Dr Jack PUN, Assistant Professor at CityU’s Department of English, conducted a sharing workshop about teaching qualitative research skills and NVivo, a qualitative analysis computer software to frontline clinicians from three hospitals of the Hospital Authority New Territories West Cluster (NTWC), including Tuen Mun Hospital, Pok Oi Hospital and Tin Shui Wai Hospital.

Over 50 clinicians, including senior doctors, nurses, management, allied health professionals and Quality and Safety Division staff from the three hospitals, participated in this interactive workshop. With participants attending the hybrid workshop in both face-to-face and online formats, this sharing aimed to develop the local frontline clinicians’ research skills on qualitative methods and equip them with training about the effective way of using NVivo software to conduct clinical research. All participants attending the workshop followed COVID-19 social distancing measures. 

Designed specifically for the staff members of NTWC, the sharing commenced with a brief introduction to qualitative research. The presentation then shifted to focus on NVivo functions, such as data input, data analysis and visualising the data through charts and diagrams. The presentation ended with the challenges and limitations of the software in order to give the participants some insights about carrying out clinical research using qualitative methods, and to contemplate what kinds of analysis are the best choice for their clinical contexts. 

Dr Pun also shared his research experience into health communication to the frontline clinicians as a way to guide them how to apply qualitative research skills in their existing clinical research projects. In his research, he explores the role of communication in shaping decision making processes at clinical consultations, and how communication affects the quality of care patients received from the health providers in different clinical settings (ie emergency department, intensive care unit, nursing handovers, traditional Chinese medicine, veterinary medicine) and how effective communication enhances our understanding of the challenges and expectations in healthcare in worldwide hospital setting. 

In order to make the sharing more interactive, activities were also designed to test and supplement participants’ knowledge on the topic. The specifically devised activities included multiple choice questions and videos viewing to showcase the actual procedures and process of using NVivo. Participants found this interactive workshop very useful in their clinical research and look forward to attending more similar workshops.

Photo 2: The interactive activities make the sharing session livelier and help the speaker understand the participants’ learning progress.

Photo 3: The workshop is conducted in hybrid mode with both face-to-face and online sessions.

Photo 4: Dr Jack Pun receives a certificate of appreciation from the representative of NTWC.