Authors: Adina Seupersad
This article is an Evaluation of the Training and Education of a Work- Based Learning (WBL) in a Mental Health Hospital in London: The role of the Matron. In this current economic climate, with continuous changes in the National Health Service (NHS), managers are continuously being asked to so ‘more with less’. Make efficiency savings, quality improvements, be innovative but must not compromise the quality of care, Nicholson (2010).
The role of the Matron involves collaborative working with different departments, responsibility for quality of care, education, research and clinical and professional leadership. WBL is an effective and efficient model to safeguard patient care by ensuring nurses are competent with knowledge development, critical skills, technical skills, attitudes and values, Royal College of Nursing (2012).
Having undertaken an analysis of the matron’s role in relation to quality improvement, it was felt that evaluating the WBL programme on site would cause the least impact and least likely to compromise the quality of care simultaneously efficiency savings.
The aim of the article was to evaluate WBL using the audit process Kirkpatrick (1996), Thematic Content Analysis and Purposive Sampling. The objectives were to: determine nurse’s perceptions towards WBL, assess if nurses practice had changed, evaluate if patients’ outcomes had improved and whether efficiency savings had taken place following its implementation.
Findings concluded that staff perceptions, practice and efficiency savings had improved as a result of WBL training delivered on site in comparison to delivery off site. There remains a dearth of research about the impact of WBL and evidence of robust evaluation as a process delivery outcome and its impact on outcomes.
Despite, conducted on a small scale, information derived could be used by hospital managers to inform business plans. The study would benefit from a more in-depth and a longer period utilising Phillip’s (2003a) Level 5 evaluation, Return on Investment. In conclusion, for WBL to be successful, it’s imperative that hospital managers develop WBL as the ‘culture ‘of the organisation and become enablers and supporters.
View/Download pdf