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Future Nurse, a consultancy specialising in clinical expertise for digital health transform takes another step to enabling a community based on a culture of innovation and shared learning by partnering with Hexitime.
Hexitime is an online platform that connects healthcare professionals to exchange skills and expertise enabling individuals to offer their time and talents to support colleagues innovative ways.
The Future Nurse Network on Hexitime has been established to create further opportunities for digital health specialists, especially those with a background in nursing and midwifery to come together in a supportive environment and help fulfil each other’s needs by utilising strengths and experiences.
Professor Natasha Phillips, Founder of Future Nurse said
“Hexitime is a fantastic solution taking a community focused approach to sharing knowledge and expertise. I’m so excited for the possibilities Future Nurse being on the platform brings, and the multitude of opportunities for nurses and midwives to offer their skills for betterments of others across the NHS, healthcare and the wider system”
John Lodge, Director at Hexitime Ltd said
“Future Nurse is a
great fit for Hexitime. They engage a dynamic range of nurses working with
everyday healthcare problems to develop exciting solutions. I think this
collaboration can mobilise hidden expertise in the profession and really make
innovation accessible to most. It's really exciting and I encourage you to
consider sharing what you can contribute to the effort on their new platform!”
People who are looking for or ready to share skills are now able to join the Hexitime Future Nurse Network for free at the link below:
Future Nurse Network on Hexitime
Future Nurse is delighted to announce that it is partnering with SmartCo Consulting a consultancy that provides expert advisory and execution, to a range of industries.
Our partnership will drive excellence in healthcare transformation by integrating clinical and digital expertise to improve services for staff and patients.
Find out about our joint objectives through this announcement:
Future Nurse Consulting and SmartCo Consulting Announce Strategic PartnershipUniversity Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and Cleveland Clinic London are leading the way in this knowledge-sharing expedition to Cleveland Clinic London.
In this article for the Nursing Times, Founder of Future Nurse Natasha Phillips, Hayley Grafton Chief Nursing Information Officer (CNIO), University Leicester Hospitals, and Sonia Kelly CNIO, Cleveland Clinic London share their insights into this visit looking at a fully closed loop medicines administration in use across an organisation.
Although the organisations have their notable differences - one being a private facility and the other a large NHS Trust spanning multiple sites, the visit was a chance for both to share learning and identify opportunities for future collaboration.
Four key lessons learnt from the visit:
Significant Reductions in Medication Errors
Implementing closed-loop medication administration, especially through single-unit dosing, can reduce medication error rates by up to 87%, significantly enhancing patient safety and outcomes.
Challenges in Implementation
The journey towards fully closed-loop medication administration requires substantial financial investment, technological infrastructure, and comprehensive staff training. Overcoming resistance to change and workflow disruptions are crucial challenges
Importance of Collaboration and Shared Learning
The visit highlighted the transformative power of collaboration and shared learning in healthcare. Observing and learning from successful implementations can provide invaluable insights and support.
Role of Nurse Leaders and Continuous Learning
The Future Nurse mission is dedicated to utilising the power of nurses and midwives in digital transformation, and this visit showed the critical role nurse leaders in driving innovation and managing the transition to new systems, by delivering continuous education, effective change management strategies, and fostering a culture of trust in technology.
Read the full insights from the day at the Nursing Times:
Bridging boundaries: lessons learned from collaborative medication administration initiatives
Ready to leverage the transformative power of nursing and midwifery?
Contact Future Nurse now to see how our clinical expertise can support you to deliver your organisations aspirations, and embed a digital organisation culture.
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In November 2023, Founder of Future Nurse Natasha Phillips in partnership with Doccla invited a range of senior nurse leaders to come together to discuss the topic of virtual wards and remote care.
The panel was made up of extensive experience in digital transformation and remote care, and explored how nursing is evolving with technology-enabled care at home.
Key points of discussion included:
- Best applications of technology for person-centred care,
- The impact of new working models on workfroce recruitment and retention
- The leadership role of nurses in designing and implementing virtual care models
The senior nurses leaders emphasised the positive impact that technology had for their workplaces during the pandemic, and this has reshaped perspectives on virtual care.
Our participants shared their hopes and visions for the future, highlighting the potential of artifical intellgience and wearable devices to enhance remote monitoring and patient support.
The roundtable called out the importance of person-centred care, for patients and their families to be more involved in their healthcare, through self-management.
There is a huge challenge to address the culture shifts within healthcare organisations, and the development of a digitally literate workforce, will aid in fostering the trust in technology among patients and healthcare providers.
You can read a full report on this discussion at the Nursing Times:
As Storm Eunice swept through the country, our planned in-person visit alongside Chief Nursing Officer for England, Ruth May, turned fittingly into a virtual visit.
We were nonetheless ably hosted by Emily Wells, Digital Health’s CNIO of the year for 2021, and CCIO Ed Prosser-Snelling. A powerful clinical leadership duo with a clear vision for the digital transformation of their Trust.
New technology but old fashioned nursing
The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) team demonstrated their virtual ward and talked us through their experiences of how the approach was changing the way they deliver care.
We particularly remember Michael, an experienced senior nurse, describing how this model of care not only reduced length of stay but was:
"...taking us back to old fashioned nursing where you really have time to get to know the patient".
The joy he felt at this was evident and it was another demonstration that good technology, implemented with attention to the people and processes, can go beyond efficiency and clinical effectiveness to improving how we connect and care for our patients as people.
Interestingly both Emily and Michael discounted some of the challenges to virtual wards we sometimes hear regarding problems delivering care or their potential to further stretch an overburdened workforce.
Michael described how this model of care goes beyond monitoring and responding to vital signs by building relationships with patients who feel more at ease to express themselves on screen in a way that sometimes they don’t on a hospital ward:
"...digital curtains are soundproof, unlike those on the ward".
He gave the example of one lady who felt able to describe her difficulty opening her bowels, enabling the team to take action with laxatives promptly prescribed and despatched by courier.
And the nursing team at NNUH feels virtual wards offer them some helpful flexibility, with the chance to continue to nurse for patients at home when their situation makes hospital wards untenable. The option of having virtual ward shifts has become an attractive aspect of their employment, helping with recruitment and retention. All nurses who have joined this team have been retained.
Safety and outcomes
Whilst nationally NHS England and Improvement has established a workforce group to address the question of staffing ratios in virtual wards, early adopters like NNUH have been setting their own levels based on experience. Emily described a robust approach to establishing a dedicated team with the right expertise to staff the virtual ward that included a good skill mix and senior nurse leadership.
NNUH is also ensuring they are supporting the nurses and wider teams staffing the virtual wards with high-quality training and development. The work of Emily and her team in this space has already informed a national e-learning module that will support other teams across the country to help implement virtual wards.
Virtual Wards page: NHS England and Improvement
Arguably this is just the start and there is much more to do to ensure we offer the necessary training and support as this model expands but building on the learning from these early adopters will be key.
It is encouraging to see the positive impact the virtual ward has on hospital length of stay, we know broader measures will be helpful to fully examine their effectiveness. The national team is working with local teams to determine the best set of metrics to help ensure we are getting the best possible outcomes, including measures of staffing, outcomes, and staff and patient experience.
Wider transformation plans
Like many trusts, the digital journey at NNUH has not been straightforward with a mix of different digital systems and paper still in use. Emily described the familiar challenge of needing multiple different logins, multiple screens plus paper to get a full view of the patient. Fortunately for the staff and patients, leadership at Norfolk and Norwich are working across their entire ICS on a plan to have a single EPR.
The clinical support for this plan was made very clear through numerous spontaneous statements of support and enthusiasm. A single comprehensive record accessed by all clinicians, regardless of profession or setting, will ensure clinicians have access to all the relevant information, giving patients the best chance for high quality and efficient care.
National challenge
We heard the challenge to support the professionalisation of digital nursing. We are hopeful our Guidance for Nursing on What Good Looks Like, will provide some much needed support for executive nurses to make their case locally.
We left our virtual visit inspired by the vision, expertise and determination of those who are driving change every day across that system - whilst being reminded we have much to do nationally to support the local delivery of the digital capability needed to enable the change we all want to see in a person-centred health and social care system.
Originally posted on LinkedIn by Professor Natasha Phillips, as part of her former role as England's CNIO - follow Natasha to hear the latest from Future Nurse.
If you’re looking to leverage the power of nursing and midwifery from a leader with over 30 years strategic leadership, contact Future Nurse now.
When carrying out digital transformation of clinical practice there are various foundations to have in place to boost your change of success.
In this post on LinkedIn I discuss 7 key lessons from my 30 years of strategic leadership, looking at the importance of:
- Being clear what your mission is.
- Carrying out exercises reviewing current practice, BEFORE designing digital systems,
- Importance of strong clinical leadership,
- Having a workforce with the training and education to use technology,
- Investment in digital clinical informatics,
- Build systems that enable and inform quality improvement,
- Define how to measure and evaluate success.
Read on LinkedIn: Professor Natasha Phillips, 7 Key Lessons for Successful Digital Transformation