How Safety Culture Surveys Influence the Quality and Safety of Healthcare Organisations.

Objectives Safety culture surveys have been widely used in healthcare for more than two decades predominantly as a tool for measuring the level of safety culture (as defined as the beliefs and attitudes that staff express about how their organisation ought to work and how it does in fact work). However, there is the potential for the survey process itself to influence the safety culture and working practices in departments and organisations. The objective of this study was to identify the mechanism by which these changes might occur.

Empowering junior doctors: a qualitative study of a QI programme in South West England.

Aim: To explore how the South-West Foundation Doctor Quality Improvement programme affected foundation year 1 (F1) doctors' attitudes and ability to implement change in healthcare.

Methods: Twenty-two qualitative interviews were carried out with two cohorts of doctors. The first F1 group before and after their participation in the QI programme; the second group comprised those who had completed the programme between 1 and 5 years earlier.

Lost to the NHS: a mixed methods study of why GPs leave practice early in England.

Background: The loss of GPs in the early stages of their careers is contributing to the GP workforce crisis. Recruitment in the UK remains below the numbers needed to support the demand for GP care.

Aim: To explore the reasons why GPs leave general practice early.

Experiencing Wellness Within Illness: Exploring a Mindfulness-Based Approach to Chronic Back Pain.

In this article I explore how mindfulness-based techniques affect perceptions and management of back pain and discuss these findings in relation to embodiment theory and liminality. Sixteen volunteers attending Breathworks for persistent back pain took part in this study. The theme of "embodied awareness" formed the core category, as all participants reported a change in their experience of pain.

Junior doctors' experiences of personal illness: a qualitative study.

Objectives: Professional status and working arrangements can inhibit doctors from acknowledging and seeking care for their own ill health. Research identifies that a culture of immunity to illness within the medical profession takes root during training. What happens when trainee doctors become unwell during their formative period of education and training? What support do they receive and how do they perceive that the experience of ill health affects their training trajectory? These research questions were developed by a multidisciplinary team of researchers and health professionals, who adopted a qualitative approach to investigate the experiences of personal illness among trainees in their Foundation Programme (FP) years.