Table 2.

Participant led quality improvement projects completed by the participants.

Title	Problem	Aim	Outcome
Improving vital signs and fluid balance monitoring for HDU burns patients	Patient vital signs and fluids monitoring is not regularly done therefore patients do not always receive the right care or prescribed fluids	To improve vital signs and fluid administration documentation on patients that are in the burn HDU from 40%* to 90% from September 2019 to January 2020	The project resulted in 78% of cases having complete documentation after 3 months, with nurse reporting an increase in their confidence and knowledge
Improving the decontamination process of surgical instruments	The steps of the decontamination process for cleaning surgical instruments are not followed or completely missed	To improve compliance with the decontamination processes for surgical instruments in main theatres by January 2020	Compliance to the 11- step process rose from 77% to 90%. Improvement was seen for 10 steps, so an additional session of staff training was developed on ‘dipping instruments correctly’.
Improving pain control for burns patients during dressing changes	Patient do not regularly get pain relief before dressing changes causing anxiety, distress and lack of co-operation	To improve pain control in for burns patient during dressing changes from 10%* to 70% during dressing changes by December 2019 in the male and female surgical wards	After five months the number of patients reporting that they had sufficient pain control rose to 66%
Hand hygiene practice among health workers in the burn unit	There are poor hand hygiene practices amongst healthcare workers	To improve hand hygiene practice among healthcare workers in the burns unit from 5%* to 50%* by December 2019.	The project saw an increase in availability of hand washing facilities to 95.6% and hand hygiene practices increase to >80% within 6 months.
Improving documentation following dressing changes	Inadequate information was being documented in files leading to poor escalation of concerns follow-up.	To improve documentations in patient files amongst the staff following dressing changes in adult burn patients from 44% to 90% by February 2020.	After three months, an audit revealed that 85% of dressing changes were supported with accurate documentation.
Keeping the privacy of male and female patients	Dressings are done for male and female patients in the same room causing complaints from the patients and their attendants	To improve privacy and dignity among male and female burn patients who have been admitted to the ward at the time of dressing using a patient screen from 15%* to 50% by December 2019	Data from the project convinced colleagues that this was an important topic; screens were introduced and are now used routinely.