Improving Communication and Patient Safety
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Improving Communication and Patient Safety in Multimorbidity: feasibility study
IRAS ID
264183
Contact name
Peter Bower
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The University of Manchester
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
DRF-2017-10-038, Funders number
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Background
Good communication between patients and healthcare staff is essential for patient safety as communication can impact all aspects of healthcare, including diagnosis and treatment.
People who have two or more long-term conditions (multimorbidity) often receive more healthcare than others. They can also have complex and unmet needs. This can make communication more difficult. People aged 65+ are more likely to have multimorbidity, and may be more vulnerable to harm arising from communication problems.
Patients can be empowered to improve communication with healthcare staff. Working with patients, we have designed materials to help people with multimorbidity talk to and be heard by healthcare staff. We have ensured these materials are relevant and easy to understand.
Aims and methods
We now want to do a feasibility study and process evaluation to see if we can recruit people to a study to assess these materials, and if people find these materials useful and acceptable.
This study will be carried out in four General Practices in England, over a 12-month period. We aim to recruit 12 patients from each General Practice. These patients will be given a copy of the materials and asked to use them, in any contacts they have with their General Practice, for four to eight weeks.
Participating patients and staff will be asked to complete questionnaires. Some will also be invited to take part in an interview about their experience (the process evaluation).
What we learn from this study will help us decide if and how we can do a larger study to test whether the materials empower patients, improve communication and reduce risks to patient safety.
Funding
One of the researchers, Rebecca Goulding, is funded by a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Doctoral Research Fellowship. The project is co-funded by the NIHR Research for Patient Benefit programme.
REC name
London - London Bridge Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/LO/1284
Date of REC Opinion
21 Dec 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion