The NIHR Applied Research Collaboration West Midlands Knowledge Mobilisation programme focuses on building capacity and capability and mobilising evidence across these priority areas:
- Maternity
- Mental Health
- Integrated Care/Long Term Conditions
Approaches
The main approaches the knowledge mobilisation team take to support fellows in effectively mobilising knowledge within their projects and communities are:
- Learning by Doing: Fellows will work collaboratively with experts in knowledge mobilisation, embedded in the service through co-funded posts.
- Regular Mentorship and Supervision: Sessions with supervisors and mentors. Regular collaboration with the Health Innovation Network and other system partners to gain tacit knowledge.
- Bespoke Learning: Affiliation with Keele University’s Impact Accelerator Unit, attending Knowledge Mobilisation Summer School, workshops, and journal clubs.
- Behavioural Sciences: Acquiring skills in behavioural psychology, organisational science, health economics, and budget impact models.
- Public Involvement: Embedding public involvement in projects, informed by Keele University’s LINK group and Professor Staniszewska’s research at University of Warwick.
- Working with Diverse Communities: Engaging underserved communities through partnerships and ensuring projects follow equality, diversity and inclusion principles.
- Knowledge Mobilisation Community of Practice: Access to the West Midlands Knowledge Mobilisation Forum and attending relevant conferences.
KM Projects underway in ARC West Midlands
- Development of a Decision aid regarding options for birth for large for gestational age (LGA) babies
The development of a decision aid regarding options for birth for large for gestational age (LGA) babies
Many pregnant women are told late in pregnancy that their baby is “large for gestational age” (LGA), often leading to difficult decisions about the timing and mode of birth. These decisions involve weighing the risks of shoulder dystocia, birth trauma, and stillbirth with vaginal birth against the risks of caesarean birth and early induction, both of which carry their own complications. Women often report feeling overwhelmed, poorly informed, and excluded from the decision-making process. There is currently no standardised, evidence-based tool to support women and clinicians in making shared decisions in this scenario. As a result, care is variable, and anxiety and decisional conflict are common.
This project is developing a patient-centred decision aid to support women and healthcare professionals in making informed, value-based choices about the mode and timing of birth when a baby is suspected to be large. The decion aid will be used during consultations to promote consistency of counselling technique and information given.
The ARC West Midlands KM team have:
- reviewed the existing evidence and clinical guidelines,
- conduct interviews with women, clinicians, and birth partners to understand their experiences, concerns, and information needs.
- Used these insights to co-design a prototype decision aid.
The protoype is being further developed and tested through simulated clinical scenarios using forum theatre. Actors perform scripted conversations between clinicians and womenm, with feedback from the audiences (made up of patients, obstetricians, and midwives) inforing revisions to the decision aid. This will then piloted in real-world clinical settings to assess its impact on decision quality, patient satisfaction, anxiety levels, and the nature of shared decision-making.
This project will support safer, more respectful maternity care by helping women make choices that align with their values and clinical needs.
- Exploring care planning and multi-disciplinary team (MDT) working in adult acute mental health inpatient services
Improving Care Planning and Multidisciplinary Team Working in Adult Mental Health Inpatient Services
This ARC West-funded knowledge mobilisation project forms part of a wider evaluation of inpatient transformation at Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust. The project focuses on understanding and improving care planning and multidisciplinary team (MDT) working within adult acute mental health inpatient services.
High-quality care planning that places the person at the centre of decision-making, alongside collaborative MDT working that values and includes the perspectives of all staff, is essential for delivering meaningful, trauma-informed and recovery-focused care. While these principles are strongly reflected in national policy and guidance, they are not always consistently achieved in practice. This project aims to understand the factors that enable or hinder their implementation in everyday inpatient settings.
The project explores examples of effective care planning and MDT working to identify the organisational, cultural and environmental conditions that support good practice. It will also examine the barriers that prevent these approaches from being embedded more widely across services.
It is being conducted across two NHS mental health inpatient sites in Coventry and Warwickshire, and participants include both staff members and people with lived experience of inpatient care, including current and former service users.
The ultimate goal of the project is to develop an implementation toolkit that combines evidence from research with learning from successful local practice. The toolkit will support services to strengthen person-centred care planning and collaborative MDT working by providing practical guidance on leadership approaches, team culture, implementation strategies, local adaptation of interventions, and the meaningful use of co-production in service development and delivery.
- Defining an evidence Base for the use of ADvice and GuidancE Referrals (BADGER)
Defining an evidence Base for the use of ADvice and GuidancE Referrals (BADGER)
Working with key stakeholders and networks to host a dissemination event, and develop new resources to support wider update.
- Improving uptake of fracture prevention drug treatments (iFRAP)
Improving uptake of fracture prevention drug treatments (iFRAP)
The KM team are assisting with the devleopment of resources for clinicians to support the management of osteoporosis.
- Patient Explanation Package for Osteoarthritis (PEP-OA)
Patient Explanation Package for Osteoarthritis (PEP-OA)
The KM team have co-designed resources for patients and clinical practice.
- Improving outcomes for patients using opioid medicines for persistent pain (PROMPT)
Improving outcomes for patients using opioid medicines for persistent pain (PROMPT)
The KM team helped to co-ordinate and deliver a dissemination event realted to practice pharmacist led consultatioj for opioid management.
- A systematic review of Clinical decision prompts to improve the quality of maternity care
A systematic review of Clinical decision prompts to improve the quality of maternity care
Clinical decision prompts are alerts, reminders or notifications designed to guide healthcare professionals to make consistent, evidence-based decisions at the point of care. They are often integrated into electronic clinical decision support systems (CDSS). Decision prompts are increasingly being used in maternity care; however, their effect on quality and outcomes is unclear.
This systematic review aims to to synthesise the currently available evidence on the effect of decision prompts and quantitatively analyse their effect on the quality of care and maternal outcomes.
- A qualitative study exploring service users’ and healthcare professionals’ opinions of electronic maternity notes
A qualitative study exploring service users’ and healthcare professionals’ opinions of electronic maternity notes
Electronic maternity records have been introduced in the NHS on a large scale over the last decade, but has had little evaluation.
The project is looking to understand the views of service users and healthcare providers on electronic maternity records, to highlight areas for further improvement.
The KM Fellow team are interviewing 30 pregnant or recently pregnant women and 25 healthcare professionals to explore their experiences of using electronic health records, including any challenges they have faced.
More information
Further information can be found on the ARC West Midlands website.
