Improving the Knowledge, Skills and Confidence of Clinicians Towards Mental Health: An Educational Intervention Based on Reflective Practice

AIMS: Mental illness-related stigma, including that which exists in the healthcare system creates serious barriers to access and quality care. People with lived experience of a mental illness commonly report feeling devalued, dismissed, and dehumanized by many of the health professionals with whom they come into contact. While working in the mental health liaison team in a local general hospital I have experienced first-hand these issues. We decided to organise regular reflective sessions for staff to reflect on what the barriers are to being able to manage patients with mental illness better on the wards, raise mental health awareness, improve staff communication skills, and offer teaching sessions to improve the staff knowledge of psychiatric pathology. METHODS: Before starting, we offered a feedback form to staff to ascertain the value of the project. To ascertain that the learning has taken place, we have delivered a post-session formative quiz to assess the staff's knowledge of managing patients with mental illness. To determine the effectiveness of the project, we decided to use Kirkpatrick's evaluation model and assess the first two levels of the programme outcome: (1) learner satisfaction- through staff feedback; (2) measures of learning- knowledge gained showed in the formative post-session quiz. RESULTS: : Ward 1: 4 sessions; number of attendees: 12. Ward 2: 4 sessions; number of attendees: 5. The student evaluation was done through a quiz offered to the participants at the end of each session. 9 quiz questionnaires were completed on ward 1: Correct answers: Q1- 67%; Q2- 89%; Q3- 0%; Q4- 100%. 5 quiz questionnaires were completed on ward 2: Correct answers: Q1- 20%; Q2- 60%; Q3- 0%; Q4- 40%. The programme evaluation was done through a feedback form offered to the participants at the end of each session. 12 forms were completed on ward 1: 50% strongly agreed that the session was useful to their practice; 70% were quite confident in caring for patients with mental illness following the session. 5 forms were completed on ward 2: 20% strongly agreed that the session was beneficial; 75% were quite confident in caring for patients with mental illness following the session. CONCLUSION: Difficult to implement a culture change. Following a meeting with the stakeholders, we agreed on delivering monthly reflective sessions to the staff in their allocated “team time” where attendance is mandatory and we will also take part in a developmental teaching programme for band 5 nursing staff We are in the process of extending our project to the Emergency department