Contextualizing learning to improve care using collaborative communities of practices

Abstract

BackgroundThe use of interorganizational, collaborative approaches to build capacity in quality improvement (QI) in health care is showing promise as a useful model for scaling up and accelerating the implementation of interventions that bridge the “know-do” gap to improve clinical care and provider outcomes. Fundamental to a collaborative approach is interorganizational learning whereby organizations acquire, share, and combine knowledge with other organizations and have the opportunity to learn from their respective successes and challenges in improvement areas. This learning approach aims to create the conditions for collaborative, reflective, and innovative experiential systems that enable collective discussions regarding daily practice issues and finding solutions for improvement.MethodsThe concepts associated with interorganizational learning and deliberate learning activities within a collaborative ‘Communities-of-practice’(CoP) approach formed the foundation of the of an interactive QI knowledge translation initiative entitled PERFORM KT. Nine teams participated including seven teams from two acute care hospitals, one from a long term care center, and one from a mental health sciences center. Six monthly CoP learning sessions were held and teams, with the support of an assigned mentor, implemented a QI project and monitored their results which were presented at an end of project symposium. 47 individuals participated in either a focus group or a personal interview. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using an iterative content analysis.ResultsFour key themes emerged from the narrative dataset around experiences and perceptions associated with the PERFORM KT initiative: 1) being successful and taking it to other levels by being systematic, structured, and mentored; 2) taking it outside the comfort zone by being exposed to new concepts and learning together; 3) hearing feedback, exchanging stories, and getting new ideas; and 4) having a pragmatic and accommodating approach to apply new learnings in local contexts.ConclusionsStudy findings offer insights into collaborative, inter-organizational CoP learning approaches to build QI capabilities amongst clinicians, staff, and managers. In particular, our study delineates the need to contextualize QI learning by using deliberate learning activities to balance systematic and structured approaches alongside pragmatic and accommodating approaches with expert mentors.

Learning to navigate and enriching the research process by engaging in a collaborative practice research capacity strategy

“…This finding is consistent with other findings that highlight the importance that CoPs have in designing learning spaces that enable collaborative, reflective discourse on issues that participants are or have experienced in research [22] and quality improvement [25,26] capacity building efforts. [27,28] In our study, participants described being able to move their research project forward and navigate the system by learning how to conduct research by experts; applying their learnings to their research project; being motivated by and provided with tactical tips from other participating interprofessional research teams; and knowing what resources existed.…”

Attitudes Toward Health Care Virtual Communities of Practice: Survey Among Health Care Workers

“…This includes greater recognition of the need to improve information sharing and enhanced communication to meet these needs [1]. One way to achieve these goals is through communities of practice (CoPs), which are increasingly used in health care as a means of advancing knowledge use and creation through collaborative learning [2,3]. A CoP is defined as “a group of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis” [4].…”

Role of public involvement in the Royal College of Physicians’ Future Hospitals healthcare improvement programme: an evaluation

“…The support and endorsement for PPI from a prestigious medical college was also a key factor in PPI being seen as an important and worthwhile activity. This way of improving practice through professional communities and expert reassurance has been used in other studies,34 and worked well in the FHP, although other studies suggest more mixed evidence of their effectiveness 35…”