Quality improvement is a driving principle and Dr Toolbox can also be an award winning QIP for trainee doctors.
Why get involved?
We started Dr Toolbox as a way of improving care and making work life easier and more enjoyable for ourselves and colleagues. As trainees and clinicians we also know how important it is to achieve competencies for ePortfolios and Specialty interviews.
We hope you feel the same about improving care, but also would like to support you in achieving your competencies. Dr Toolbox is supported by Health Education England and by following the information on the guides here you can get a certificate for your work at the end of the year, or do Dr Toolbox as a quality improvement project.
What are certificates awarded for?
Certificates are awarded in July to Lead Editors who have created or maintained a Dr Toolbox site for an academic year.
This usually required an input through the year of 1-2 hours a fortnight.
To be awarded a certificate we usually request as a minimum to ensure the success of your site:
That all the pages of your site at have been reviewed at least once that year
That your have emailed your colleagues to let them know about your site
You have arranged for Dr Toolbox to be included in induction
You have found someone to continue your work for the following year
We will try and be proactive about certificates but if you feel you are due one please get in touch to support@dr-toolbox.com and let us know what your contribution has been.
How to set up a Quality Improvement Project
Plan, do, study, act (PDSA) cycles
Use plan, do, study, act (PDSA) cycles to test an idea by trialling a change on a small scale and asses its impact, building upon the learning from previous cycles in a structured way before scaling up. Please checkout NHS Improvement for more information on this topic: click here.
Planning (defining objectives and planning data collection)
Defining your objectives at the start is important - this could be national standards such as the CQC:
Safe (S3.2) Is all the information needed to deliver safe care and treatment available to relevant staff in a timely and accessible way?
Effective (E3) Do staff have knowledge to deliver effective care?
Well-led (W8.1) In what ways do leaders and staff strive for continuous learning, improvement and innovation?
A couple of easy ways of collecting data are doing a baseline survey, this could be using an online survey or google forms, we even have a proforma in 'Documents'. Sometimes it is just as easy to get 100% response by printing out a survey and handing out to your colleagues at the end of teaching.
You can also get quantitive data by looking at the Analytics page - accessible though editors tools.
Do (implementing change)
This could be creating a new Dr Toolbox site, or refreshing content. Please see see our page on editing.
Study
This is where you gather more information e.g by repeating your survey or by comparing numbers of users and page hits.
Act
The final stage is to reflect on what you have done so far and plan the next stage of the cycle. This is the step that wins you prizes for your poster at conferences.
Also keep in mind that Dr Toolbox is very versatile and could be your perfect companion for another QIP e.g. improving hospital at night handover, improving discharges or improving antimicrobial stewardship. You could use your local site to keep reference guides for trainees to refer to as part of the implementing change. Some sites embed videos and have quizzes using google forms which allow data to be collected and certificates to be issued for people who have participated in learning.
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