Help with award specialism title and rationale!!!

Since graduating from dance school in 2008 I have been lucky to pursue a short career in dance.
However, reoccurring injuries took their toll on my body and I accepted it, and made the decision to alter my career path.
After working in retail for several years, I decided to take the plunge and I have been offered a new job role with the NHS as a therapy assistant in Orthopaedics.
I believe that my new professional practice will enhance my existing knowledge of my dance training and knowledge of the human body and ultimately progress my career in the health sector.

However, as my practice will focus on the physical rehabilitation of a patient, I am interested in the psychological impact an injury can have. I intend to interview my colleagues as I will not be including patients in my inquiry due to ethical reasons. I'm not entirely sure that I am getting too out of my depth here by broadening the subject area and delving into the psychological side?? As I can't interview patients, will I have to rely on questionnaires from a third party?
What do you think??
Any comments or feedback would be most appreciated!!

Thanks,

Katrina x

Task 6B: Merits and Limits of the tools/ethods that can be used in my professional inquiry

This is an effective way to clearly see the advantages and disadvantages of each inquiry method and I am hoping it will highlight the tools I will want to apply to my professional inquiry.
I have used a bit of guidance from the internet to help explain the merits and limits of each inquiry tool.

An interview:
Merits

• Captures verbal and non-verbal ques
• Easily distinguishes body language
• A face-to-face interview can produce enthusiasm for the discussion on a particular topic
• Free from technological distractions

Limits

• Quality of data by the interviewer- the outcome of the interview relies heavily on the ability of the interviewer; good questions with room for explanation and discussion
• The data collected would be time consuming to input

A survey:
Merits

• Participants can remain anonymous
• Easy to develop
• Cost effective
• Capable of collecting data from a large number of respondents

Limits

• Respondents may not feel encouraged to provide accurate, honest answers
• Respondents may not be fully aware of their reasons for any given answer

A Focus Group:
Merits

• They are useful to obtain detailed information about personal and group feelings, perceptions and opinions
• They can provide a broader range of information
• They can encourage a wider discussion between participants
• They can easily measure the respondent's reactions

Limits

• They are not as efficient in covering maximum depth on a particular issue
• Participants may feel hesitant in expressing their true feelings if it opposes the views of another
• It may be difficult to gather enough people at a certain time to conduct the focus group, especially if it's in the workplace

A Pilot Observation:
Merits

• Access to situations where questionnaires and interviews are impossible or are inappropriate to use
• Access to people in real life situations
• Good for explaining meaning and context
• Can be strong on validity and in-depth understanding

Limits

• Time consuming
• Ethical considerations arise
• Potential for role conflict for practitioner researches
• May affect the situation and validity of findings

Looking at documents:
Merits

• Can be used without imposing on participants
• Can be checked and re-checked for reliability
• Allows research on subjects to which the researcher does not have physical access

Limits

• Time consuming
• Many documents used in research were not initially intended for research purposes and may be bias
• Lack of availability of documents
• Limited on verbal behaviour, relies solely on the literature

I have already begun to comprise the tools I will eventually use in my future inquiry. For certain, the pilot observation method will not be used due to ethical issues surrounding my work place. A focus group could be an interesting concept but it might be quite difficult to gather the participants at the same time for a discussion. I propose to utilise the surveys, interviews and looking at documents as tools to shape my inquiry.

 

Task 6A: Informal survey trial for my inquiry

I have chosen to use 'survey monkey' for my informal trial of a tool that I might use in my inquiry. I want to gain more knowledge on the psychological impact of rehabilitation. Survey monkey is a great way of collecting data from a survey where the participants remain annonymous. As I am aware many of you are familiar to the dance world and it's injuries and I would love any comments and constructive criticism on my survey! I will pop this on my SIG too for feedback.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JRHCVH6


Thanks,

Katrina x 

Study day: Monday 18th April

I thought it would be easier to put up a blog of a future study day as today wires got crossed and I ended up traveling to Middlesex from Southampton to find out I was the only one here!!

Is anyone from Module 2 available next Monday 18th April to come to Middlesex for a study day?? I want to personally look at the inquiry plan and what people's thoughts are on the consent forms, etc.

Please feel free to comment on this blog if you are available next Monday- it would be great to see some of you and discuss module 2!!

Thanks,

Katrina x

Task 5D: Ethical dimensions of my proposed inquiry on my SIG

 I have attached a link to my SIG if people haven't already added me - A few ethical considerations have come up in my inquiry plan, any comments or advice would be most welcome!!!


https://plus.google.com/115402118668937973991/posts/WHeu1MdChpw

Thanks,

Katrina x

Task 5B (revised): Ethical considerations in my new professional practice

I am slightly behind on blogging the tasks from the module 2 hand book as recently I have been trying to gather as much information and literature as possible on my inquiry topic.

As my professional status has changed since the last blog I completed for task 5B, I am now going to look into the codes and regulations in my new professional community within the NHS. This should give me a clear indication to where ethical considerations lie when I eventually undertake my inquiry. 

Firstly, as I have not yet received an official contract for my role as a Therapy assistant in Orthopedics and hydrotherapy, I decided to look into the NHS codes of conduct and their 'Trust Values' on the internet:

Our values

Our values were created by a full staff engagement exercise following one-to-ones and small group interviews with over 150 staff members, a series of larger workshops and finally a Trust Board discussion.

Our values

Our three values statements are:

Patients first

Patients and families will be at the heart of what we do and their experience within the hospital, and their perception of the Trust, will be our measure of success.

Working together

Our clinical teams will provide services to patients and are crucial to our success. We have launched a leadership strategy that ensures our clinical management teams are engaged in the day-to-day management and governance of the Trust.

Always improving

Our growing reputation in research and development and our approach to education and training will continue to incorporate new ideas, technologies and greater efficiencies in the services we provide

Living our values every day

We aim to make these values ‘what we do’ – to inspire, develop and support every one of us to live our values; every patient, every colleague, every day.
These values are about us all helping each other to deliver great patient experience more consistently – involving people who use our services, their families, carers, staff and partners in continuing to improve the experience people have using and delivering our services.
Each ward, department or service will exhibit different behaviours in living these values every day. In order to identify them, champions are being recruited to work with these groups to articulate, agree and display them as well as live them. We will also teach them to challenge, in a supportive way, behaviours that contravene our values. The more people know and understand what our values are, the more they are prompted into living them on a day-to-day basis.
The values are being embedded in the Trust in many different ways.  Some are already in place, and others are a work-in-progress:

• Communication – we regularly review our communication, both with each other and also with our patients. If we aren’t using our values in the way we talk and write, we aren’t really living them.
• Recruitment – our values will be integrated into our recruitment and selection processes so our prospective employees are aware of them before they even start with us.
• Induction – all new staff members must attend our Trust induction programme shortly after joining us. The values are heavily embedded in this programme, to show staff members how they link to their every day working lives.
• Training – all our training courses are reviewed to ensure our values are identified in the new skills learned.
• Appraisals – objective-setting at appraisals will be linked to our values so staff members understand how their behaviour and outcomes indicate their adherence to them.

Recognition – Hospital Heroes, our staff recognition scheme, is judged including our values as the criteria. That way, the values and behaviours we set store by are always at the forefront. 

Patient confidentiality is a subject I touched on when I was interviewed for my recent job role. I believe it is crucial to keep anonymity in the workplace, especially when conducting research within a hospital environment. As I will not be conducting my research on patients, I will however be engaging with my professional work colleagues, and consent from them will be needed before I hand in my inquiry plan. My official start date for my new job will be the Monday 9th may, one day before the designated submission date for module 2. So I think I will discuss this query on my SIG as I would love to hear other people's views on which way to go about this obstacle. For consent of my work colleagues who I have not yet worked with- I will be interviewing members of staff in the therapy department with additional questionnaires and surveys. Would it be more appropriate to ask for consent in the form of an email? Or would arranging an appointment at the hospital to speak to my new manager be more efficient? My future work colleagues may also want to remain anonymous when I interview them- so I need to consider this as a possibility. 

There is an NHS England Confidentiality Policy on the internet in a PDF form which applies to all members of staff within the health sector:

"3.7 All staff

  

3.7.1 Confidentiality is an obligation for all staff. Staff should note that they are bound by the confidentiality: NHS Code of Practice 2003. There is a confidentiality clause in their contract and that they are expected to participate in induction, training and awareness raising sessions carried out to inform and update staff on confidentiality issues.

3.7.2 Any breach of confidentiality, inappropriate use of health or staff records, or abuse of computer systems is a disciplinary offense, which could result in dismissal or termination of employment contract, and must be reported."

It is then essential that I am extremely vigilant and cautious when conducting my inquiry within my workplace. I need to plan everything down to the final detail and make sure that I am considering any ethical issues that may arise from my research.

 

Study day at Middlesex!

Hi guys!

If Lily & Charnelle read this blog could you give me a text on 07988626620 as I'll be arriving at campus around 11.30ish! Xx