Video-reflexive methods (VRM) have been used for more than a decade to successfully foster practice-improvement in healthcare settings. VRM are designed to grapple with the complexity of healthcare work, and to harness the expertise of frontline staff and stakeholders, through video feedback of everyday clinical practices and guided group reflection on this feedback. Staff are often enthusiastic and engaged in these innovative projects, and find them valuable. However, few healthcare units in Australia have adopted the method for use in clinician-led research or quality improvement projects.

This project provided a 1.5-day VRM workshop for nurses in Westmead hospital, to support them in designing, implementing and evaluating their own projects, to address issues in their own units. Support also included in-person advice during participants’ projects, and the loan of equipment. Of our six workshop participants, four were able to initiate projects, and three projects are currently underway, focusing on clinical handover, and hand hygiene.

Through semi-structured interviews and a focus group with participants, we have identified the factors that make it difficult for clinicians to undertake these projects, as well as the factors that enable them to do so. Our findings have immediate implications for developing future workshops and support for clinicians in undertaking projects using VRM. However, they also help us understand the challenges and opportunities involved when we invite healthcare professionals to undertake research methods for continuous learning and practice improvement, in increasingly complex circumstances.