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Abstract
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PURPOSE A framework for "negotiating meaning" was applied to a healthcare service to achieve a collaboratively developed suicide prevention clinical pathway.
DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH The framework was originally developed during a previous study that drew on the theory of philosophical hermeneutics to enable a researcher to better understand the experience of older people. This approach was then applied to a healthcare setting and the development of a suicide prevention clinical pathway. Clinical front-line staff engaged effectively and meaningfully with each other, consumers, family members and management to develop a clinical guideline that reflected best practice and improved care provision. An additional outcome involved establishing a supportive culture in which the shared meanings underpinning the experience of working with people expressing suicidality were explored.
FINDINGS An evidence-based suicide prevention clinical pathway was developed collaboratively with clinicians taking the lead in the process, and leading to the agreement being reached on the final guideline and processes established. The negotiation process brought the perspectives of the different parties together enabling the sharing of underlying meaning inherent in the experience of losing a consumer tragically to suicide. A commitment to taking joint action to reduce the likelihood of further incidents occurring also grew from the shared understanding that developed.
ORIGINALITY/VALUE This paper describes the approach that was applied to facilitate engagement processes between clinicians and service management that also challenged the power differentials that usually exist within healthcare and led to positive engagement that supported the safety and quality agenda.
Language: en |