New patient safety research network welcomes 100 delegates to Trinity

Posted on: 17 October 2024

A new national patient safety research network, led by the School of Psychology, welcomed 100 patient partners, academics and healthcare professionals to Trinity for the EQUIPS network's first in-person event.

Earlier this year, Trinity was successful in securing funding from the Health Research Board (HRB) and Health Services Executive (HSE) National Quality and Patient Safety Directorate (NQPSD) to facilitate a new Evidence-Based Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (EQUIPS) Research Network.

EQUIPS aims to bring together academics, healthcare staff, and patient partners to coordinate and accelerate healthcare quality and patient safety research in Ireland.

EQUIPS team from the Centre for Innovative Human Systems. L-R Prof. Sam Cromie, Dr Jill Poots, Prof. Siobhan Corrigan, Rory Carrick, & Paula Hicks.

The EQUIPS Research Network has grown steadily and this month the network welcomed one hundred delegates to the Dargan Theatre in Trinity Business School for their inaugural in-person event.

The audience consisted of knowledge users, patient partners, and academics from institutions and healthcare organisations around Ireland. The aim of this event was to provide a unique opportunity for EQUIPS’ three stakeholder groups to connect with one another and discuss quality and patient safety research in Ireland.

The event opened with talks from representatives of each of the network’s stakeholder groups. Professor Sam Cromie (Principal Investigator, Centre for Innovative Human Systems, Trinity College Dublin) provided an overview of the scope of EQUIPS Research Network and emphasised bringing together patients, academics, and knowledge users as key to EQUIPS’ success.

Lead Knowledge User Dr Orla Healy, National Clinical Director for Quality and Patient Safety in the HSE, outlined HSE's patient safety strategy, commitments, and priorities, which are reflected in the work of EQUIPS. EQUIPS Patient Partner, Anne Lawlor, Chairperson for 22q11 Ireland and Co-chair HSE Patient Forum shared her own personal journey, the role that research has played, and her vision for EQUIPS, encouraging researchers to think of ‘what matters’ to patients when conducting QPS research.

A priority area for EQUIPS is Sociotechnical Systems Design. To introduce this concept Professor Paul Bowie, from the University of Staffordshire and NHS Education for Scotland, gave the inaugural keynote speech to the EQUIPS Research Network. This talk provided an introduction to the use of Human Factors (‘systems thinking’) in quality improvement and patient safety research.

The event was carefully curated to emphasise networking between attendees, from registration to close. Attendees had the opportunity to draft a vision for EQUIPS and discussed research conducted by EQUIPS member Professor Paul O'Connor (University of Galway), which describes barriers and facilitators to quality and patient safety research.

Finally, with the aim of addressing some of the proposed barriers to research, the event closed with a panel on ‘The Practicalities of Quality and Patient Safety Research. The panellists were: Prof Sam Cromie (PI, TCD), Dr Orla Healy (Lead Knowledge User, HSE NQPSD), Prof Paul Bowie (University of Staffordshire), Dr Padraig Carroll (PPI Ignite, TCD), Dr Olga Cleary (HSE Research and Development), Anne Lawlor (Patient Partner, 22q11) & Dr Teresa Maguire (Health Research Board).

Network Manager Dr Jill Poots (Centre for Innovative Human Systems, TCD) described the day as a success stating:

“The EQUIPS operations team is delighted with the success of our inaugural in-person event. It was great to see new connections being made, and feedback from attendees has been positive. I look forward to seeing the network continue to grow.”

EQUIPS Lead Knowledge User, Dr Orla Healy, National Clinical Director for Quality and Patient Safety said:

“I was delighted to speak at the inaugural in-person EQUIPS event and see staff from across the health regions attending and engaging with researchers and patient partners. EQUIPS is co-funded by the National Quality and Patient Safety Directorate to bring these groups together so that we can better align QPS research with the needs and priorities of our health services and so that high quality research is translated into service improvements for patient safety . EQUIPS will also provide new opportunities for healthcare staff to participate and build their own QPS research skills.”

The EQUIPS Research Network is open to anyone interested in Quality and Patient Safety Research, including Trinity staff, students, and members of the public. To register your interest, see www.tcd.ie/cihs/equips.

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