Bitesized teaching: Delivering knowledge of physical health issues in mental health settings

Abstract

Bitesized teaching is an initiative that has worked successfully in Yorkshire and Derbyshire mental health services for the last 3 years. It involves the delivery of high-impact, 10-minute tutorials on physical health topics, which take place once a week in the ward lunchtime handover period. This is an initiative that is easy to implement and has proved transferable across different ward-based settings, not least because of its minimal financial implications. This paper outlines the rationale for bitesized teaching before discussing the threefold appraisal involving the audit of feedback from brief questionnaires, focus group commentary and a personal testimony from a staff nurse. We used data from two mental health units, with feedback from a mixed adult and older adult general acute setting producing 129 questionnaire forms and a forensic site producing 162 questionnaire forms. Analysis revealed that there was an overall improvement in the perceived knowledge of practitioners of 63% in the forensic setting, compared to between 34% and 46% improvement in perceived knowledge of practitioners in the mixed adult and older adult general acute setting. In conclusion, bitesized teaching has generated significant increase in practitioners' perceived knowledge of physical health issues on the ward. This suggests that the concept of short, focused tutorials is highly effective as a training tool for ward-based work Bitesized teaching is an initiative that has worked successfully in Yorkshire and Derbyshire mental health services for the last 3 years. It involves the delivery of high-impact, 10-minute tutorials on physical health topics, which take place once a week in the ward lunchtime handover period. This is an initiative that is easy to implement and has proved transferable across different ward-based settings, not least because of its minimal financial implications. This paper outlines the rationale for bitesized teaching before discussing the threefold appraisal involving the audit of feedback from brief questionnaires, focus group commentary and a personal testimony from a staff nurse. We used data from two mental health units, with feedback from a mixed adult and older adult general acute setting producing 129 questionnaire forms and a forensic site producing 162 questionnaire forms. Analysis revealed that there was an overall improvement in the perceived knowledge of practitioners of 63% in the forensic setting, compared to between 34% and 46% improvement in perceived knowledge of practitioners in the mixed adult and older adult general acute setting. In conclusion, bitesized teaching has generated significant increase in practitioners' perceived knowledge of physical health issues on the ward. This suggests that the concept of short, focused tutorials is highly effective as a training tool for ward-based work.