Latif Asam, Gulzar Nargis, Gohil Sejal, Ansong Theo
School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Queen's Medical Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
Leicester School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK.
Int J Pharm Pract. 2021 Feb 10;29(1):84-89. doi: 10.1111/ijpp.12663.
Quality improvement (QI) is increasingly featuring in the United Kingdom (UK) National Health Service (NHS) agenda to promote safety, effectiveness and patient experience. However, the use of QI techniques by healthcare professionals appears limited and constrained with only isolated examples of good practice. This study explores QI within the pharmacy context. Focusing on the community pharmacy 'Healthy Living Pharmacy scheme', this study aims to explore changes in QI understanding resulting from a postgraduate QI educational intervention.
Four focus groups were held involving 13 community pharmacists enrolled onto a newly developed postgraduate QI educational module. Two focus groups were held before and two after the module's completion. Knowledge of QI and practical applications following the learning was explored.
Three themes emerged: pharmacists' motivation for learning about QI, conceptual understanding and translation into practice. Pharmacists expressed positive views about learning new skills but expressed logistical concerns about how they would accommodate the extra learning. Prior knowledge of QI was found to be lacking and its application in practice ineffectual. Following completion of the QI module, significant improvements in comprehension and application were seen. Pharmacists considered it too soon to make an assessment on patient outcomes as their improvements required time to effectively embed changes in practice.
Quality improvement forms an important part of the NHS quality and safety agenda; however, community pharmacists may not currently have adequate knowledge of QI principles. The postgraduate educational intervention showed promising results in pharmacist's knowledge, organisational culture and application in practice.
质量改进（QI）在英国国家医疗服务体系（NHS）议程中日益重要，以促进安全性、有效性和患者体验。然而，医疗保健专业人员对QI技术的使用似乎有限且受到限制，仅有个别良好实践案例。本研究探讨药房环境中的QI。以社区药房“健康生活药房计划”为重点，本研究旨在探讨研究生QI教育干预导致的QI理解变化。
举办了四个焦点小组，参与人员为13名注册参加新开发的研究生QI教育模块的社区药剂师。在模块完成前举办了两个焦点小组，完成后举办了两个。探讨了学习后对QI的知识和实际应用情况。
出现了三个主题：药剂师学习QI的动机、概念理解以及转化为实践。药剂师对学习新技能表达了积极看法，但对如何安排额外学习表达了后勤方面的担忧。发现他们缺乏QI的先验知识，且其在实践中的应用无效。在QI模块完成后，在理解和应用方面有了显著改善。药剂师认为现在对患者结果进行评估还为时过早，因为他们的改进需要时间才能有效地将变化融入实践。
质量改进是NHS质量和安全议程的重要组成部分；然而，社区药剂师目前可能对QI原则没有足够的了解。研究生教育干预在药剂师的知识、组织文化和实践应用方面显示出了有希望的结果。
