Clinical Nurse Tutors
The Trust is proud to reveal that our Clinical Nurse Tutors have been shortlisted in the Patient Safety Improvement category at this year’s Nursing Times Awards.
The category celebrates individuals or teams who have undertaken an initiative to address factors that place patients at risk and promote safety as an essential part of healthcare.
Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust’s Head of Clinical Education, Denise Aspland nominated the Trust’s Clinical Nurse Tutor team for the improvements to staff morale and patient safety through the implementation of their nurse training programme.
The Clinical Nurse Tutor Project commenced at the Trust in October 2022 and is a pilot project funded by Health Education England (HEE). Six nurses were recruited to support, teach and upskill registered nursing staff on adult inpatient wards. Clinical Nurse Tutors use collative data from incident reports, CNT surveys, manager feedback, to teach and support registered nursing staff on adult inpatient wards to reduce harm to patients and improve healthcare practice.
We are thrilled that since their appointment 8 months ago, the Clinical Nurse Tutors have facilitated vast reductions in nurse-related medicine administration and diabetes incidences.
Since receiving support from our Clinical Nurse Tutors, registered nurses at the Trust have reported the following:
- 30% improvement in clinical skills
- 16% improvement in holistic care
- 15% development in communication
- 15% growth in teamwork
- 13% progression in displaying Trust values
- 11% improvement in wellbeing
98% of these registered nurses recommended working with the Clinical Nurse Tutors.
Speaking about the initiative and being shortlisted for the award, Clinical Nurse Tutor, Stephanie Bates said: “Everyday I'm humbled by the team I work in, the nursing experience and knowledge blows my mind from each and every individual of the Clinical Nurse Tutor team! The compassion, care and sense of duty shown by my colleagues is admirable, trying to encourage health care professionals to increase their knowledge and skills, which has a huge impact on patient care.
Just to think that 8 months ago we were all working in our own specialist areas but came together to form a team as part of a project to reduce incidents causing harm to patients, increase practice assessor capacity, increase staff retention and staff satisfaction by upskilling and supporting front line nursing staff in a variety of topics, supporting evidence-based practice! To see results that show a reduction in incidents causing harm due to clinical nurse tutor teaching, shows the dedication and hard work from the team!
I’m so proud and humbled to be part of this fantastic team and forever grateful to the support we have had from our managers.”
The Trust wishes our Clinical Nurse Tutors the very best of luck at the official awards ceremony in October.