Burdett
Trust for Nursing Grant
Humanising
Services:
A new transferable leadership strategy for
improving 'what
matters to older people' to
enhance dignity in care
Professor Kathleen Galvin
Faculty of Health and Social Care
Faculty of Health and Social Care
 |
| Professor Kate Galvin |
has been
successful in attracting a grant of £163,029 from the Burdett Trust for Nursing to apply a
new theoretical framework for the purpose of ‘humanising services’ in two
clinical settings. The experience of dignity is linked to what makes people ‘feel
human’. Conversely, what leads to dehumanisation and, therefore, loss of dignity
needs to be understood and acted upon in meaningful service improvement.
(Patients Association 2009, 2012). Using a lifeworld orientation and
grounded in phenomenological philosophy eight key considerations that are
relevant to the challenge to improve peoples’ experiences of the human
dimensions of services have been defined (Todres et al. 2009, Galvin &
Todres 2012). These are not detailed lists of ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ or abstract
generalities such as the need for more ‘user /customer focus’ or ‘choice’.
Rather, they are eight dimensions about what makes a person feel human, which
could help nurses, with service providers, to focus their leadership effectively when improving services to enhance dignity in care.
The team from University of Hull, Professor
Steven Ersser, Dr Fiona Cowdell, Professor Roger Watson, Jane Wray, Kathleen
Galvin and the team from Bournemouth University, Professor Les Todres and Dr
Caroline Ellis-Hill are interested in what older people with long term skin
conditions (being treated at a dermatology outpatient clinic) and people who
have had a stroke (being cared for in a stroke rehabilitation unit with
outreach service) point to that would make human perspectives more central in
treatment.
Our key practice partners include: Dr. Shernaz Walton,
Consultant Dermatologist, Hull and East Yorkshire, NHS Trust and Dr Damien
Jenkinson, National Stroke Lead, Royal Bournemouth Hospital Trust. In these
two settings, dermatology clinic and a stroke rehabilitation unit, a tripartite
humanising improvement team group comprising older service users, nurses, and academics
will engage in a robust ‘humanising improvement’ process that will be evaluated.
Referenecs
Galvin, K.T. & Todres, L (2012) Caring and Well-being: A
lifeworld approach. London: Routledge
The Patients’ Association (2009) Patients…not numbers, People…not statistics.
The Patients’ Association (2012) Stories from the present, lessons for the
future.
Todres, L., Galvin, K. and Holloway, I. (2009)
The humanisation of healthcare: a value framework for qualitative
research. International Journal of
Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, 4, 68-77.
