animated stories of real incidents
• a 'safety triangle' sticker to be placed in patient notes following a safety incident
• safety features in the hospital newsletter.
• a ward dashboard.

Who was involved

The project was led by the associate medical director in quality improvement, with input from arts programme members, a project manager, a consultant surgeon, a junior doctor, a freelance journalist and media companies. The project focused on critical care, the respiratory unit and the surgical admissions unit.

Impact

• Incident reporting increased in the areas of focus and in the hospital as a whole.
• The project's logo and branding and the ward dashboard were all well-received. 
• Junior doctors liked the app but wanted less briefing information and more interactivity to help them find ways to work more safely. The animations were felt to be a little childish and doctors suggested that the stories were told by senior clinicians instead.
• The safety triangle sticker was well-received initially, but concerns about anonymity and blame emerged later on.

Challenges

The start of the project was delayed while a project manager was recruited. Development of the app and animations proved very time consuming.