Ward 14 had been a ward in crisis. Low staffing levels, insufficient beds, very sick patients and poor staff morale led to extremely poor survey ratings and a series of safety incidents resulting, finally, in the Ward being placed on special measures. Things were so bad that 93% of the staff would NOT want their relatives cared for on the ward.
Although new leadership, increased resources, a Code of Conduct and work with the OD team have turned things around to the extent that the ward recently won the Nightingale award for nursing, there were still some unresolved feelings and issues and a need for closure, as well as the possibility of learning from the experiences of those involved.
Patient Voices ran two digital storytelling workshops with 10 staff, including the ward manager, nursing sisters, staff nurses, ward clerks and healthcare assistants with the aim of deepening a culture of care and compassion and contributing to a learning resource for others in the organisation as well as providing closure and supporting the development of emotional resilience.
Through telling and sharing their stories, painful feelings were aired and shared, misunderstandings resolved, courage and resilience recognised and celebrated and hope rekindled.
Participants in the workshop all commented on how helpful it had been to have time to reflect on the experiences together, realising their shared bond and acknowledging the pain that was common to all.
‘I feel like we’ve learned a lot about each other’s stories that we didn’t know before. This has brought home what the ward means to everyone.’
The ward manager commented, after the workshops, that the participants were more engaged with their work, functioned better as a team, and seemed happier, both individually and collectively, as one of the Health Care Assistants commented:
‘Making the digital story changed me: I always loved my job but now I love it more!’
In fact, the ward manager had this to say:
‘I would really like all the team to experience this process – it’s so insightful.’
Here are a few of the other comments:
‘I’m still angry, but making the story helped me process those feelings and I’m not as angry now.’
‘It’s helped me get a lot off my chest – I’ve put it to bed now.’
‘I feel like we’ve learned a lot about each other’s stories that we didn’t know before. This has brought home what the ward means to everyone.’
And nowadays, 97% of staff would want their relatives to be cared for on the ward!
The Ward 14 stories can be seen here: