Communicating change
It is important to communicate the change your improvement project will bring about by engaging relevant stakeholders and creating awareness through engagement activities.
A Stakeholder Engagement Plan is a way to communicate with project stakeholders (patients, carers, families and clinicians/non-clinical staff on the ward/unit, hospital executives etc) to gain their support and keep them up to date on the project. It specifies the frequency and type of communications and activities that will help build and maintain stakeholder engagement with your improvement project at all levels.
Use the Stakeholder Engagement Plan Template for your Med Rec project.
Think about the best ways to communicate to each group.
Some ideas include:
- Utilising hospital wide communication channels, such as a newsletter, intranet etc
- Using local nursing, medical, pharmacy and Med Rec or Med Safety champions to advocate for improvement and support clinicians on the floor
- Creating a display board on the wards or fact sheet handout with education, information and data about the improvement project
- Setting a standing agenda item or PowerPoint presentation at regular meetings
- Using periods of increased staff presence such as handover or staff meeting to provide short, regular updates
- Creating posters, lanyards and computer screensavers (refer to the resources section in the top-right panel)
- Holding a project launch, workshop or integrate engagement activities into existing local events e.g. medication safety forums, grand rounds
- Conducting a quiz, creating social media posts or sending email communications
- Distributing information to general practitioner Visiting Medical Officers (in rural and regional areas)