Knowledge Natter with David Charles

In this Knowledge Natter, Lou Northway speaks with David Charles, who was named a Knowledge Champion in the 2023 RCVS Knowledge Awards.
David conducted an audit across multiple UK practices to gather data on ovine lambings and caesareans, and implemented training and recommendations related to the use of analgesia, antibiotics, and adjunctive medications. The practices saw a reduction in prophylactic antibiotic use and an improvement in the provision of analgesia.
Read David's award-winning case example
Read the podcast transcript
View David's published work

Knowledge Natter with Eloise Collins

In this Knowledge Natter, Lou Northway speaks to Eloise Collins, Head Veterinary Nurse at Beech House Veterinary Centre, who used checklists, auditing, benchmarking, team meetings and journal clubs to help improve patient care and outcomes and to improve practice culture. Eloise helped to create psychological safety amongst the team through her open and honest approach. Eloise became Knowledge Award Quality Improvement Champion for her work in 2022. 
Read Eloise's case example
Read the podcast transcript

Knowledge Natter: Dystocia Dilemmas

In this Knowledge Natter, Lou Northway, Clinical Lead RVN, talks to vets Sophie Gilbert and Lucy Leicester from Vets Now about their award-winning project using audit and guidelines for the management of dystocia cases. Knowledge Natters are friendly, informal discussions with our Knowledge Award Champions and those who are empowered by Quality Improvement in their work. (Recorded March 2023)
You can read the transcript here.
You can read the Vets Now Ltd case example here.

Conquering the caseload peak - how small changes can lead to great achievements.

This session was recorded during the SPVS VMG Congress on the 13th May 2022.
In addition to traversing the terrain of chronic staffing resource shortages and withstanding the onslaught of the pandemic, the veterinary professions in the UK were then hit with a tidal wave of new pets. Caseload increases of 50% faced diminished and fatigued teams. Fortunately, veterinary teams are problem-solvers and solution-finders. We innovate, we improve, we learn and we share. What we have learnt are new ways of working, born out of necessity, to address the caseload: staffing imbalance. In this session we discuss how system and process changes can significantly reduce the time it takes to perform our roles, how we can implement and measure these changes, making sure we can get to the other side of the caseload peak successfully.
View the transcript here.
 
Speaker: Dr Laura Playforth BVM&S MSc Adv HCP (Open) MRCVS, Vice-Chair of QIAB
Laura qualified from the University of Edinburgh in 1999. After working in a variety of small animal practices in Yorkshire for eight years, she moved into Emergency and Critical Care as a Senior Veterinary Surgeon at Vets Now. In the early part of her career at Vets Now, Laura successfully led three different out-of-hours emergency clinics, before being promoted to the role of District Vet and then on to the Head of Veterinary Standards role. Today, she is Vets Now’s Professional Standards Director and is responsible for driving clinical and professional standards. She has extensive experience in utilising clinical benchmarking, governance and guidelines in order to embed best practice across the company's network. More recent developments Laura and her team have led have focused on patient safety, the use of checklists and significant event review reporting. Laura also works closely with the Vets Now marketing department on a wide variety of digital content, media and PR work. Laura has an MSc in advancing healthcare practice with the Open University, which aims to develop skills in evidence-based practice, policy development and innovation to facilitate sustainable improvements in care quality. She hopes to bring a fresh and open mind to the QIAB, drawing on more than a decade of experience of clinical leadership in a nationwide provider of first-opinion emergency and critical care.

QI Boxset: Getting started with Quality Improvement (QI) for farm practices

In this podcast, Pam Mosedale chats with Mel McPherson about how farm practices can get started with Quality Improvement (QI). 
This podcast was recorded for the QI Boxset- Series 1: Episode 2: Getting started with Quality Improvement.
Read the transcript.

What matters to you? An antidote for burnout

This session was recorded during the SPVS VMG Congress on the 13th May 2022.
*Please note, there is a short pause in the presentation at 15:24 while the sound technician fixes some feedback and Mark Moreton's microphone level*
With more demanding priorities to deliver the best possible care whilst dealing with the consequences of COVID-19 and Brexit, it's no wonder that veterinary professionals are concerned with stress and burnout within the profession. Human healthcare has seen similar challenges and various teams around the world have been using the 'Joy in work' framework to battle burnout and stay fulfilled professionally. Angie and her team have been trialling this framework in veterinary settings, learning which steps help connect veterinary teams in meaning and purpose, with the aim of improving satisfaction and even feeling a buzz from their work. They have seen that it is not only possible, it can be a fundamental step to ensuring continued excellence in patient care and client experiences, even in these challenging times.
Download the 'What matters to you - Conversation guide for leaders'  
Download the transcript 
 
Featuring:-
- Angela Rayner, BVM&S PgDipPSHCF MRCVS, Director of Quality Improvement for CVS Group and a small animal GP vet. She won an RCVS Knowledge QI Award for improvements made in controlled drugs auditing and is Co-clinical Lead for their Antibiotic Stewardship Audit.
- Mark Moreton, BVetMED MRCVS, Small Animal GP Vet and a Hub Clinical Lead for CVS.

Update on the Canine Cruciate Registry – One year on

Happy Birthday to the Canine Cruciate Registry!
 
One year since its launch, and since their last podcast together, Pam Mosedale and Mark Morton chat about the Registry's progress and the benefits of signing up.
 
Read the transcript. 
 
Access the Canine Cruciate Registry.

QI Boxset: How clinical governance and QI fit into the RCVS PSS. Anne Lawson & Pam Mosedale

In this episode from QI Boxset series one, Pam Mosedale, our QI Clinical Lead, chats with Anne Lawson, PSS Assessor, about how clinical governance and Quality Improvement fit into the RCVS Practice Standards Scheme.
 
Read the transcript. 
 
Access this podcast as a webinar, and explore the rest of the QI Boxset on RCVS Knowledge's Learn platform. 

Knowledge Natter - Samantha Fontaine

Thanks for listening to this episode of Knowledge Natter - our new series featuring friendly and informal discussions with Knowledge Champions, and those who are empowered by Quality Improvement (QI)  in their work. 
 
Today's episode features Samantha Fontaine, who became a Knowledge Champion for implementing a new course that teaches QI to veterinary nurses, including those in practice and education, at the University of Glasgow. 
Our RVN QI Clinical Lead Lou Northway, chatted to Sam and three of her students, Sarah, Molly, and Megan, about the course, taking the leap to implementing QI and their future QI plans.
 
Read Samantha's award-winning case example 'Teaching QI to veterinary nurses'. 
 
Read the transcript.

Care bundles - Helen Ballantyne and Pam Mosedale

Care bundles are a group of evidence-based practices that relate to a disease or a set of symptoms, that result in better outcomes when executed altogether than if implemented individually.
In this podcast, Helen Ballantyne, who is a dual-qualified medical and veterinary nurse, draws upon her experience in human nursing to explain to Pam Mosedale why veterinary teams should be implementing care bundles to save time, promote teamwork, and improve patient outcomes. 
 
Read the transcript here. 
 
Access all the content from the first series of the QI Boxset here.