Adesola Oriola is a Deputy Sister at York and Scarborough NHS Trust. She is also an FNF alumna of FNF’s Emerging Leaders programme. Here Adesola talks about her experience on the programme, and the impact it has had on herself and on her patients.
Quality Improvement is a day-to-day thing, not a one-off
“I actually stumbled on the Emerging Leaders programme advertisement by chance, and I decided to give it a try. After my place was confirmed, I knew was about to have a life changing experience.
As an immigrant nurse with barely any experience on quality improvement I knew that the programme would bring about a significant impact in my nursing career. I have only been a band 6 nurse for about a year and I am still quite new to the leadership field. However, this programme has given me better insight to understanding what type of leader I am and given me the confidence to have difficult conversations.
I carried out my QI project on pressure ulcers, and I was actually amazed by the amount of knowledge I already had, especially as this was my first QI project.
"This programme has given me better insight to understanding what type of leader I am and given me the confidence to have difficult conversations. "
Adesola Oriola, Deputy Sister, York and Scarborough NHS Trust
My Quality Improvement (QI) Project
The goal of my QI project was to increase compliance with my trust’s pressure ulcer policy – to ensure that staff on my ward knew what to do and how to go about it when dealing with pressure ulcers.
- The ‘Plan, Do, Study, Act’ (PDSA) framework was used to implement the solutions and to analyse the data obtained.
- After liaising with the ward manager and the matron, a pressure ulcer checklist was put together and added to the pressure ulcer pack on the ward.
- Training was given to staff, information as added to the ward’s safety brief, and compliancy rate reviewed regularly for eight weeks.
- There was an overall improvement in the compliance to trust policy from 40% to 73% during the eight weeks of implementation.
- The checklist is still being utilised in the ward and refresher courses have been scheduled in order to continue to improve compliance.
Doing the QI project as part of the programme has taught me that improvement is a day-to-day day thing and not a one off. I have learnt how to appreciate data and how to use it to bring about positive change. It has made me interact with the team more. My major reflection would be knowing that data beats my opinion as it serves as a major benchmark rather than my emotions.
I would like to thank all the amazing facilitators we had during this program. I would also like to thank my ward manager and trust for sending me on this training. I have become a better leader as a result of it, and I can’t wait for what the future holds.”