Category Archives: Media Coverage

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Jolien Vos wins Postgraduate Choice Award at Lincoln Student Union Awards 2015

suawardsJolien Vos, graduate research assistant and PhD student with CaHRU, was winner of the student Postgraduate Choice Award at the University of Lincoln Student Union Awards ceremony on 23 April 2015. The award, sponsored by the Graduate School, is given to individuals who improve the postgraduate learning environment and encourage collaborative, interdisciplinary work.

JolienJolien won the award for being an inspiration to other research students due to the quality and interdisciplinary nature of her work. Jolien has supported other PhD students by co-running, with staff member Kelly Sisson, the successful PhD PALS Scheme. She has also represented the University at a number of external events and conferences, including the internationally renowned Ageing & Society conference, where she won an award in 2014 for her presentation from her doctoral studies on navigating the health care system.

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ASCQI paper rated highest in Implementation Science top social papers in 2014

ascqilogoA paper published by the CaHRU team in the journal Implementation Science, ‘The effect of a national quality improvement collaborative on prehospital care for acute myocardial infarction and stroke in England‘ came top in the journal’s measures of social media circulation (altmetrics) in 2014.

EMAS - A&E 9_750The study was funded as part of the Ambulance Services Cardiovascular Quality Initiative (ASCQI) by the Health Foundation under their Closing the Gap in Clinical Communities programme and led to improvements in care for heart attack and stroke in England. More recently the ASCQI team have been funded by the Health Foundation under their Widening Improvement programme to spread the learning from ASCQI to other clinical areas in ambulance services in the Improving Prehospital and Ambulance Care and Treatment following ASCQI (ImPACT-ASCQI) project. This work was presented recently at the EMS99 Forum conference in Nottingham.

EMAS - A&E 5_750The findings from ASCQI and resources are also being disseminated in a new website and the result are having impact in other areas of the world such as Quatar and the United States.

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Research from CaHRU helping to improve prehospital care around the world

EMAS - A&E 5_750Research undertaken by CaHRU with East Midlands Ambulance Service and other English ambulance services which has led to improvements in care in the UK is having an impact on improvement efforts in North America and the Middle East according to an article published in EMS World, ‘Improving Prehospital Care Around the World‘ by Dr David Williams CEO of Medic Health, improvement advisor and lead prehospital care and ambulance service system faculty at the prestigious Institute for Healthcare Improvement in the United States.

ascqilogoCaHRU’s work has informed improvement efforts in the United States such as American Medical Response’s Caring for Maria improvement collaborative and the EMS performance measures initiative in partnership with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Association of State EMS Officials. It has also informed ongoing innovation work in United States and Middle East at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

EMAS - A&E 9_750The research which led to development of national indicators for English ambulance services and improvements in prehospital care for heart attack and stroke through the Ambulance Services Cardiovascular Quality Initiative is having worldwide impact.

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New implementation study to improve prescribing safety in general practice

P011354Professor Niro Siriwardena and the CaHRU team have been awarded a major grant from the Health Foundation under their Scaling Up Improvement programme. The project is led by Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust supported by the University of Lincoln, University of Nottingham, the East Midlands Academic Health Science Network and 17 of the region’s Clinical Commissioning Groups.

medication_pillsThe aim of the study is to spread an intervention called PINCER (pharmacist-led information technology intervention for reducing clinically important errors in medication management) across East Midlands general practices and then more widely across the United Kingdom using a quality improvement collaborative, a model which CaHRU have used in previous projects.

reading1The project will provide participating GP practices access to computer software that automatically reviews prescriptions together with expert support from a pharmacist who will work with practice staff to review prescriptions and drugs monitoring. This will reduce the risk of drug errors and failure to monitor, particularly in those people with more than one long term condition on a combination of drugs. Pharmacists and GPs will share learning as part of the project.

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Ambulance Services Cardiovascular Quality Initiative findings published in Implementation Science

EMAS-PTS2_750The results of a national Quality Improvement Collaborative study, the Ambulance Services Cardiovascular Quality Initiative (ASCQI) were published this week in the international academic journal Implementation Science. The article entitled The effect of a national quality improvement collaborative on prehospital care for acute myocardial infaction and stroke in England showed large and significant improvements in the quality of care provided by 11 ambulance services (out of 12) in England for people with heart attack and stroke. Members of the CaHRU team involved in the study included Professor Siriwardena, Dr Zowie Davy and Fiona Togher together with visiting fellows at CaHRU who are members of the research team at EMAS including Anne Spaight, Debbie Shaw and Nadya Essam. Professor Michael Dewey, chair in epidemiological statistics in London was the statistician on the project.

EMAS - A&E 9The project has been part of a programme of work, Prehospital and Emergency Quality and Outcomes, developed through collaboration between academics from the Community and Health Research Unit and ambulance services across the United Kingdom, particularly East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EMAS). This collaboration has enabled a strategic partnership between the University of Lincoln and EMAS to undertake research which is relevant to ambulance services, focusing on health issues of regional and national importance, and conducted with ambulance staff in order to increase the impact of the research by improving prehospital care for emergencies.

EMAS - A&E 6bThe study examined the period between January 2010 and February 2012. Across England overall, the percentage of emergency cases where care bundles (packages of essential care) were delivered in full increased from 43% to 79% for heart attack and from 83% to 96% for stroke. ASCQI supported frontline staff, and their management, to introduce improvements using checklists, aide memoires, individual and group feedback and sharing of information within and between different trusts to improve the reliability of care for people with heart attack and stroke. The project was shortlisted for an HSJ award in 2012.