HS246-6-SL-CA:
Service Improvement Project
PLEASE NOTE: This module is inactive. Visit the Module Directory to view modules and variants offered during the current academic year.
2024/25
Health and Social Care (School of)
Colchester Campus & Apprenticeship Location
Summer & Long Vacation
Undergraduate: Level 6
Inactive
Tuesday 22 April 2025
Wednesday 01 October 2025
20
05 April 2023
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
BSC B740AD Nursing (Adult),
BSC B740AS Nursing (Adult),
BSC B760AD Nursing (Mental Health),
BSC B760AS Nursing (Mental Health)
Monitoring and evaluating the quality of care practices and services, and making subsequent service changes are fundamental for improving the safety and quality of care. Improvements in care and treatment that enhance the outcomes that people experience can be transformative when the people whose experiences matter most are involved in the design of the service.
This module enables students to draw together and integrate learning from earlier modules and critically consider principles of health service design and research design. Enabling them to design participatory projects that focus on service improvements that directly aim to enhance the experiences and outcomes for people who use and work in those services.
1. Critically consider the mechanisms that can be used to improve practices and services (e.g. audit) and activities that influence organisational and policy changes, with an emphasis on grassroots and user-led approaches.
2. Critically consider how the principles of health economics and resource allocation can be constructed to achieve a range of political narratives, and develop a business case for additional care funding.
3. Work in partnership and solidarity with people, their families, carers and colleagues, applying citizen and user-led approaches to identify an area or areas for improvement in service provision and/or changes in organisational or public policy.
4. Co-design a project that aims to ethically enhance or improve the quality of people’s experiences or outcomes when they access or use a service or services.
5. Work in partnership and solidarity with people, their families, carers and colleagues to identify local strategies for sharing findings and recommendations with service providers and policymakers.
6. Recognise governance processes in service delivery and critically review the range of intended and unintended consequences, benefits, risks and hazards that recommendations for change may have.
Consolidated learning on research methods and the conduct of research projects
Research ethics and governance
Participatory working and research practices
Influencing organisational change
Quality improvement methodologies
Principles of audit for service improvement
Identification of potential hazards and management of risk
Resource allocation in complex health systems
Project planning and developing business cases
Lectures
Students will be introduced to the principles that underpin successful and participatory project planning in a series of keynote lectures with supporting online resources.
Tutorials
Students will engage with people with lived experience and clinicians who work in partner organisations under the facilitation of module lecturers, to compare and integrate different perspectives on service improvement and design strategies. Under the supervision of an academic supervisors, students will lead project design and interact with others (people with lived experience, clinicians, managers) to determine the shape of the service improvement.
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Welford, C., Murphy, K. and Casey, D. (2011) ‘Demystifying nursing research terminology. Part 1’,
Nurse Researcher, 18(4), pp. 38–43. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.7748/nr2011.07.18.4.38.c8635.
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Welford, C., Murphy, K. and Casey, D. (2012) ‘Demystifying nursing research terminology: Part 2’,
Nurse Researcher, 19(2), pp. 29–35. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.7748/nr2012.01.19.2.29.c8906.
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LoBiondo-Wood, G. and Haber, J. (2018)
Nursing research: methods and critical appraisal for evidence-based practice. 9th edition. St. Louis, Missouri: Elsevier. Available at:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=6359551.
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‘The difference between research, quality improvement, service evaluation and audit in healthcare’ (2023). YouTube: Carol Forde-Johnston. Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rronp9X-Jc.
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Aveyard, H., Preston, N. and Farquhar, M. (2022)
How to read and critique research: a guide for nursing and healthcare students. Los Angeles: SAGE. Available at:
https://app.kortext.com/Shibboleth.sso/Login?entityID=https://idp0.essex.ac.uk/shibboleth&target=https://app.kortext.com/borrow/2110218.
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Aveyard, H., Sharp, P. and Woolliams, M. (2015)
A beginner’s guide to critical thinking and writing in health and social care. Second edition. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Available at:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=6212113.
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Raby, P. and Jayne McNaughton, R. (2021) ‘A simplified approach to critically appraising research evidence’,
Nurse Researcher, 29(1), pp. 32–41. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.7748/nr.2021.e1760.
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Gottwald, M. and Lansdown, G. (2021)
Clinical Governance: Improving the quality of healthcare for patients and. 2nd edition. Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Available at:
https://app.kortext.com/Shibboleth.sso/Login?entityID=https://idp0.essex.ac.uk/shibboleth&target=https://app.kortext.com/borrow/1013327.
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Martin, V.
et al. (2010)
Managing in health and social care. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge. Available at:
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=311665&site=ehost-live.
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Ashton, C. and Manthorpe, J. (2019) ‘The Views of Domestic Staff and Porters when Supporting Patients with Dementia in the Acute Hospital: An Exploratory Qualitative Study’,
Dementia, 18(3), pp. 1128–1145. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1177/1471301217707085.
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Ghezaywi, Z.
et al. (2024) ‘Targeting zero medication administration errors in the pediatric intensive care unit: A Quality Improvement project’,
Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, 81. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iccn.2023.103595.
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Leis, J.A. and Shojania, K.G. (2017) ‘A primer on PDSA: executing plan–do–study–act cycles in practice, not just in name’,
BMJ Quality & Safety, 26(7), pp. 572–577. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2016-006245.
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Springall, F. (2018) ‘Developing a service improvement initiative for people with learning disabilities in hospice settings’,
Nursing Standard, 32(30), pp. 49–54. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.7748/ns.2018.e11014.
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‘First Steps Towards Quality Improvement: A Simple Guide to Improving Services’ (no date). NHS Improving Quality. Available at:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/improvement-hub/wp-content/uploads/sites/44/2011/06/service_improvement_guide_2014.pdf.
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Lynn Craig; Alison Machin (2020) ‘Developing and sustaining nurses’ service improvement capability: a phenomenological study’,
British Journal of Nursing [Preprint]. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2020.29.11.618.
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Gage, W. (2013) ‘Using service improvement methodology to change practice’,
Nursing Standard, 27(23), pp. 51–57. Available at:
https://journals.rcni.com/doi/full/10.7748/ns2013.02.27.23.51.e7241R1.
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Hewitt-Taylor, J. (2012) ‘Identifying, analysing and solving problems in practice’,
Nursing Standard, 26(40), pp. 35–41. Available at:
https://journals.rcni.com/doi/full/10.7748/ns2012.06.26.40.35.c9139.
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Isabella Davis, Tiffany Laybourne, Camille Cronin (2019) ‘Improving Mouth Care Provision in an acute hospital trust’. Available at:
https://www.nursingtimes.net/roles/hospital-nurses/improving-mouth-care-provision-in-an-acute-hospital-trust-15-04-2019/.
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‘What does the service improvement literature tell us and how can it make a difference to implementation?’ (no date). Gillian Granville. Available at:
http://www.gilliangranville.com/wp-content/uploads/Service-Improvement-paper-2006.pdf.
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‘Quality improvement made simple’ (no date). The Health Foundation. Available at:
https://www.health.org.uk/publications/quality-improvement-made-simple.
The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's
reading list.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
hsccolapp@essex.ac.uk
No
No
No
No external examiner information available for this module.
Available via Moodle
Of 121 hours, 9 (7.4%) hours available to students:
112 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s).
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