Training and Education

Workstream 2 of the NZIMS project was to provide an education and training programme in all District Health Boards that:

•    assisted DHBs and providers to effectively and efficiently implement the national policy
•    ensured that the majority of health and disability care providers understand incident management
•    provided high level skills and knowledge to a group of providers in each DHB for the investigation of serious adverse events
•    established a level of ongoing education and support for incident management in all DHBs.

Key outcomes of the training programme

A high quality, comprehensive training and education programme was provided over 2½ days in 20 of the 21 DHBs* between October 2008 and August 2009.  The programme reflected the main policy components and information on the steps of incident management, human factors, open disclosure, root cause analysis and the use of the severity assessment code.

Over 1,700 people attended ½ day incident management training and almost 1,200 of these attended the full 2½ day training. Evaluation data from 953 attendees of the full training programme demonstrated the following -

o    32% improvement in participants being able to prioritise incidents
o    71% improvement in knowledge of the key steps for undertaking an RCA and
o    81% of respondents feeling comfortable in participating in an RCA investigation following the training.

The training for DHBs now provides the basis of a sound programme for training staff in other parts of the health and disability sector e.g. primary care. Please click here to view the Training Evaluation Report.

* Taranaki DHB withdrew from the NZIMS training programme due to pressures placed on the organization as a result of the H1N1 flu response.

Background to the development and implementation of the Training and Education Programme

Guidance for District Health Boards to implement NZIMS training

A comprehensive document was developed to provide additional information to assist District Health Boards to implement NZIMS training. Please click here to view the DHB Guidance for Implementing IMS Training document.

The curriculum

The NZIMS training and education programme provided participants with a comprehensive overview of incident management, human factors and the system versus the individual’s contribution to incidents, open disclosure, how to apply the Severity Assessment Code and methods of investigating incidents of various levels of severity, including root cause analysis.

Participants attending the full course had the opportunity to work through a root cause analysis on a real-life scenario in breakout groups with support from the faculty. Materials were provided to assist staff to manage incidents in the workplace following the training, such as the NZIMS “Pocket Guide to Incident Management”.

Please click here to view the “NZIMS Training Programme”

Project Coordinators

The logistics of implementing the training programme in the DHBs is managed by the DHB Project Coordinators, who are central to the overall implementation of the NZ Incident Management System in DHBs. This highly skilled and experienced group has been instrumental in coordinating DHB feedback on the draft policy and is the main conduit for disseminating information about the project throughout DHBs. The Project Coordinators and the Project Team meet monthly via teleconference.

For more information on the role of the Project Coordinator, please click here.

Who was involved?

The number of participants varied according to the size of the DHB. It is suggested in the literature that for an organisation to achieve change, renewed vigour or significant improvement, the square root of the total number of staff should be trained. For example, a DHB with 5,000 staff should have approximately 70 people attending. A DHB with 2,000 staff should have approximately 45 attending. The NZIMS training was targeted to Board and executive staff, senior managers and clinicians to ensure adequate support and processes would be in place for staff reporting incidents.

DHBs could choose to make training places available for people to attend Day One only or the full programme including staff from other DHBs, service providers including primary care, consumer representatives and members of the press.

The NZIMS faculty

Education and training sessions were provided by two to five members of a well trained and enthusiastic faculty that had been established specifically for the project. The faculty consisted of leading clinicians and experts in health and patient safety from New Zealand and Australia. Please click here for more information about the faculty.

NZIMS faculty members:

Dr Anne Kolbe
Ms Julie Patterson
Ms Maureen Robinson
Ms Sarah Michael
Ms Margaret Rimmer
Dr George Downward,
Dr Paul Templer
Dr Tom Watson
Ms Margaret Rimmer (not pictured)

(L-R) Dr Anne Kolbe, Dr James Bagian (keynote guest speaker at Project Launch), Ms Maureen Robinson, Dr George Downward, Dr Paul Templer, Ms Sarah Michael, Dr Tom Watson, Ms Julie Patterson (absent from photo: Ms Margaret Rimmer)

Continuous Professional Development Points

The Council of Medical Colleges was approached to discuss whether clinicians attending the NZIMS training programme and/or participating in RCAs could accrue continuous professional development points. Six of the twelve medical colleges have confirmed that this is the case and the Project Team is working with the CMC, Nursing Council and Midwifery Council.