Features

The phone in the prep room at Park Lane Vets is ringing which means someone has an emergency. ‘It’s going to be a Manic Monday,’ James thinks to himself. He looks up from the scrub sink to check on the cat spay. Good, Andrea, the head nurse has started to clip a neat patch of fur on the animal’s flank. At that moment, Helen, the receptionist, rushes through from the front desk and asks a question to no one in particular. James starts washing his hands a little faster. In his experience, it’s never a good sign to see Helen this early in the morning – she is normally so resourceful.

“Hey, let’s go for a drink after work?”

I’ve heard this a few times in my career after starting a new job, from managers or partners, and I’ve always felt a surge of relief. To me it says a number of things all wrapped into one – you're ok! And welcome!

It’s 1969 and the United States is planning to launch the Apollo 11 mission, to finally put a man on the moon. The press is there to cover the event and during a lull in the action, they see a janitor sweeping the hall, so they thought they would take the opportunity to capture some extra footage. A reporter approached the janitor and asked, “What is your job at NASA?” As the legend goes, the janitor leans on his broom and says, “My job is to get a man to the moon”. This person understood that he was part of the team and played a part in the overall mission of getting a person to the moon. (1) 

In the first of a new RCVS Knowledge series of features on patient safety, clinical human factors, and the principles and associated themes of Quality Improvement (QI), Angela Rayner and Chris Gush explore what the terms quality healthcare and Quality Improvement mean within a veterinary context.