Affiliation:
1. Midwifery Sister, Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
2. Associate Professor and Reader, School of Health and Social Care, London South Bank University and Bart's Health NHS Trust
Abstract
BackgroundAlthough all members of staff can be involved in improving the quality of maternity services, midwives can identify areas in need of improvement through their relationships with women and their families, and can influence care through activities such as crowdsourcing.AimsA service evaluation was undertaken to explore how midwives who attended the workshop viewed their involvement in crowdsourcing, and to examine whether midwives who attended the workshop considered themselves as agents of change for quality improvement in maternity care.MethodsA generic qualitative approach was selected. Data were collected using face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with six midwives who attended the workshop.FindingsFour key themes emerged from analysing the data: improving communication, experiencing different perspectives, shared learning, and positivity.ConclusionsInvolving stakeholders as a ‘crowd’ to find solutions to problems in care is successful and highly rewarding. Midwife participants took pride in sharing their ideas for improvement.