Back to Writing

Today is the end of my 4 month experiment... From mi July to mid-October 2011 I reduced my writing significantly. For years I have written blogs, papers, articles, short stories etc on an almost daily basis.  I often wondered what it would be like if I stopped. Would I forget how to write? Would my creativity go away? Would I forget about all those interesting things I'd like to write about?

No.

I've learnt a few things:

• creativity doesn't always need to be captured and I think I've got better at remembering because I have made less notes. However, there have been some things I'd wish I'd written down - but I knwo they will come back to me
• the break has allowed me to mull over some ideas in more depth. I've performed some "what if's" in my head and thought through scenarios, ideas, theories, plots and characters
• I love to write. Boy, am I desperate to get back to writing!

So here we go again...

How safe are clinical systems - report on the evidence by The Health Foundation

This report for The Health Foundation is excellent. I like the way it is based on research and whilst it doesn't cover any specifically new ground, it does provide insight for anyone wishing to improve the safety of patients in hospital. 

"While the knowledge that poor systems can cause harm is not new, this report provides groundbreaking evidence of the extent to which important clinical systems and processes fail, and the potential these failings have to harm patients.

The results of this study, covering seven NHS organisations, identify the variation in the reliability of five key healthcare systems and processes:

• availability of information when making clinical decisions
• prescribing
• handover
• availability of equipment in operating theatres
• availability of equipment for inserting intravenous lines.

The research, led by Professor Bryony Dean-Franklin, was conducted by The Centre for Patient Safety and Service Quality (CPSSQ) at Imperial College, and Warwick Clinical Systems Improvement (CSI), University of Warwick."

Fully-funded leadership programme open for application - Health Foundation, UK

 Fully-funded leadership programme open for application

The Health Foundation is seeking people who are passionate about transforming healthcare to join GenerationQ, its fully-funded, masters-level programme creating leaders for improvement.

GenerationQ is open to senior leaders in healthcare or the voluntary sector who are in a position to influence improvements to care quality.

Fellows will learn about the evidence base underpinning leadership for quality improvement and how to apply improvement science, leadership and change theories in practice.

Fellows will also deliver a substantial improvement project in their place of work, benefiting their organisation through addressing real-time quality challenges, based on organisational priorities.

This part-time programme takes between 18 months and two years to complete, and leads to a postgraduate certificate, diploma or Masters in Leadership (Quality Improvement), accredited by Ashridge.

The Health Foundation is an independent charity working to continuously improve the quality of healthcare in the UK.

If you are interested in applying, please visit the Health Foundation’s website to find out more and download the application form: www.health.org.uk/generationq Please pass on this information to anyone who may be interested.

The deadline for submitting an application form is 9am on Monday 18 July 2011.

Guide to facial expressions and emotions

I think http://www.cedarseed.com/fire/emotut.jpg should be in every meeting room - if only as a reminder for us all that we say more with our expressions than with what comes out of our mouths...

Get your long documents summarised - Topicmarks

I'm a quick reader but never shy of a short cut I checked out Topicmarks. It promises to summarise the document you load into short easy sentences. I tried it on a complex Dept of Health document and I love the result! The 15 page document of tightly packed text was summarised into a single page of mostly bullet pointed sentences.  I quickly got the gist of what the document was about. And yes, I did then check whether the system produced a good result, by reading the whole thing, and it did.

A great system, though of course, the originator of documents could also provide a short summary list in the first place! I think this will be good for the quick review of academic papers.

It is free (in beta) and I don't get anything for recommending it...

Why do we forget good practice?

I spent a lovely English Spring day visiting the Roman Villa of Chedworth. I came away marvelled by the way in which they had underfloor heating and an hygienic toilet system fifteen hundred (and more) years ago. When the Romans left our small island, those who remained ignored / forgot about (not sure which) these and many other useful inventions.  Why did they do this?

And what other well evidenced business related techniques and products have we forgotten about and are ignoring?