Title : Mandatory training compliance: A small scale quality improvement study
Abstract:
The mandatory infection control (level 2) training compliance in the North Division of Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust was studied utilising the methods of Quality Improvement. The aim is to improve the compliance rate from 89% to 95%. This is just in the early phase of the study thus initially aiming to find out some of the factors that lead to the noncompliance of staff as well as their perceptions on how support was provided by the management and/or organisation towards achieving compliance. The framework utilised in this project is the model for improvement which involves developing, testing, and implementing changes leading to improvement. Furthermore, this model includes the Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) methodology which enables testing for change on a smaller scale (NHS Improvement, 2018). The cycles for study included the development of a survey which was sent to several staff members according to inclusion criteria such as clinicians and working within the district nursing services and bedded units. From the data gathered, it can be revealed that 67% of the staff felt that they are supported by management in completing their Level 2Infection Control Mandatory training and that the staff ’s preferred method of being reminded to complete the training is through email or text (both around 33% each). In order to improve the compliance rates, the group has identified robust processes and accountability as the primary drivers which served as the key factors. These have been laid down on a driver diagram wherein robust processes were further categorised to training accessibility and accessibility of the staff to trainings, and accountability further categorised to staff accountability and management accountability. Several challenges were experienced while implementing the project especially in getting the participants. However, the PDSA methodology was applied which later resulted to obtaining more than 50% of the respondents. Even though that the study is still at its early stages, the current compliance level for level two infection control is 93.7% in North Central Division and this was quite a significant result.
Take Away Notes:
• The use of the PDSA cycles in Quality Improvement projects and in solving problems in the service
• The perceptions of the staff in terms of mandatory training compliance support, as well as on staff ’s preferred method of training reminders
• A literature review on increasing mandatory training compliance (benefits of mandatory training, effects of a lack of training in the workplace, barriers to engaging with training, predictors of motivation to learn when training is mandatory, and strategies utilized by other organizations to improve mandatory training compliance)
• Utilizing models for improvement such as the PDSA methodology to solve current workplace problems. Rather than for healthcare managers to just survive the day through crisis management and experiencing the same problems all over again, testing solutions and finding the science behind what solutions work best for an organization is applied leading to long-term efficiency and effectiveness in the service
