Contextualising risk, reducing harm: A Realist Evaluation
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Contextualising Risks Reducing Harm. How do Quality Dashboards Influence Care Delivery within Hospital Wards ? A Realist Evaluation.
IRAS ID
196077
Contact name
Sean Willis
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leeds
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 2 months, 12 days
Research summary
In 2014 NHS England launched a number of strategies to improve the quality and safety of healthcare, including encouraging hospitals to introduce quality dashboards into wards and departments. Dashboards are tools designed to summarise and display important information and significant investment has been made in their design, technological development and implementation within the NHS. Studies have shown that dashboards have been used to improve aspects of care delivery within primary and secondary health care settings. There is however a lack of research which explains how and why dashboards are able to improve the delivery of health care and how they influence decision making within a clinical setting.
Phase one of the study interviewed healthcare professionals responsible for the design and implementation of dashboards and ethical approval was given by the University of Leeds, School of Healthcare Ethics Committee (SHREC/RP/499 HP15/053). The purpose of phase one was to explore their views on how and why quality dashboards would influence care delivery or the intended and unintended consequences of their introduction.
Phase two of the research is to test and refine the theories which emerged from the phase one data analysis with the staff who work within hospital wards. Understanding and testing these theories may allow an opportunity to bring new knowledge and understanding and draw transferrable lessons about effective implementation strategies and help improve the design of quality dashboards so they will have a greater impact on behaviour change and improve patient safety.
For the purpose of clarity the dashboard referred to in the study relates to a Health-check Notice Board which is displayed at the entrance of each ward within the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and a Health-check dashboard which is a comprehensive data or dashboard available to access via the hospital intranet system.REC name
East of England - Cambridge East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/EE/0006
Date of REC Opinion
13 Jan 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion