INSIGHT Phillip Barlow
(
p.barlow@
imperial.ac.uk), NHS Support Librarian, Chelsea and Westminster campus library, imperial College London.
Jeannine Creazzo (
jeannine.creazzo@
rwjbh.org), Director, Medical Library, Continuing Education and Research, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset.
Ryan Norman
(
ryan.norman@
rwjbh.org), Medical Librarian, Medical Education, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset.
Louise Levitt (
louise.levitt@nhs.net), Assistant Librarian, Patrician Bowen Library & Knowledge Service, West Middlesex University Hospital, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Health Libraries Group Coffee across the pond – Implementing a transatlantic Randomised Coffee Trial for hospital nurses
Randomised Coffee Trials have been utilised as a tool for knowledge mobilisation for more than a decade, with their use spreading from the UK around the world (Soto, 2013 –
https://tinyurl.com/ys9vxzw9) (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 2024 – https://
tinyurl.com/4aa3b5dv). In undertaking them, it is possible to share information and build connections, but is it a method that can be used on a transatlantic basis?
R
ANDOMISED coffee trials were initially developed at Nesta, a UK based innovation charity, as a means of building connections between people within their own organisation who might not otherwise have interacted
(Soto, 2013). Taking this concept a step further has seen the NHS adopt Randomised Coffee Trials as part of their larger toolkit of knowledge mobilisation measures (NHS England, 2024 –
https://tinyurl.com/4t32t2pt). In 2020, Magnet4 Europe was launched as a European Union funded project looking at improving mental health and wellbeing among healthcare professionals in six different European countries. This project was linked to the Magnet programme in the United States, and led to organisations in different countries being “twinned”. (Magnet4Europe, 2024 –
https://tinyurl.com/mpr9ykf5) One such link-up was between Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Foundation NHS Trust (CW), an acute and teaching hospital trust based at two sites in London, and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH), an academic level I trauma centre in New Jersey. Following the conclusion of Magnet4Europe in 2024, nursing leaders at CW and RWJUH continued their relationship by launching the Transatlantic Journal Club (TAJC) between nurses and nurse leadership at all three hospitals in April 2024. The purposes of the journal club are to foster collaboration, encourage discussion, and enhance information literacy and critical thinking skills among nurses from different institutions, by reviewing and discussing nursing-focused research.
With a total of almost 200 staff members from varying job types, including staff nurses, specialist nurses, nursing leaders, administrators, receiving an invite to the monthly TAJC sessions, it was felt that this could be off-putting for some individuals contributing to discussions, especially for first-time attendees who had not participated in such an event before. The authors involved determined that having a one- on-one discussion between participants of the TAJC was a way to bring people from both organisations together in a less intimidating atmosphere. This was where the idea of using the randomised coffee trial concept on a transatlantic basis between nursing staff from both organisations was formed. The idea has the potential to introduce people and practices from different countries in a relaxed and informal way (NHS
Summer 2025 Horizons, 2018 –
https://tinyurl.com/ryy94j6j).
While the randomised coffee trial as a format is fairly standard, with generally two people meeting for a set period to have an informal discussion, variations on this can be implemented (Gurteen, 2024 –
https://tinyurl.com/3kufpbk8). The logistics of our proposal, with individuals from the UK and the US paired together, meant that some of these discussed variations were required (Gurteen, 2024). As a result, the authors developed the Transatlantic Randomised Coffee Trial plan, to take account of the challenges of communicating from different countries and time zones. The randomised pairs were separated by the Atlantic Ocean, necessitating the use of virtual meeting technology, and the five-hour time difference between London and New Jersey. Participants were required to contact their assigned partner and schedule a meeting date and time, using their preferred method. Although they were not required to meet for any minimum length of time, they were asked to consider an opportunity to meet more than once. We were also clear that the participants were free to choose any topic they wished to talk about. The authors used email reminders to encourage the participants to meet and to solicit feedback. Table 1 represents the Transatlantic Randomised Coffee Trial timeline and methods.
22 August 2024
10 September – 20 September 2024 20 September – 7 October 2024
7 October – 28 November 2024 28 October 2024 18 November 2024
28 October – 29 November 2024
Introduced concept to Transatlantic Journal Club Recruitment of Participants using SurveyMonkey
Responses collected and pairs assigned using
https://wheelofnames.com
Participants meet virtually Reminder email sent to participants
Second reminder email sent to participants Feedback collected via Microsoft Forms
Table 1: Transatlantic Randomised Coffee Trial process. Next steps
Following the conclusion of the initial running of the Transatlantic Randomised Coffee Trial, it is now a point to take stock of how it went. This will involve looking closely at the feedback to discuss on what went well, and what could be done to improve the experience. The feedback from participants has been good for this initial running, which has encouraged the authors to try running it again, and potentially on a more regular basis as a knowledge management facet of the TAJC. IP
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