GloSTARs – Supporting early profession professionals to develop, not only survive.

This week’s blog is written by Charlotte Jakab-Hall, Senior Practice Development Nurse and Peer Support Supervisor, and Leonora King, Practice Development Nurse and Peer Support Supervisor at Gloucester Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Blog summary

The Gloucestershire Transition and Retention Support Network (GloSTAR) was co-created by two early profession nurses as a part of the 2018 curriculum, during which they identified a necessity to enhance staff wellbeing. The network continues to contribute to a greater culture of well-being and mutual support within the workplace, and provides employees with a platform for shared decision-making. We are proud to have over 150 interdisciplinary GloSTARs Guardians volunteers who function role models for peer support across disciplines across the organization. This approach creates a way of belonging amongst our colleagues, enabling a change of labor culture that, in turn, will transform patient care.

Gloucestershire Transition and Retention Support Network (GloSTARs) – supporting early profession professionals to thrive, not only survive.

GloSTARs was co-created by two novice nurses and a top quality improvement project was created with the support and support of the organization’s management and senior management team. The aim was to enhance the experience of newly registered professionals through mutual support within the workplace. Evidence suggests that support from coworkers enables people to thrive at work, helps them deal with difficult work experiences, and protects them from broader organizational aspects that cause irritation and stress (Bliese et al. 2017). The Kings Fund (2020) suggests that the results of the coronavirus pandemic have only exacerbated the historic risks we pose when it comes to staff stress and burnout, a view further confirmed within the State of Care report (Care Quality Commission, 2021). The aim of GloSTARs is to enhance staff well-being through the exchange of experiences and reflective practice. The initiative contributes to this by providing peer support, profession development and referrals through our network of volunteer Carers. NHS England (2022) announced that there’s an urgent must prioritize staff retention and wellbeing initiatives, with a selected concentrate on early and late careers.

As a part of the event of the GloSTARs network, we’ve created Staff Transformation and Retention (STAR) sessions, which are actually embedded in the tutorial program distributed throughout the power:

– Introduction to GloSTARs on day one.

– “Ask me anything” session mid-program.

– Ending with workshops focused on “career development and next steps.”

In addition, colleagues implementing educational programs for nurses and allied health professionals were supplied with the chance to supply mutual support within the workplace. Initially, the peer support team planned to conduct only one peer support visit with foster children, nevertheless, 42% of the March 2022 cohort requested additional debriefing through the foster care program (March 2022 – November 2022). Our work has a direct impact on the well-being of our colleagues, as may be seen from the feedback we’ve received (see Figure 1).

Image 1: Examples of teacher feedback

Reflection is a useful skill that may influence and improve patient care through a person-centered approach that increases empathy for each patients and caregiving colleagues (Taylor et al. 2018, Rothwell et al. 2019). The GloSTARs network uses peer support conversations to develop different approaches to reflecting on practice, which may be used to facilitate evidence-based quality improvement. Reflection can encourage healthcare employees to acknowledge and recognize their emotional responses to experiences within the workplace (McDermott et al. 2018). Maben et al (2022) states that by making a psychologically protected space for relief, we can assist protect colleagues from burnout and moral harm. Moreover, peer support can enhance good leadership modeling and enable colleagues to think about broader issues at micro, meso and macro levels, which in turn helps us strive to create cultures that enable people to flourish (Ng et al. 2015).

We are proud to have recruited over 150 multidisciplinary GloSTARs Guardians volunteers who function role models for peer support in quite a lot of professions across the organization. Caregivers are easily recognized within the workplace by a badge that shows they’re willing and blissful to be approached and offer support to colleagues in a timely manner. Once on board, Carers gain access to a wider source of data and resources, enabling them to refer colleagues to appropriate person-centred support services. Collaborators outside the parenting program may self-refer or be referred by Volunteer Carers for peer support or well-being checks. For co-workers requiring greater discretion, we’ve prepared a confidential space that may be accessed by any worker who wants to fulfill away from their workplace.

We proceed to strive to create a collaborative, inclusive and participatory environment to create a way of belonging for our colleagues, enabling a change of workplace culture that, in turn, we hope will transform patient care (Manley et al., 2021). The must belong reflects our desire to feel and be connected to others, supporting our colleagues and teams to take care of themselves and be cared for within the work environment (King’s Fund, 2020). Support from coworkers enables people to thrive at work, helps them deal with difficult work experiences, and protects them from broader organizational aspects that cause stress (Bliese et al. 2017). As a Trust, we construct on this sense of belonging to create conditions that enable staff to develop and feel well.

Overall, the network managed to discover a transparent need for ongoing support for worker well-being. This is supported by ample evidence showing that employees are actually greater than ever at greater risk of burnout, which has been further exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. We consider GloSTARs is an element of the answer because we offer an extra network away from face-to-face work environments, offering a protected space for open, reflective and confidential conversations where employees can raise concerns and suggestions for quality improvement. Although the literature clearly indicates that supporting wellbeing is a priority for workers working in healthcare, there appears to be an absence of evidence to support the appliance and implementation of those theories in practice. Our future ambition is to have the ability to share and exhibit a transparent framework that may be implemented across all healthcare systems.

Bibliography

Bliese, P. D., Edwards, J. R. and Sonnentag, S. (2017) ‘Stress and well-being at work: a century of empirical trends reflecting theoretical and social influences’, Journal of applied psychology, 1 January, pp. 389-402. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=edsbl&AN=RN610317143&site=eds-live

Care Quality Commission (2021) State of Care Report: Employee stress and burnout [Online]. Available from: Stress and burnout amongst staff – Care Quality Commission (cqc.org.uk)

Maben, A. Conolly, R. Abrams, E. Rowland, R. Harris, D. Kelly, B. Kent, K. Couper. (2022) “You can’t walk through water without getting wet” Stress and mental health needs of British nurses through the Covid-19 pandemic: a longitudinal interview study. International Journal of Nursing Studies[online]. 131 [Accessed 21 April 2023].

Manley, K., Wilson, V., Oye, C. (2021) International development of health and social care practice. 2nd edition. London: Wiley-Blackwell.

McDermott H, Husbands A, Brooks-Lewis L (2018) Collaborative reflective team-based practice in trauma care to enhance health care. Journal of Trauma Nursing. 25, 6, 374-380. doi: 10.1097/JTN.0000000000000404

Ng SL, Kinsella EA, Friesen F, et al. (2015) Reclaiming a theoretical orientation to reflection in medical education research: A critical narrative review. Medical education. 49, 5, 461-475. doi: 10.1111/medu.12680

NHS England (2022) Retaining our nursing and midwifery colleagues. B1711_Retaining-our-nursing-and-midwifery-colleagues-13-july-2022.pdf (england.nhs.uk)

Rothwell C, Kehoe A, Farook S et al (2019) Characteristics of effective clinical supervision and peer supervision within the workplace: a rapid review of the evidence. http://www.hcpc-uk.org/globalassets/resources/reports/research/effective-clinical-and-peer-supervision-report.pdf

Taylor C, Xyrichis A, Leamy MC et al. (2018) Can Schwartz Central Rounds support employees fighting emotional challenges at work and the way do they compare to other interventions designed to supply similar support? Systematic review and scoping reviews. Open BMJ. 8, 10, e024254. doi: 10.1136/bmJopen-2018-02425

Kings Fund (2020) The courage of compassion Supporting nurses and midwives to supply top quality care [Online]. Available from: https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/sites/default/files/2020-09/The%20courage%20of%20compassion%20full%20report_0.pdf

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