An evaluation of staff experiences of the Royal Literary Fund writer-in-residence service to support improvements in written communication in healthcare
https://doi.org/10.4081/qrmh.2023.11601
Accepted: 28 November 2023
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Written communication is essential to staff and patient experience in healthcare. The Royal Literary Fund has hosted a writing fellow in an NHS Trust since 2018 providing professional writing training. The aim of this evaluation was to explore the experiences of staff using the service. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 staff members from a range of professions who had accessed the service. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: The writing service was highly valued. Three themes emerged: feelings about writing at work, reported benefits of attending sessions, and perceived barriers to accessing them. Staff felt underskilled in professional writing and described the wish to write more succinctly and reflectively. Self-reported confidence increased after sessions. Stigma around writing skills prevented some staff from recommending the service. Wider adoption of professional writing skills training through the NHS could have benefits in terms of increasing self-perceived skills and confidence.
Addison, A.B., Watts, S., Fleming, J., (2015) Effective communication between ENT and primary care – a survey of outpatient correspondence. Clinical Otolaryngology, 40(3), 191-196. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/coa.12343
Ariail, J., Thomas, S., Smith, T., Kerr, L., Richards-Slaughter, S., Shaw, D. (2013) The value of a writing centre at a medical university. Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 25(2), 129-133. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10401334.2013.770739
Belden, J., Koopman, R., Smith, J. (2017) Dynamic electronic health record note prototype: Seeing more by showing less. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 30(6), 691-700. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3122/jabfm.2017.06.170028
Deghan, M., Deghan, D., Sheikhrabori, A., Sadeghi, M., Jalalian M. (2013) Quality improvement in clinical documentation – does clinical governance work? Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, 2013(6), 441-50. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2147/JMDH.S53252
Hanson, J.L., Stephens, M.B., Pangaro, L.N., Gimbel, R.W. (2012) Quality of outpatient clinical notes: a stakeholder definition derived through qualitative research. BMC Health Services Research, 12, 407. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-12-407
Healy, K., Drayton, J. (2021) Mind the gap: incorporating writing skills into practice simulations. Social Work Education, 41(8), 1802-1820. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2021.1962270
Health Research Authority. Is my study research? Accessed on 8th March 2021.Available from: http://www.hra-decisiontools.org.uk/research/
Health Research Authority (2017) UK Framework for Health and Social Care Research. Available to download: https://www.hra.nhs.uk/planning-and-improving-research/policies-standards-legislation/uk-policy-framework-health-social-care-research/ [Accessed 21st July 2023]
Henry, C., Austin, M.J. (2021) Social work as a writing-intensive profession: exploring the relationship between academic and practice writing. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 41(3), 230-256. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08841233.2021.1932015
Jamieson, T., Ailon, J., Chien, V., Mourad, O. (2017) An electronic documentation system imporves the quality of admission notes: a randomized trial. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 24(1), 123-129. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocw064
Jefferies, D., Johnson, M., Nicholls, D., Landon, R., Lad, S. (2012) Evaluating an intensive ward-based writing coach programme to improve nursing documentation: lessons learned. International Nursing Review, 59(3), 394-401. doi: 10.1111/j.1466-7657.2012.00994.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1466-7657.2012.00994.x
Miller, L., Russell, C., Cheng, A., Zembles, S. (2018) Testing the efficacy of a scaffolded writing intervention with online degree-completion nursing students. Nursing Education in Practice, 32,115-121. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2018.06.011
Mitchell, K. (2018) Constructing writing practices in nursing. Journal of Nursing Education, 57(7), 399-407. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20180618-04
Okaisu, E., Kalikwani, F., Wanyana, G., Coetzee, M. (2014) Improving the quality of nursing documentation. Curationis (Pretoria), 37(2), E1-11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/curationis.v37i2.1251
Ritchie, J., Spencer, L. (1994) Qualitative data analysis for applied policy research. In Bryman A and Burgess RG [eds.] Analyzing qualitative data. Routledge, London, p.173-94. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203413081_chapter_9
Rosenbloom, S., Denny, J., Johnson K (2011) Data from clinical notes: a perspective on the tension between structure and flexible documentation. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 18(2), 181-186. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/jamia.2010.007237
Skjott Linneberg, M., Korsgaard, S. (2019) Coding qualitative data: a synthesis guiding the novice. Qualitative Research Journal, 19(3), 259-270. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/QRJ-12-2018-0012
Sondergaard, S., Lorentzen, V., Sorensen, E., Frederiksen, K. (2017) The documentation practice of peri-operative nurses: a literature review. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 26(13-14), 1757-1769. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.13445
Tower, M. (2012) Registered nurses’ decision-making regarding documentation in patients’ progress notes. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 21(19-20), 2917-29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2702.2012.04135.x
Young, K. (2022) Royal literary fund briefing paper. Accessed 19/03/2023. Available from: https://www.rlf.org.uk/education/social-sector/
Copyright (c) 2023 the Author(s)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
PAGEPress has chosen to apply the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) to all manuscripts to be published.
Downloads
Citations
