Practitioners & Teams
National policies consistently highlight the need to work differently, and personalised self-management support is a core foundation of many national clinical guidelines. However, practitioners may lack the knowledge, the skills and the confidence to integrate this effectively into practice.
Bridges improves practitioners’ knowledge, skills and confidence in delivering effective, personalised self-management support. Here’s some of our recent training evaluation data:
Impact on Staff’s Confidence:
Impact on Staff’s Skills:
- 96% of Bridges training participants reported new self-management skills, including…
- focusing more on their patients’ own expertise to self-manage
- listening more and fixing less (building patients’ feelings of control)
- pausing more and jumping in less
- coaching more and managing less
Impact on Staff’s Knowledge:
- 94% of Bridges training participants reported new knowledge and ideas on self-management support, including…
- more ideas on how to prioritise their patients’ story and what matters most
- more ideas to support patients to develop core self-management skills
- ideas of how to embed self-management language into their practice
Bridges evidence and other extensive empirical research shows use of these skills and language has a positive impact on patients with long-term conditions. This way of working supports patients to develop greater self-efficacy, which is a predictor of successful self-management. If patients are more confident to self-manage their long-term condition, they are more likely to overcome setbacks and feel more in control.
(Jones, McKevitt, Riazi et al., 2017).
At present, the most noticeable difference is in establishing an effective therapeutic relationship very quickly. I have more or a sense of ‘working together’ with a person, and they seem to feel listened to and more empowered. I’m better at hearing cues that people are giving me to discuss what is really important, so we can explore these things sooner. I’m sharing responsibility with people, so at the end of the session we both have ‘jobs’ to go away and do, then come back together ‘as a team’. I’m enjoying it!Physiotherapist, Community Oncology and Specialist Palliative Physiotherapy, Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The training was thought provoking and stimulating. It has managed to ‘re-light my fire’.Speech and Language Therapist
I have found it nourishing and engaging to change my own style of communication. It is a pleasure to listen and not to race ahead to solutions that may not be effective or meaningful.Speech and Language Therapist
The joy of working with patients [has been] brought back again. Working in this way helps you build that relationship with the patient and really get to their story and really find out what’s important to them. I’ve found that a real joy, actually. Getting to know the patients more, and not having that set agenda immediately as you go in’.Ayesha, Allied Health Professional
We have new team members who came with a very different way of working and they have really embraced the Bridges programme. The team are working in partnership with the patient to build up their self-confidence. Empowering our patients to test things out to understand what works for them and their capabilities. We liken it to being that supportive coach, rather than being prescriptive.Clinical Lead
I was feeling overwhelmed at work, and my colleague asked me to tell her what the issues were, she really listened to me and asked me, “what one small thing you could do that would make you feel more in control?” It made me feel so much better, but then I realised – I had been Bridged!Senior Therapist