Strengthening the evidence-policy interface for patient safety: enhancing global health through hospital partnerships

Abstract

Strengthening the evidence-policy interface is a well-recognized health system challenge in both the developed and developing world. Brokerage inherent in hospital-to-hospital partnerships can boost relationships between “evidence” and “policy” communities and move developing countries towards evidence based patient safety policy. In particular, we use the experience of a global hospital partnership programme focused on patient safety in the African Region to explore how hospital partnerships can be instrumental in advancing responsive decision-making, and the translation of patient safety evidence into health policy and planning. A co-developed approach to evidence-policy strengthening with seven components is described, with reflections from early implementation. This rapidly expanding field of enquiry is ripe for shared learning across continents, in keeping with the principles and spirit of health systems development in a globalized world.

Learning from developing countries in strengthening health systems: an evaluation of personal and professional impact among global health volunteers at Addis Ababa University’s Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital (Ethiopia)

“…For example, the exchange trips included leadership development and capacity building, technical training, and work plan development, and delivery of content happened in both Ethiopia and Wisconsin. This fostered two-way learning and sharing, an innovative model that has demonstrated impact in other partnerships [ 20 ]. Knowing what kinds of impact can result from global health partnerships can improve the monitoring and evaluation methods.…”

Obstacles to implementation of an intervention to improve surgical services in an Ethiopian hospital: a qualitative study of an international health partnership project

“…One prominent approach to quality improvement efforts in LICs involves international collaborations with partners from high-income countries. Such international partnerships form an increasingly prominent approach to tackling healthcare quality and safety in Ethiopia, as elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa [ 15 , 16 ]. International partnership initiatives in the Ethiopian context include, for example, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (which works with the government on a range of programs to improve access to and quality of health services), the World Health Organization’s (WHO) African Partnerships for Patient Safety programme (which supports and facilitates learning across hospital-to-hospital partnerships), and numerous institutional health partnerships between hospitals and/or universities in Ethiopia and high-income countries such as the UK.…”

Bench to Bedside: Cultivating Student Champions and Clinician Super-Users of Evidence-Based Practice

“…The literature clearly demonstrates multiple benefits derived from network cultivation, namely improved safety outcomes [21], enhanced collaborative patient-centered care [22,23], and heightened compliance with Triple Aim initiatives of healthcare reform [24][25][26]. While Nabavi and colleagues report partnerships as being able to provide the collaboration and joint practice necessary to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes [27], Teel and colleagues note support, flexibility, and open communication to be necessary and essential elements [28].…”