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In this research I evaluated two strategies for improving performance of online support groups. The first strategy was to use a buddy system in online support groups. This system involves pairing demographically similar members of a group to serve as each other’s buddies. Analyses of real online support groups indicated that members whose only difference with other members is in having a buddy who is more active rather than less active in the group are more engaged in the group and have a higher chance of attaining their goal for which they joined the group. Analysis also showed that members help their buddies more than they help other group members. Results are robust across four measures of tie strength, including contact frequency, reciprocity, and two measures of contact length. Overall, results suggest that managers can use the buddy system in online support groups as an effective method to drive group engagement and increase the support provided and goal attainment.The second strategy was to add a chatbot to the online support groups to provide members with additional informational and motivational support. The design of the chatbot which can respond to members’ messages based on their content is presented here. The chatbot has a natural language understanding component which can identify intent of messages out of 26 possible intents related to smoking cessation which is the main context of the online support groups studied here. The chatbot is supposed to respond to messages with 25 intents called triggering intents and ignore 1 intent which is non-triggering intent. Triggering intents account for less than half of the total messages. The bot is intentionally designed to have higher precision than recall for triggering intents. Precision for triggering intents is the probability of identifying the intent correctly if the message is identified as a triggering intent. Recall for triggering intents is the percentage of triggering messages which are identified with correct intent. The chatbot has the precision of 81% and the recall of 44% for triggering intents. Separate randomized control trial experiments are required to evaluate the overall performance of the chatbot in online support groups.

Currently, with the booming growth of cloud computing, workloads from broad ranges of functions and demands are crammed into a single physical machine. They lay considerable stress on the need of evolution of the operating system underneath, especially the memory subsystem. Even enhancing large pages with main memory compression is not intuitively straightforward due to rigid rules imposed by the state-of-the-art manager Buddy System from the beginning of the design. To relieve the aforementioned problems and provide broader design space for system designers, we propose Zweilous, a clean slate physical memory management framework. It is self-contained, highly decoupled, and thus can co-exist with the vanilla memory manager. Separate self-contained metadata/functions guarantee a flexible extension with little modification to current frameworks. To show it is easy to add enhanced functions that accelerate the evolution of the memory management subsystem, we implement Hzmem, a new large page memory manager redesign enhanced with the function of main memory compression. Our method achieves competitive performance compared with native and virtualized large page support, effective memory size increased and fewer impacts on other parts of the operating system.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the perioperative decision-making process, post-operative decision regret and reflection on the peri-operative experience of patients undergoing radical cystectomy and urinary diversion through patient interviews. METHODS Patients identified as having undergone radical cystectomy for malignancy were interviewed 6-24 months from the time of surgery and stratified by diversion type. Following written consent, interviews were conducted either in person or over the phone using a semi-structured script. Patients were asked 9 open-ended questions, with additional unscripted follow-up questions based on themes raised by the patient. The interviews were reviewed for common themes, preferences, and recommendations. RESULTS A total of 13 interviews were conducted. No patient expressed decision regret about their choice of urinary diversion. Ten out of 13 interviewees specifically stated that they had adequate information about diversion options pre-operatively, none felt they did not have adequate pre-operative counseling. One area identified as improvable was postoperative counseling- specifically, for ostomy appliances, catheters, or irrigation. The most striking recurrent theme was the desire for a “buddy system” in which patients could contact and maintain discussion about their surgical experience with an experienced patient. The overall impression was that this system would be most useful in the recovery/maintenance phase rather than in the pre-operative decision-making process. CONCLUSION This data furnishes a basis to develop more accessible and effective counseling and highlights the need to concentrate on post-surgical maintenance care, including management of urostomy appliances, catheters, and reinforcing irrigation technique.

The University of Pretoria (UP) began offering formal academic student support in 2011 when the first faculty student advisor (FSA) was appointed. Although many more FSAs were subsequently appointed, assistance to all the students in need of support remained insufficient. However, financial assistance through the collaboration grant received from the Department of Higher Education and Training in 2018 made it possible to explore new areas of support. The UP was able to pilot four innovations due to the availability of additional funds. These included generic workshops across faculties; the creation of a hub in the library, which served as a common contact point for students requiring assistance; the appointment of peer advisors; and a Buddy Programme for first-year students. This article explains the Buddy Programme as perceived by the senior students who mentored the first-year students. The mentors are known as “big buddies”. Our work on this programme is based on Tinto’s (1975) ideas about social integration. The Buddy Programme was introduced to assist first-year students in their transition from school to university life. This paper highlights the challenges that first-year students faced and it explains how the concepts could become institutionalised once university activities have been normalised in the post-pandemic future.

With the third wave of COVID-19 once again gripping the country, care home staff are under increasing pressure. Karen Hayes and Gail Beckett outline the introduction of a personal protective equipment buddy system that was well received by those working in a care home environment in their locality.

The increasing pressure to provide inclusive and equitable education and promote lifelong learning for all has enabled a growing number of individuals with disabilities to engage in tertiary education. This article explores the experiences of lecturers supporting students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in a Malaysian tertiary education institute. Their views are vital as they are the first point of contact when academic support is needed. Interviews were conducted with six lecturers who had experience in teaching students with ASD. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The main findings suggest that these lecturers were restricted in supporting students with ASD due to issues related to knowledge and awareness, the specific educational needs of students with ASD, and the importance of student peers. Lecturers have limited knowledge to draw on when making decisions to support the needs of the students. Nevertheless, they acknowledged that some of the students’ peers created a buddy system where they worked together with the lecturers to support the ASD students' needs in the absence of specialist personnel. The prospect of supporting and providing effective services to all students, regardless of background, ethnicity, gender and ability, is much anticipated by dedicated educators. This has implications for the way professionals are trained in the future.

Corona Virus Disease 2019 or COVID-19 is a disease caused by the coronavirus with the spread in the fastest time and manner so that it becomes a pandemic in the world, including in Indonesia Padang City is one of the cities or regencies on Sumatra Island that has the highest COVID-19 case The high number of cases causes many people to experience pre-existing psychological problems and secondary traumatic stress (STS), so this study aims to develop a trauma healing policy model for the community during the COVID-19 pandemic in Padang City This research is a quantitative descriptive study, using in-depth interview data collection techniques for expert respondents whose results are analyzed using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) In compiling a policy model, used stigma or point of view, mental or mental health, and behaviour as policy criteria The results showed that the priority policies for consideration for the Padang City government were: a) Conducting socialization and increasing public knowledge and awareness about COVID-19, transmission and prevention, so that negative community stigma can change and become support for positive sufferers (76 7%);b) Increase cooperation vertically and horizontally starting from the community to the government (55 50%);c) Promote and socialize prevention of COVID-19 transmission directly or online to the community, then familiarize the community applying it in daily life by applying various rules in the public environment (54 90%);and d) Increase COVID-19 adaptation and recovery through re-centring, personal awakening, emotion stabilizing, and buddy system application (53 80%) © 2020, Institute of Advanced Scientific Research, Inc All rights reserved

Background Hospitals can be a distressing environment for people with dementia, family and staff. Volunteers are used successfully in health care settings assisting in the provision of care for people with dementia. Aim The aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of volunteers who work with hospitalised people who have dementia. Methods An interpretive phenomenological study was conducted in an Australian metropolitan hospital. A thematic analysis of six transcribed interviews was conducted. Findings Three themes were revealed: drawn to volunteering, being a volunteer and needing support. Understanding the motivations for volunteer programs is a vital part of successful recruitment and retention. The participants described wanting to help others and giving back to the community as motivations. Volunteer activities varied from assisting clients with meals, spending time socialising and providing support with ambulation. Some volunteers shared a sense of role restriction which thwarted possibilities to provide care, these included not being able to assist clients with meals or mobilising to the toilet. Conclusion A clear role description, debriefing and mentorship support, would help to improve the success of future volunteering programs. Ward-based orientation with follow-up dementia-specific training are identified as important in motivating and supporting volunteers. A focus on how to respond to behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia were identified needs. Role expansion supported by a buddy system would enable the expansion of volunteer activities and promote recruitment and the future success of such programs in the context of dementia care.

Background People with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are very sedentary; increasing light physical activity (LPA) may help to promote long-term maintenance of physical activity. Objectives We evaluated feasibility and acceptability of Active for Life with COPD, a self-efficacy-enhancing intervention designed to increase LPA. Methods The 10-week intervention included walking, functional circuit training, and behavioral and educational strategies. Measures included attrition, adherence, objectively measured physical activity, and qualitative interviews. Results Thirty-six subjects enrolled in the study; 26 completed the intervention and 19 completed the two-month follow-up. Subjects reported the intervention was enjoyable and beneficial, but disliked the activity log and buddy system. Subjects increased mean time spent standing/stepping by 36 (SD = 82) min/24 h (P > 0.05); they retained a gain of 21 (SD = 88) min/24 h at the two-month follow-up (P > 0.05). Conclusions The Active for Life with COPD intervention is feasible, acceptable, and may support long term maintenance of physical activity.

Background In 2009 Ghana began to design a trachoma pre-validation surveillance plan, based on then-current WHO recommendations. The plan aimed to identify active trachoma resurgence and identify and manage trichiasis cases, through both active and passive surveillance approaches. This paper outlines and reviews the adaptations made by Ghana between 2011 and 2016. The assessment will provide a learning opportunity for a number of countries as they progress towards elimination status. Methods A mixed methods approach was taken, comprising in-depth interviews and documents review. Between January and April 2016, 20 in-depth interviews were conducted with persons involved in the operationalisation of the trachoma surveillance system from across all levels of the health system. A three-tier thematic coding framework was developed using a primarily inductive approach but also allowed for a more iterative approach, which drew on aspects of grounded theory. Results During the operationalisation of the Ghana surveillance plan there were a number of adaptations (as compared to the WHO recommendations), these included: (i) Inclusion of surveillance of active trachoma in the passive surveillance approach, as compared to trichiasis alone. Issues with case identification, challenges in implementation coverage and a non-specific reporting structure hampered effectiveness; (ii) Random selection and increase in number of sites selected for the active surveillance component. This likely lacked the spatiotemporal power to be able to identify recrudescence in a timely manner; (iii) Targeted trichiasis door-to-door case searches, led by ophthalmic nurses. An effective methodology to identify trichiasis cases but resource intensive; (iv) A buddy system between ophthalmic nurses to support technical skills in an elimination setting where it is difficult to attain diagnostic and surgical skills, due to a lack of cases. The strategy did not take into account the loss of proficiency within experienced personnel. Conclusions Ghana developed a comprehensive surveillance system that exceeded the WHO recommendations but issues with sensitivity and specificity likely led to an inefficient use of resources. Improved targeted surveillance strategies for identification of recrudescence and trichiasis case searches, need to be evaluated. Strategies must address the contextual changes that arise because of transmission decline, such as loss of surgical skills. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s40249-019-0585-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The foundation of good clinical training in palliative and hospice care is grounded in a professional learning environment of mutual respect, warmth, and expertise. Guided by the principles of holi...

BackgroundIncreasingly challenging workplaces detrimentally affect doctors’ well-being and patient care. The General Medical Council’s ‘ABC’ compassionate leadership model aims to improve doctor well-being. When COVID-19 emerged, a 4 Nation agreement facilitated early graduation and provisional registration of final year medical students and deployment of new graduates into Foundation interim Year 1 (FiY1) positions. We report how the Northern Ireland Medical and Dental Training Agency (NIMDTA) applied compassionate leadership to the induction of FiY1s.MethodsEmploying ‘What matters to you’, we identified FiY1s’ educational objectives and reviewed information dissemination options within distancing restrictions.A dedicated FiY1 webpage summarised requirements and resources. A regional digital induction with a well-being emphasis facilitated flexible completion. Welcome packs promoted belonging while a ‘buddy system’ delivered support. Collaboration with other stakeholders created staggered follow-up video conferences providing practical and psychological support, removing communication barriers.FindingsFeedback showed high FiY1 satisfaction with the global introduction to practice (83%) and 82% felt valued by NIMDTA and by Trusts after process completion.ConclusionApplying compassionate leadership to induction creates positive effects on doctors’ feeling of value and aligns with organisational strategic aims to support, develop and retain doctors in training programmes. We envision this model being applied to future postgraduate induction programmes.

Clinical Fellow, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, London, UK Consultant Colorectal Surgeon and Clinical Director, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, London, UK The COVID-19 pandemic has affected millions of patients around the world. Hospital departments had to adapt their services and expand their bed capacity. Our aim was to lead a team that will create a contingency rota in order to anticipate possible COVID-19 related sickness and support front-line specialities, such as Acute Medicine and Intensive Care. The team involved in the creation of this rota was led by one junior doctor from every grade. Data from the surgical take showed that the average number of daily surgical inpatients dropped from 47 in February, to 22 by the first week of April. This reduction, together with cancellation of elective operations, allowed us to create a contingency plan with a ward cover, an on-call and a stand-by team at all times. We managed to release doctors to support other departments, ensuring that surgical inpatients were receiving the pre-COVID-19 standards of care. We, also, created a ‘buddy system’, predicting possible COVID-19 sickness in the on-call or the ward-cover team. On this contingency rota, there was a ward cover team with one SHO, three FY1s and two registrars, including the team for ITU support and a ‘standby’ ward-cover team. Two of the FY1 doctors were redeployed to reinforce Acute Medicine. There was constant feedback via a ‘WhatsApp’ group from the on-call and the ward-cover team to recruit help from the standby team All doctors who were part of this rota were invited to provide feedback via a satisfaction survey. Out of 13 responses, 61.54% replied that they were satisfied or very satisfied with the contingency rota, and 76.92% replied that the rota was fair to very fair. The rota was designed by Junior doctors proving that well-thought planning measures can make all the difference when facing extremely difficult and unprecedented situations like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aim A cross-site trust in Birmingham was tasked with setting up and providing a 6-week internship scheme for 24 newly graduated doctors from medical school as extra support in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, termed FYi1s. Method A bespoke 1:1 buddy scheme between an FYi1 and current FY1 was opted for. Wherever possible, FYi1s were placed on the specialty and site they were starting on in August, and their buddy would be an FY1 currently working on that specialty. Feedback was obtained at the end of the internship. 16 of the 24 FYi1s responded to the feedback with a mixture of multiple choice and free text responses addressing communication, support, responsibility and the 1:1 buddy scheme. Results Feedback from the internship was overwhelmingly positive and used to modify features of the full induction process in August, such as dedicated coffee meetings solely for new starters to share their experiences without senior presence. The buddy system received excellent feedback and gave each FYi1 a personal support mechanism during their first weeks at the trust. Overcrowding on surgical wards was raised as an issue with a proportionally larger number of FYi1s starting on surgical rather than medical specialties volunteering to for the internship. Individual FYi1s would sometimes have to shadow different senior doctors each day if their buddy was taking annual leave or was working out-of-hours (eg. night shifts). Some FYi1s also did not manage to spend time on their August ward or specialty as that area remained a COVID zone throughout the whole of the internship. Conclusions A comprehensive and successful mentorship scheme gives new employees invaluable experience and support to enable them to perform without limitation when they do begin work on their own in August.

This Innovative Practice Full Paper discusses a STEM academy that used SeaPerch and Scratch as engaging hands-on approaches to teach seventh grade middle school girls engineering skills, scientific principles, and programming concepts to increase their knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Adding diversity to the STEM workforce and increasing enrollment in STEM degrees is critical for fulfilling the needs of our modern economy. Today, many organizations/institutions are preparing future workers for the modern workforce by implementing summer camps/academies to engage students in STEM disciplines at a young age. Exposing young students to the critical thinking and reasoning skills that are intrinsic to STEM disciplines can help to alleviate or even combat the decline of students in STEM careers. We have developed an academy to demonstrate STEM concepts to 7th grade girls. Our STEM academy differs from others in several ways: First, it was for 7th grade girls only, creating a non-competitive social learning opportunity, to improve female participation. Second, we hired female instructors and invited female professionals from local industries to assist the academy by serving as mentors and role models for the participants. Third, it introduced STEM concepts and principles to the girls. Fourth, it adopted social learning, e.g., buddy system, to help the girls to learn better. A formal assessment of the 2018 academy found that the academy’s participants experienced a significant increase in knowledge and interest in STEM. This paper describes the organization, coordination, content, and assessment of the STEM academy. It describes how the academy was organized and taught, which includes a brief description of the instructional materials, the concepts taught in each hands-on session, how the academy was assessed, the assessment results, the first-year experience of conducting the STEM academy, and lessons learned. This paper provides all the information needed for others to host similar academies and motivate the effort to increase female participation in STEM careers.

Background The National Prostate Cancer Audit (NPCA) reports publicly performance indicators for all hospitals in England and Wales providing radical prostate cancer treatment, identifying those with results that fall outside the ‘accepted range’ as ‘potential negative outliers’. Hospitals with outlying results are requested to provide a formal response. This ‘outlier process’, targeting a limited number of hospitals, mirrors a ‘high-risk approach’ of preventing poor quality care in contrast to a ‘population approach’ that would target all hospitals. We invited clinicians to a national workshop to learn how the outlier process contributes to quality improvement. Methods The workshop started with presentations on reducing the ‘toxicity’ of radical prostate cancer treatment. Then, clinicians from three hospitals identified as outliers shared their experience of the process and the changes in practice they had made as a result. We collected data in three ways. First, an online platform was used to gather comments from participants during the workshop. Second, a number of participants were interviewed about the outlier process as a means to improve quality of care. Third, feedback was sought after the workshop from all participants. Responses were collated and analysed for themes. Results Sixty-nine clinicians attended including urologists, oncologists, radiographers and nurses, representing a spread of hospitals across England and Wales. There were 6 interviews, 21 online comments and 31 responses after the workshop. The clinicians representing outlying hospitals highlighted the negative (stigma, work load, negative impact on reputation) and the positive impact (detailed review of procedures, implementation of targeted approaches) of the outlier process. Participants felt that sharing experiences of outlying hospitals helps others to improve. They also suggested a ‘buddy system’ between better and worse performing hospitals. Many highlighted the importance of ‘networks’ to share experiences, either good or bad, as a vehicle for improving practice. Discussion The outlier process was generally accepted as a possible mechanism to improve practice. However, participants indicated that effective dissemination is key to ensuring that identifying poor outcomes in some hospitals (e.g. high-risk approach) can stimulate country-wide quality improvement (population approach).

Objectives To identify the barriers to healthy eating in a nurse's work environment by utilizing the PhotoVoice method, a self-report survey, and semi-structured interviews. Methods Recruitment of participants consisted of friends and acquaintances (i.e., convenience sample) that are current nurses in the field. Research design comprised of three parts: photo collection, a self-report survey, and individual semi-structured interviews. Participants used PhotoVoice to take pictures of their experiences and environment. This tool focused on barriers, strengths and weaknesses. Participants were allotted two weeks to collect pictures, and used personal devices such as a cell phone. Pictures were then sent directly to the researcher via email and securely stored. Surveys were administered by Qualtrics to each participant to complete on their own time. The self-report survey was a compilation of variables the researcher sought to analyze: nutrition habits, mental and emotional health, physical health, and demographics. During the interviews, the participants explained and discussed their photographs. A list of follow-up questions were constructed to provide supplemental information. Each interview was completed under 30 minutes. Participants were informed the interviews were audio recorded, and were later transcribed verbatim by the researcher. Results The final sample size concluded 6 participants. Over half the nurses worked in a hospital setting. Common themes to barriers comprised of inconsistent break patterns, lack of availability and quality of food, and the abundance of accessible unhealthy options. Participant recommendations included bringing in healthier options, easier access and availability to healthy food, a nurse buddy system and accountability among staff. Conclusions Attention and research are lacking in this area and further studies are necessary to shine light on the importance of a nurse's health. Future organizational support for nurses involves an extension on cafeteria hours to allow all shifts to obtain quality food, ordering healthier options, allow for water bottles or dispensers to be heavily present and to implement a plan for sufficient breaks. Funding sources There was not a need for funding.

Purpose Behind every great hospice is a great army of volunteers. Volunteers at the hospice front line are exposed to the grief, pain, distress and joy that comes from working in palliative care. This survey aimed to establish how supported our volunteers felt in facing that emotional challenge. Our pre-survey hypothesis was that volunteers may feel under-supported and distressed by the clinical situations they are exposed to and may require the hospice to introduce a more formalised system of supervision as is offered to trained members of staff. Methods A survey was designed collaboratively between a Palliative medicine consultant and Clinical Psychologist to be completed anonymously by volunteers within the inpatient unit and reception. Results In total 17 volunteers responded with a combined total of 135 years of volunteering experience between them. Over half of the responders had initially volunteered because of a personal contact with hospice care (57%). 100% stated meeting people (patients, visitors and staff) as their main source of enjoyment. Responders felt the most challenging times were when patients declined visitors so people had to be turned away (22%), when young patients are admitted (14%) or more practical issues i.e. phones not working (14%). Only one person had experienced a challenging scenario that had left them distressed. Universally this sample of volunteers felt they had someone to talk if they did find a situation challenging. A buddy system is used so they have a co-volunteer to share concerns with or would approach the staff nurse who has nominated responsibility to oversee the volunteers. The overall majority did not feel a more formal route of support was needed. Implications: This survey, although limited by its small sample size, still proved our preconceptions wrong. Our volunteer body is resilient and the buddy system provides an internal support network that is well utilised.

There is controversy today about whether decentralized intensive care unit (ICU) designs featuring alcoves and multiple sites for charting are effective. There are issues relating to travel distance, visibility of patients, visibility of staff colleagues, and communications among caregivers, along with concerns about safety risk. When these designs became possible and popular, many ICU designs moved away from the high-visibility circular, semicircular, or box-like shapes and began to feature units with more linear shapes and footprints similar to acute bed units. Critical care nurses on the new, linear units have expressed concerns. This theory and opinion article relies upon field observations in unrelated research studies and consulting engagements, along with material from the relevant literature. It leads to a challenging hypothesis that criticism of decentralized charting alcoves may be misplaced, and that the associated problem may stem from corridor design and unit size in contemporary ICU design. The authors conclude that reliable data from research investigations are needed to confirm the anecdotal reports of nurses. If problems are present in current facilities, organizations may wish to consider video monitoring, expanded responsibilities in the current buddy system, and use of greater information sharing during daily team huddles. New designs need to involve nurses and carefully consider these issues.

Contiguous allocation of parallel jobs in multicomputers usually suffers from the degrading effects of fragmentation, because it requires that the allocated processors be contiguous and have the same topology as that of the multicomputer's interconnection network. Fragmentation can be avoided by adopting non-contiguous allocation. However, non-contiguous allocation can increase the distances among processors allocated to a job, which can increase the interference among messages of different jobs and increases message contention and delays. This paper suggests a new non-contiguous processor allocation strategy, referred to as Minimum Interference Paging (MIP), for the 2D mesh network. MIP attempts to reduce the distances among processors allocated using a paging variant that chooses a set of processors with the lowest distance between the first and last allocated processors, where the distance is the number of processors between the first allocated node and last allocated node. Using software simulation, we compared the performance of MIP against that of several well-known non-contiguous allocation strategies: paging (0), Multiple Buddy System (MBS) and Adaptive Non-contiguous Allocation (ANCA). The comparative evaluation was conducted using First-Come-First-Served (FCFS) job scheduling, wormhole routing and six communication patterns. These are the one-to-all, all-to-all, Near Neighbour, Ring, Divide and Conquer Binomial Tree (DQBT), and Random communication patterns. The results show that MIP exhibits superior performance in terms of average turnaround time of jobs.

AimsThe COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of wellbeing amongst healthcare professionals. Medical professionals, notably junior doctors, are at increased risk of developing poor mental health and burnout. The GMC Barometer Study in 2020 showed that 32% of doctors found the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic detrimental to their wellbeing and mental health.The aim of this quality improvement project was to assess and improve hospital wellbeing support available to foundation doctors within Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (GHNHSFT) by learning and reflecting on the impact of COVID-19.MethodAfter identifying a lack of resources within GHNHSFT, wellbeing information boards were displayed in communal areas and distributed by email. These encompassed trust wide support, practical information including childcare and relaxation resources concentrating on mindfulness, exercise and culture. A survey of foundation doctors was completed to assess doctors’ focus and approach to wellbeing. Questions assessed influential factors in maintaining wellbeing, access to current hospital resources and future interventions.Result94% of respondents recognised that their focus on wellbeing increased during COVID-19. One third of foundation doctors found it challenging to maintain their wellbeing, with 40% reporting difficulty accessing hospital support and advice. The most important factors foundation doctors identified in maintaining wellbeing were exercise, cooking and baking, and social networks. Colleagues were a significant source of wellbeing support, followed by notice boards, email resources and social media.ConclusionCOVID-19 highlighted the importance and burden on wellbeing of foundation doctors, with a significant number struggling to access support. Future recommendations include the use of a ‘buddy system’, regular and accessible exercise classes and improved communication of wellbeing support and resources to staff members.Buddy systems have already shown success amongst teams however it is important these are accessible to all foundation doctors and universally offered within the trust. A weekly yoga class is being reintroduced to be available to all doctors.A particular focus has been the development of a health and wellbeing section to feature in the trusts weekly communications, with the aim to regularly signpost staff to ongoing wellbeing resources and support.Social networking and media were highlighted as important in both maintaining wellbeing and accessing resources. A future goal is to develop an official GHNHSFT Instagram or Twitter account focused on wellbeing. We hope to continue to learn from the impact of COVID-19, improving the availability of wellbeing support at GHNHSFT that will continue into the future.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine human resource management (HRM) innovation programs in the early stages of employment for workers with an intellectual disability (WWID).Design/methodology/approachThe first case study was carried out at a large national courier company where a film innovation programme was used to enhance the socialisation process of WWID. The second case study was at a five-star hotel situated in a large city where a buddy system innovation programme was used in the induction and training process of WWID.FindingsThe overarching “life theme” created through these innovation programs was one of enhanced and creative opportunities for social inclusion. The participants displayed more confidence and independence in their ability and exhibited aspirations to advance and succeed in their roles.Practical implicationsThe study argues that HR professionals need to be more proactive in finding innovative ways to engage WWID in the early stages of employment.Originality/valueThe qualitative study is underpinned by socialisation and career construction theory which provides the framework to discuss the ways in which socialisation and socially inclusive HRM practices enable participants and other WWID achieve success on their career paths. The key message of our research is that early vocational socialisation innovation programs can make a positive difference to the work experiences of WWID.