• Maria Holden, Edna Ogada, Caitlin Hebron, Patricia Price, and Tom Potokar.
• Centre for Global Burn Injury Policy and Research, College of Human and Health Sciences, Swansea University, Room 26 Haldane Building, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, United Kingdom; School of Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, B236, Medical School Queen's Drive Medical Centre, Nottingham, NG7 2HA, United Kingdom. Electronic address: Maria.Holden@Nottingham.ac.uk.
• Burns. 2022 Feb 1; 48 (1): 201-214.

BackgroundThere is an urgent need to empower practitioners to undertake quality improvement (QI) projects in burn services in low-middle income countries (LMICs). We piloted a course aimed to equip nurses working in these environments with the knowledge and skills to undertake such projects.MethodsEight nurses from five burns services across Malawi and Ethiopia took part in this pilot course, which was evaluated using a range of methods, including interviews and focus group discussions.ResultsCourse evaluations reported that interactive activities were successful in supporting participants to devise QI projects. Appropriate online platforms were integral to creating a community of practice and maintaining engagement. Facilitators to a successful QI project were active individuals, supportive leadership, collaboration, effective knowledge sharing and demonstrable advantages of any proposed change. Barriers included: staff attitudes, poor leadership, negative culture towards training, resource limitations, staff rotation and poor access to information to guide practice.ConclusionsThe course demonstrated that by bringing nurses together, through interactive teaching and online forums, a supportive community of practice can be created. Future work will include investigating ways to scale up access to the course so staff can be supported to initiate and lead quality improvement in LMIC burn services.Copyright © 2021 Swansea Unversity. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

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