Grass-roots junior doctor communication network in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: a service evaluation.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 was declared a worldwide pandemic on 11 March 2020. Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust provides 1412 inpatient beds staffed by 1200 junior doctors and faced a large burden of COVID-19 admissions. LOCAL PROBLEM: A survey of doctors revealed only 20% felt confident that they would know to whom they could raise concerns and that most were getting information from a combination of informal work discussions, trust emails, social media and medical literature. METHODS: This quality improvement project was undertaken aligning with Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence 2.0 guidelines. Through an iterative process, a digital network (Imperial Covid cOmmunications Network; ICON) using existing smartphone technologies was developed. Concerns were collated from the junior body and conveyed to the leadership team (vertical-bottom-up using Google Form) and responses were conveyed from leadership to the junior body (vertical-top-down using WhatsApp and Zoom). Quantitative analysis on engagement with the network (members of the group and number of issues raised) and qualitative assessment (thematic analysis on issues) were undertaken. RESULTS: Membership of the ICON WhatsApp group peaked at 780 on 17 May 2020. 197 concerns were recorded via the Google Form system between 20 March and 14 June 2020. There were five overarching themes: organisational and logistics; clinical strategy concerns; staff safety and well-being; clinical (COVID-19) and patient care; and facilities. 94.4% of members agreed ICON was helpful in receiving updates and 88.9% agreed ICON improved collaboration. CONCLUSIONS: This work demonstrates that a coordinated network using existing smartphone technologies and a novel communications structure can improve collaboration between senior leadership and junior doctors. Such a network could play an important role during times of pressure in a healthcare system.

The leadership and followership challenges of doctors in training during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research carried out in 2016 by the authors investigated the challenges that doctors in training experience around leadership and followership in the NHS. The study explored contemporary healthcare leadership culture and the role of followership from the perspective of early career doctors. It found that the leadership and followership challenges for these doctors in training were associated with issues of social and professional identity, communication, the medical hierarchy, and relationships with senior colleagues (support and trust). These challenges were exacerbated by the busy and turbulent clinical environment in which they worked. To cope with various clinical situations and forms of leadership, doctors in training engage in a range of different followership behaviours and strategies. The study raised implications for medical education and training and suggested that followership should be included as part of formal training in communication and team working skills. The importance of both leadership and followership in the delivery of safe and effective patient care has been brought sharply into focus by the COVID-19 pandemic. This article revisits these challenges in light of the pandemic and its impact on the experiences of doctors in training.

Beyond the PPE shortage: Improperly fitting personal protective equipment and COVID-19 transmission among health care professionals.

Background: Personal protective equipment (PPE) use is required when caring for COVID-19 patients. Proper mask fitting is essential in prevention of infectious agent transmission at hospital setting.Methods and Results: We describe three cases of health care professionals (HCP) in a COVID-19 designated ward with positive SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR results, and were found to have improperly fitted masks.Conclusion: These cases of improperly fitting masks in HCP may have contributed to their eventual COVID-19 infection. These cases raise the important issue of PPE fitting. Abbreviations: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Health Care Professional (HCP), Real-time PCR (RT-PCR).