{"id":3268,"date":"2020-02-28T10:26:33","date_gmt":"2020-02-28T10:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lihnnhs.info\/maptoolkit\/?p=3268"},"modified":"2020-02-28T10:26:33","modified_gmt":"2020-02-28T10:26:33","slug":"do-randomised-coffee-trials-work-yes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lihnnhs.info\/maptoolkit\/2020\/02\/28\/do-randomised-coffee-trials-work-yes\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Randomised Coffee Trials work? Yes!"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the summer of 2019, we decided to run a knowledge management activity to mark KNOWvember<\/a>, and chose to attempt a randomised coffee trial (RCT) across our two acute hospital sites. It was our first time running one, and for those that haven\u2019t come across the concept before it involves matching people up across an organisation who then arrange to meet for half an hour over a coffee (or other hot drink) and talk about anything they wish to.<\/p>\n

The name is a play on the term \u2018randomised controlled trial\u2019, but the matching doesn\u2019t have to be entirely random, and it wasn\u2019t in our case.<\/p>\n

I must confess to being slightly sceptical before running it, and was concerned that people may feel it wasn\u2019t a good use of staff time. My view has now changed, and the response has been very encouraging.<\/p>\n

Promotion<\/strong><\/p>\n

We began promoting it in September, through blog posts, Tweets, adverts in the staff newsletter, and most successfully by global email.<\/p>\n

We had a very good response and interestingly some people signing up had taken part in an RCT previously.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been part of randomised coffee trials when I was working for HEE and it was really helpful!’ [theatres manager]<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI would be happy to sign up to your coffee trial and meet others within the trust. Will give me an excuse to take a breather from the ward and have 5 minutes to myself’ [ward manager]<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In all 52 people signed up, including the Medical Director and the Director of Clinical Effectiveness. A couple of people even wanted to arrange two meet-ups, one at each site.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Matching people <\/strong><\/p>\n

The matching of people was not entirely random (which we did make clear in our publicity) as we matched people that worked at the same hospital site, and who were unlikely to know each other. I also took a decision to match clinical staff with non-clinical staff where possible, to give participants a different perspective. Other than that, I picked the next name that matched the criteria from a spreadsheet and then contacted both participants to let them know who they were matched with, and that they now needed to contact each other to organise their meet-up.<\/p>\n

It was inevitable that some people would know each other even after careful matching, and that some participants were unable to arrange a meet-up during November. However, this was only a small proportion and in most cases we were able to provide an alternative match.<\/p>\n

The Trial<\/strong><\/p>\n

We wanted to encourage use of the library spaces, so we attached a hot drink voucher to the match email, and this could be redeemed by participants if they held their RCT in the libraries. Several people made use of this, and it helped us get some very good verbal feedback.<\/p>\n

No agenda for set for the conversations, and we didn\u2019t provide any suggested topics or questions. We made it clear in the publicity that discussions didn\u2019t even need to be work related, and people were free to talk about any topic.<\/p>\n

A couple of participants provided us with information on what they wanted to talk about:<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of my job description is promotion of our service- so any opportunity I can get to chat about it to an \u2018unsuspecting victim\u2019 is fab.’ [programme co-ordinator]<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI could use this as a plug for my fav charities! Could you sign me up please?’ [library assistant]<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Feedback and impact<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"During December we contacted all the participants and asked for some written feedback, including what impact the RCT had had. Nine people responded, all with positive feedback, and these are some of the comments:<\/p>\n

\u201cI know this is ridiculously poetic; but it was like taking a hot air balloon ride after sitting in traffic on the daily route in. I guess what I mean is\u2026every other meeting at work requires something of me; I need to get from one place to another, change \u201cthis\u201d to \u201cthat\u201d and being in those circumstances am often frustrated, anxious and feeling eager to achieve what I set out to.\u00a0 A meeting where there is no expectation, no requirement to do anything and can just be simply about having a coffee and a chat with no agenda almost seemed more productive, it also gave me some perspective and encouragement.’ [programme co-ordinator]<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI have been involved in the randomised coffee trial and found it immensely helpful. Was really nice to meet someone from another area. Gained loads of insight into plans for the new year and as it was one of the library ladies she was able to complete a literature search for us to help with service improvement.’ [ward manager]<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cLearned something about a service I knew nothing about. Identified cultural issues. Identified safety issues. Got to know a new colleague.’ [medical director]<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Will we do anything different next time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a result of talking about the RCT at a Research and Innovation Committee meeting, it was suggested we run the next one in May 2020 to coincide with International Clinical Trials Day, and to jointly promote both.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll also use as much of the feedback as possible from this RCT to promote the next one.<\/p>\n

Other than that, I don\u2019t think we would change anything and I would, where possible, match clinical with non-clinical staff again. RCTs are a tried and tested knowledge management technique and worked well in a hospital setting where we could match participants so that there was no need to travel to another site.<\/p>\n

Further Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n

How to set up a Randomised Coffee Trial. NHS Horizons (2016) [SlideShare presentation]
\nhttps:\/\/www.slideshare.net\/HorizonsCIC\/how-to-set-up-a-randomised-coffee-trial<\/a><\/p>\n

Randomised Coffee Trials. David Gurteen (2013)
\nhttp:\/\/www.gurteen.com\/gurteen\/gurteen.nsf\/id\/randomised-coffee-trials<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jason Curtis
\nSite Librarian
\nShrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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