Tell us about the new initiative that you are working on. What is your role, and what does it involve?
This 12-month project will focus on the design, delivery and evaluation of a new national quality improvement (QI) programme that will support Acute Trusts to develop high-quality tobacco dependency treatment services for inpatients and improve existing services.
Teams from hospital Trusts will participate in the programme and be supported with their own QI projects. The programme is focussed on equipping teams with knowledge, skills and support to undertake their own improvement project focussed on an element of the inpatient tobacco dependency treatment pathway most relevant to their local area.
The programme will be delivered online in the form of webinars and written/video materials that contribute to local improvement projects.
I am leading this work and am responsible for designing, delivering and evaluating this programme. I am working closely with and supported by BTS and Professor Sanjay Agrawal.
What are the goals and objectives of this project? What are you hoping to achieve?
The programme will improve participants’ knowledge and confidence in quality improvement and encourage them to use these methods locally. Ultimately the goal is to improve outcomes in inpatient tobacco dependency services, such as improving quit rates, increasing treatment uptake or increasing quit attempts in the participating hospitals.
As part of this programme additional resources to support QI projects will be created or updated such as updating the existing BTS QI toolkit. When complete, these resources will be available on the BTS website and can be used to support QI projects more broadly in the future.
The project will give us the ability to develop a common approach in QI to create a network of individuals with a common goal to improve inpatient tobacco dependency treatment services.
What is it about this project that excites you?
This is a great opportunity to shine a spotlight on how QI can be used in tobacco dependency services.
The idea is that those who join the programme will be leading the way and that their shared learning will have the potential to help many other teams and patients around the country.
The project will give us the ability to develop a common approach in QI to create a network of individuals with a common goal to improve inpatient tobacco dependency treatment services.
Why is this project important?
The need for this project is based on the latest BTS National Smoking Cessation Audit 2021: Management of Tobacco Dependency in Acute Care Trusts. This audit highlighted inadequacies in the treatment of tobacco dependence amongst patients admitted to hospital and demonstrates little improvement from previous audits. BTS has used the results to set a number of national improvement objectives to improve the medical management of tobacco-dependent smokers. This QI programme will work towards meeting several of these objectives.
This QI programme is designed to guide participating teams through the preparation and delivery of a quality improvement project on the topic of inpatient tobacco-dependent treatment in a stepwise manner. The focus of this programme is to limit unwarranted variation in tobacco dependency treatment nationally. Quality should be a key consideration in order to ensure services are effective and therefore the best outcomes for patients are achieved.
Where can people learn more about this project/how they can get involved?
Our webpage is now live: www.brit-thoracic.org.uk/quality-improvement/qi-programme-for-tobacco-dependency-treatment/
Here you will find the full details of the programme and a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ). Teams can apply by completing the application and terms of participation forms which are available to download. The deadline is Thursday 1 December 2022.