I believe we all have, at one moment or another, felt that urge to be rebellious at work…
People Participation Lead, Zaffran Jami, attended the 2016 International Forum for Quality & Safety in Healthcare in Gothenburg, Sweden, hosted by the IHI and BMJ.
Zaffran presented the work of the People Participation Lead’s work at ELFT on engaging and involving service users and carers in quality improvement projects across the Trust.
We interviewed her on her return about her trip…
What did you present at the conference? Could you give us a summary?
At the conference, I talked about how to engage and involve service users and carers in quality improvement projects. But also what roles service users and carers play in these projects. This started by creating a service user led steering group to discuss different ways we could implement to increase involvement and also to monitor to see it was done well. As a result, we introduced possibilities such as service user QI training, role descriptions and outlining different levels of support.
Were you able to help or advise any other attendees/organisations in their QI work as a result of your presentation?
As a result of our presentation, we had a few attendees/organisations that came up to us to discuss ways that they could also incorporate service user involvement in their QI work. But in a meaningful way and not in a way that is simply tokenistic. We were able to get attendees/organisations to think about the different ways they can involve service user and carers in every piece of work that they do.
What did you learn at the conference? Was there a particular talk or presentation that really stood out for you and why?
There was a particular talk by Lois Kelly about “rebels at work”. It was about how some workers challenge conventional thinking, but with the fear of being perceived as a troublemaker or getting in way above your head. This talk stood out for me on a personal level because I believe we all have, at one moment or another, felt that urge to be rebellious at work; to be unique and to change the order of things.
Was there a piece of advice or particular lesson which you will use in your work going forward?
There was a particular lesson that I did learn from the talk about “rebels at work”. I learnt the importance of being a “rebel” by working in a way that promotes creativity and innovation. In addition, I have learnt to generate energy, ask questions, see possibilities and pinpoint causes.
How has your visit to the conference inspired you to continually make QI part of your everyday work?
It was amazing to see healthcare organisations from different parts of the world come together to share ideas. To see that quality improvement can be incorporated in many different ways. This has inspired me to continually make QI part of my everyday work through creativity and innovation.
