Building knowledge translation competency in a community-based hospital: a practice-informed curriculum for healthcare providers, researchers, and leadership

Abstract

Background: Enacting knowledge translation (KT) in healthcare settings is a complex process that requires organizational facilitation. In addition to addressing organizational-level barriers, targeting individual-level factors such as KT competencies are a necessary component of this aim. While literature on KT competency training is rapidly growing, there has been little exploration of the potential benefits of training initiatives delivered from an intra-organizational perspective. Addressing this gap, we developed the Knowledge Translation Facilitator Network (KTFN) to meet the KT needs of individuals expected to use and produce knowledge (e.g., healthcare providers, research staff, managers, family advisors) within an academic health sciences center. The aim of this study is to describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of the KTFN curriculum. Methods: An educational framework was used to guide creation of the KTFN curriculum. Stakeholder interviews, a literature review of KT competency, and environmental scan of capacity building initiatives plus adult learning principles were combined with in-house experience of KT practitioners to inform content and delivery. An evaluation strategy consisting of pre/post-test curriculum and post-session satisfaction surveys, as well as postcurriculum interviews assessed impact on participant knowledge and skills and captured perceived value of KFTN. Results: The curriculum has been delivered three times over 3 years, with 30 individuals trained, representing healthcare providers, graduate level research trainees, managers, and family advisors. Using the New World Kirkpatrick Model as an analysis framework, we found that the KTFN curriculum was highly valued and shifted learners' perceptions of KT. Participants identified enhanced knowledge and skills that could be applied to different facets of their work; increased confidence in their ability to execute KT tasks; and intention to use the content in future projects. Barriers to future use included time to plan and conduct KT activities.

Implementation Practice in Human Service Systems: Understanding the Principles and Competencies of Professionals Who Support Implementation

“…A review of the literature demonstrates two important findings. First, there has been an increase in the last five years of publications on developing training curricula to build core competencies for implementation among researchers and direct service providers (Kirchner et al, 2016;Leeman et al, 2017, Moore, Rashid, Park, Khan, & Straus, 2018Provvidenza, Townley, Wincentak, Peacocke, & Kingsnorth, 2020;Ramaswamy, et al, 2019;Schultes, Aijaz, Klug, & Fixsen, 2020;Straus, Brouwers, et al, 2011;Ullrich, Mahler, Forstner, Szecsenyi, & Wensing, 2017). Second, most of these curricula are focused on building the competencies of implementation researchers, service practitioners or leaders within social service or health service agencies.…”

Implementation Support Skills: Findings From a Systematic Integrative Review

“…This type of expertise has been highlighted as one of the particularly important elements in progressing a wider adoption and application of RSIs in human and social services (Brownson et al, 2018), especially in the field of social work, where implementation science has taken hold only slowly (Barth et al, 2017; Cabassa, 2016). Only recently has the question about how to build this implementation capacity in service agencies and their staff gained increasing attention, reflected in publications that report on theory development (Leeman et al, 2017), the design of implementation courses (Moore et al, 2018; Mosson et al, 2019; Park et al, 2018; Provvidenza et al, 2020), or reviews of the existing literature on strategies and approaches used in implementation capacity building (Leeman et al, 2015; Stander et al, 2018).…”

Driving health technologies towards performance: a contextualisation within the hospital setting

“…Finally, in the learning and growth perspective it is paramount to make sure that hospitals feed their set of competencies and of knowledge (Provvidenza et al, 2020). Indicators able to capture the quantity and quality of training activities or the scientific contribution to the academic society are examples of dimensions that belong to this area.…”