Choosing the Right Conference for Your Healthcare Improvement Work

Why this topic matters

Effective dissemination is a crucial, often overlooked, step in the improvement cycle. Presenting your work at a conference does more than just add a line to your CV; it contributes directly to broader knowledge sharing within the NHS. It allows others to learn from your successes and challenges, potentially preventing duplication of effort and accelerating the adoption of effective improvements. For individuals, it hones presentation skills, provides professional development, and builds a valuable network.

Dissemination as part of the improvement cycle

Sharing your work externally allows for a wider audience to scrutinise your methods and results, offering external validation and new perspectives. This feedback loop can be invaluable for refining future improvement initiatives. Moreover, many professional bodies and postgraduate training programmes recognise conference presentations as evidence of professional development and engagement in improving patient care.

Practical explanation

Choosing a conference involves considering several factors related to your project, your personal goals, and the specific conference itself. It’s about matching your work with the right audience and platform to achieve maximum impact.

Types of conferences

Conferences generally fall into a few categories:

• General Improvement/QI Conferences: These focus broadly on healthcare quality improvement methodologies, patient safety, and service transformation. Examples include the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare, or local NHS Trust QI days.
• Specialty-Specific Conferences: Organised by Royal Colleges or specialist societies (e.g., Royal College of Physicians, British Thoracic Society), these events focus on clinical topics within a particular specialty but often have dedicated sessions for audit, QI, or service development relevant to that field.
• Professional Body Conferences: These are organised by professional groups (e.g., British Medical Association, Royal College of Nursing) and often cover a broad range of topics including clinical practice, health policy, and improvement initiatives.
• Research Conferences: Traditionally focused on primary research, many now include streams for service evaluation and implementation science, which can be relevant for higher-level QI initiatives.
• Local/Regional Events: Often organised by NHS regions, Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), or individual Trusts, these are excellent for sharing local improvements and networking within a defined geographical or organisational area.

Key considerations for selection

When evaluating a potential conference, ask yourself the following:

• Relevance to your project: Does the conference theme align well with your QI, audit, or service evaluation project? Will your work be understood and appreciated by the audience?
• Target audience: Who attends this conference? Are they clinicians, managers, researchers, or a mix? Does this match the audience you wish to engage with?
• Abstract submission criteria and deadlines: Are the submission guidelines clear? Do they accept QI, audit, or service evaluation projects? What are the word limits and structural requirements?
• Format of presentation: Are you aiming for an oral presentation, a poster presentation, or a workshop? Does the conference offer your preferred format?
• Cost and location: Consider registration fees, travel, and accommodation. Does your department or Trust offer funding or study leave? Virtual options can significantly reduce costs.
• Reputation and impact: How well-regarded is the conference? What level of dissemination do you hope to achieve? Is there an opportunity to publish proceedings or extend your work into a publication?
• Feedback and networking opportunities: Will you have a chance to discuss your work, receive feedback, and connect with people who can help advance your project or career?

Common pitfalls

• Submitting to the wrong audience: Presenting a highly specialised clinical audit at a general QI conference might not resonate, just as a methodological QI project might be out of place at a purely clinical research meeting.
• Missing deadlines: Abstract deadlines are strict. Plan well in advance.
• Underestimating preparation time: Crafting a compelling abstract, designing an effective poster, or preparing a clear oral presentation takes time and iterative refinement.
• Ignoring costs: Unplanned expenses for registration, travel, and accommodation can be prohibitive. Explore funding options early.
• Lack of local support: Ensure your clinical lead or manager supports your attendance and presentation, especially for study leave or funding requests.

Step-by-step approach to choosing a conference

1. Define your objective: What do you hope to achieve by presenting? (e.g., gain feedback, meet experts, fulfil training requirements, simply share learning).
2. Characterise your project: Clearly identify whether your project is a clinical audit, quality improvement initiative, or service evaluation. Understand its key findings and messages.
3. Research potential conferences:
   • Start with national bodies like the Royal Colleges, specialist societies (e.g., BTS, BOMSS, AoP), or national QI organisations (e.g., AQuA, Advancing Quality Alliance).
   • Look at major events like the International Forum on Quality & Safety in Healthcare (or its regional versions).
   • Explore local Trust or ICS QI days, often advertised internally.
   • Review past conference programmes to see the types of projects presented.
4. Review calls for abstracts: Pay close attention to themes, submission categories (e.g., 'QI projects', 'audits', 'case studies'), abstract guidelines, and deadlines. Some conferences explicitly welcome non-research projects.
5. Assess alignment: Match your project's content and objectives with the conference's themes and audience. Consider the potential impact of your presentation given the likely attendees.
6. Evaluate practicalities: Check costs, location, dates, and what support (financial or otherwise) is available from your department or Trust. Are there virtual options?
7. Seek advice: Discuss your options with your clinical supervisor, QI lead, or colleagues who have presented before. They may have valuable insights or experience with particular conferences.
8. Prepare your submission: Once you've chosen, dedicate sufficient time to write a clear, concise, and impactful abstract that adheres to all guidelines.

Example in clinical practice

Dr. Anya Sharma, a Gastroenterology Registrar, completed a QI project to reduce the time from referral to endoscopy for patients with suspected oesophago-gastric cancer in her Trust. Her project led to a 25% reduction in waiting times through process mapping, standardisation, and improved scheduling.

She considered two conferences:

1. The British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) Annual Meeting: This is a major specialty conference with dedicated sessions for clinical audit and QI. It would put her work in front of her specialty peers.
2. An NHS England Improvement Conference: A broader national event focused purely on QI across various clinical areas.

Decision Process:

• Objective: Share specialty-specific improvements, gain feedback from gastroenterology experts, and potentially influence practice within her specialty.
• Audience: The BSG conference offered direct engagement with consultant gastroenterologists, nurse endoscopists, and other registrars who could implement similar changes.
• Impact: While the NHS England event would reach a wider general QI audience, the BSG meeting offered more targeted dissemination within her specialty, increasing the likelihood of direct clinical impact.
• Outcome: Dr. Sharma chose the BSG Annual Meeting, submitted an abstract for a poster presentation, which was accepted. She was then invited to give a 5-minute oral 'poster walk' presentation, significantly increasing visibility. She received valuable feedback regarding scalability and presented her work to a highly relevant audience.

This resource supports, but does not replace, clinical judgement. Local policy, formulary and specialist advice should be followed.

How Lazomis can help

Lazomis offers tools that can streamline the process of preparing and disseminating your improvement work. Our platform includes:

• QI Project Documentation: Helps you structure your project from conception to completion, ensuring all necessary data and reflections are captured, which simplifies abstract writing.
• Reporting and Visualisation Tools: Allows you to generate clear charts and graphs from your data, essential for compelling poster and oral presentations.
• Abstract Writing Templates: Provides structured prompts to help you draft abstracts that meet common conference guidelines for QI and audit submissions.
• Learning Resources: Further guides on effective presentation skills and poster design to maximise the impact of your chosen conference slot.

Using Lazomis can ensure your project documentation is robust, your data presentation is professional, and your abstract content is persuasive, thereby increasing your chances of acceptance and impact at your chosen conference.