Introduction In. Out. “Next please!” Is this the image of endoscopy nursing? It can often be difficult to personalise care or care delivery with such a rapid turnover of patients. As registrants we have a duty to deliver safe, effective, person-centred practice (PCP). Staff at the Belfast City Hospital opted to explore this concept further.

Methods In order to understand the nature of PCP we used emancipatory practice development tools, as this is the only service improvement methodology which has the delivery of PCP as the explicit outcome. To increase awareness of “self,” staff initially were invited to explore their own inherent values and beliefs, facilitated through a Values Clarification Exercise (VCE) using critical creativity ^[1]. The VCE helped identify key themes which formed the basis of our visioning statement. We used the 15 Steps Challenge[2] and Workplace Critical Culture Analysis Tool (WCCAT)[3] to explore the prevailing culture within the department and establish if we were indeed person-centred.

Results Integral to the PCP framework ^[1] is the therapeutic relationship between service users and care providers. Working on the premise that “first impressions count,” the 15 Steps Challenge was performed by key stakeholders and facilitated by junior nursing staff. Observations were made in four key areas of practice. Feedback was collated and presented to the ward manager and a subsequent action plan created, which included improvements to the reception area. In addition, to further explore the workplace culture, eight observations of practice were undertaken using the WCCAT by a representative staff group. These findings were then presented to the wider team who prioritised areas for action.

Conclusion We believe PCP should not be viewed as a one-time event, but rather a continual process embedded in everyday practice. We are confident that this premise can be extrapolated to any endoscopy unit where staff are empowered to deliver person-centred care. It is our intention to repeat the 15 Steps Challenge and WCCAT in late 2014 to demonstrate the continual process of improvement of increasing effectiveness .¹

References 1 McCormack, B, Titchen, A. Critical creativity: melding, exploding, blending. Educational Action Research: an International Journal. 2006;14(2):239–266

2 National Health Service Institute for Innovation and Improvement. Putting Patients First – The Productive Series. Coventry: NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement. 2012

3 McCormack B, Henderson E, Wilson V, Wright J. Making practice visible: the workplace culture critical analysis tool (WCCAT). Practice Development in Health Care 2009;8(1):28–43

4 McCormack B, McCance, T. Person-Centred Nursing Theory and Practice. Sussex, Wiley-Blackwell. 2010

5 Garbett R, McCormack B. A concept analysis of practice development. NT Research. 2002;7(2):87-100

Disclosure of Interest None Declared.