ScotGEM graduate awarded prize for Agents of Change project
Scottish Graduate-Entry Medicine (ScotGEM) programme (2024) graduate Dr Lydia Arthur recently received a national prize from the Scottish Intensive Care Society for her Agents of Change project. The prize recognised her work to reduce the number of unnecessary daily clotting screens performed at the Critical Care Unit of Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary.
The Agents of Change component of ScotGEM trains students to drive healthcare improvement through hands-on projects, community engagement, and leadership development. This work helps learners understand, develop and practice skills required to generate change in complex systems.
For her project, Dr Arthur developed an algorithm to help staff Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary decide which patients needed a coagulation test each day. Her work was informed by stakeholder surveys and conversations, as well as driver diagrams. Once incorporated into clinical decision-making, the algorithm led to a significant drop in daily clotting screens performed (from 87% to 40%).
“ScotGEM’s teaching regarding QI was invaluable in improving my HCI skills.” said Dr Arthur. “With projects running from first year with increasing difficulty and both solo and group projects, together with repeated exposure to tools and techniques meant that I was, and still am, very comfortable with the QI tools available.”
The School is delighted to see Dr Arthur’s skill and ingenuity recognised through this prize.