Imperial College London
Portrait Picture

Dr James Kinross

Faculty of Medicine, Department of Surgery & Cancer

Reader in General Surgery
 
 
 
//

Contact

 

+44 (0)20 3312 1947j.kinross

 
 
//

Location

 

1029Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Wing (QEQM)St Mary's Campus

//

Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Sivananthan:2021:10.1136/bmjoq-2020-001247,
author = {Sivananthan, A and Machin, M and Zijlstra, G and Harris, S and Radhakrishnan, S and Crook, P and Phillip, G and Denning, M and Patel, N and Darzi, A and Kinross, J and Brown, R},
doi = {10.1136/bmjoq-2020-001247},
journal = {BMJ Open Quality},
title = {A grassroots junior doctor communication network in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: a service evaluation},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2020-001247},
volume = {10},
year = {2021}
}
Download

RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - BackgroundCOVID-19 was declared a worldwide pandemic on 11th March 2020. Imperial NHS Trust provides 1412 inpatient beds staffed by 1200 junior doctors and faced a large burden of COVID-19 admissions.Local problemA survey of doctors revealed only 20% felt confident that they would know to whom they could raise concerns and that most were getting information from a combination of informal work discussions, trust emails, social media and medical literature. MethodsThis quality improvement project was undertaken aligning with SQUIRE 2.0© guidelines. Through an iterative process, a digital network; ICON (Imperial Covid cOmmunications Network) using existing smartphone technologies was developed. Concerns were collated from the junior body (Google Form®) and convey them to the leadership team (vertical - bottom up) and improve communication from leadership to the junior body (vertical - top down using WhatsApp and Zoom®). Quantitative analysis on engagement with the network (members of the group and number of issues raised) and qualitative assessment (thematic analysis on issues) was undertaken.ResultsMembership of the ICON WhatsApp group peaked at 780 on 17th May 2020. 197 concerns were recorded via the Google Form® system between 20th March and 14th June 2020. There were five overarching themes; organisational and logistics; clinical strategy concerns; staff safety and wellbeing; clinical (COVID-19) and patient care; and facilities. 94.4% of members agreed ICON was helpful in receiving updates and 88.9% agreed ICON improved collaboration. ConclusionsThis work demonstrates that a coordinated network, utilising existing smartphone technologies and a novel communications structure, can improve collaboration between senior leadership and junior doctors. Such a network could play an important role during times of pressure in a healthcare system.
AU  - Sivananthan,A
AU  - Machin,M
AU  - Zijlstra,G
AU  - Harris,S
AU  - Radhakrishnan,S
AU  - Crook,P
AU  - Phillip,G
AU  - Denning,M
AU  - Patel,N
AU  - Darzi,A
AU  - Kinross,J
AU  - Brown,R
DO  - 10.1136/bmjoq-2020-001247
PY  - 2021///
SN  - 2399-6641
TI  - A grassroots junior doctor communication network in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: a service evaluation
T2  - BMJ Open Quality
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2020-001247
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/87952
VL  - 10
ER  -
Download