Practice Development Programme Research Articles

Practice Development Credentialing in the United Kingdom – A Unique Framework for Providing Excellence, Accountability and Quality in Nursing and Healthcare

This paper will describe the purpose, process and value of an international Practice Development Program by which clinical units can choose to be credentialed. It will describe how the fourteen criteria that a Unit is credentialed against takes them along a journey of practice, personal and professional development that equips them to not only positively respond to, but to proactively influence, the challenges and changes that healthcare is facing globally. It explains how The Program focuses on credentialing sustainable practice development that then contributes to the development of both the capability and capacity of healthcare services. As a result, it crosses professional and organisational boundaries and constraints and concentrates on their shared purpose, delivering excellent patient care.

Accident prevention in the A&E Department

Accident and Emergency units are often regarded as the 'shop window' of a health service. While the priority is to attend to those in need of emergency services, there may also be opportunities for health education amongst a 'captive audience', particularly in relation to accident prevention. This report illustrates how the influence of one A&E department was used amongst primary school children to increase their awareness of cycle safety. Educational materials were developed, a series of visits to schools was planned, which over 600 children attended, and a competition organised. Initial responses from the children were very positive, and an analysis of subsequent cycle injury levels is now under way. The project formed part of a wide ranging practice development programme within a large district general hospital in Whitehaven in collaboration with St Martin's College Department of Nursing. It combined the need to develop quality services and staff in tandem. The outreach educational approach is now being examined for adoption in other areas of the Trust.

Practice development in mental health nursing

What are the central features of an effective practice development programme in mental health nursing? In the first of a three-part series, John Cutcliffe and four colleagues from the RCN institute, Oxford, discuss the issues from a mental health nursing perspective

Using a supervisory framework to support and evaluate a multiproject practice development programme.

The paper describes a multiproject practice development programme undertaken over a period of 1 year. The background and development of the programme are outlined, whilst attention is paid to the innovatory nature of the work, particularly the use of inductive, deductive and integrated approaches to both change implementation and project supervision. The programme was monitored throughout using different data sources and the paper uses evaluative material retrospectively to provide answers to organizational and professional difficulties which arose during the course of the programme. The authors conclude that the use of combinations of different models for practice development has potential, but requires careful supervision. They also recommend that those involved in practice development are made fully aware of its local or micropolitics, and develop strategies to deal with change before it occurs, not after it has taken place.