Theme – Knowledge Translation & Utilisation

Theme lead: Prof. Jo Rycroft-Malone, PhD, MSc, BSc(Hons), RN
Reader in Health Services Research j.rycroft-malone@bangor.ac.uk

Editor: Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing
http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/wvebn

Knowledge Translation & Utilization

The international and national political context of health care, and of other public services, espouses the need to base practice on evidence of ‘what works’.
Over the last 10 years the prominence afforded evidence based practice has been ever increasing. Despite this emphasis and substantial investment by health care services to improve services and patient care based on evidence of what works, there remain substantial challenges in meeting this agenda. Challenges include the development of a high quality body of evidence of what works, a lack of understanding about how to effectively integrate evidence into current practice and how to sustain changes to practice. Additionally questions remain about how to most appropriately evaluate interventions and effects.

This theme of work is concerned with conducting research, and critical inquiry into the processes and outcomes of using knowledge, including research evidence, practitioner and patient experience, and local information, in practice. In conducting this work we intend to contribute to the empirical and theoretical evidence base concerning knowledge translation and utilisation; and thereby find ways to improve patient care.

Current funded projects:

1. Evaluating the effectiveness of different knowledge translation strategies for the implementation of best practice in perioperative fasting in the UK’s NHS. Funded by The Health Foundation – Principal investigator – Jo Rycroft-Malone

2. The contribution of nursing, midwifery and health visiting to protocol based care and its variants on organisation, patient and staff outcomes, and quality of care. Funded by NHS Service Delivery & Organisation (SDO) Programme – Principal investigator – Jo Rycroft-Malone

3. Exploring clinical decision-making using protocols. Funded by NHS Service Delivery & Organisation (SDO) Programme – Principal investigator – Jo Rycroft-Malone

4. Implementation and evaluation of the paediatric pain profile, a behaviour rating scale to assess pain in children with severe neurological impairment. Funded by The Health Foundation – Co-investigator – Jo Rycroft-Malone, Principal investigator Dr Anne Hunt, University of Lancaster

5. Improving the Quality of Care through Routine, Successful Implementation of Evidence-based Practice at the Bedside. Funded by the Robert Woods Johnston Foundation (United States) Co-investigator – Jo Rycroft-Malone, Principal Investigator Dr Cheryl Stetler, Boston University & Independent Consultant. Other collaborators Dr Judith Ritchie McGill University, Montreal & Dr Alyce Shultz Arizona State University.

Collaborations:

Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARIHS) project. Collaborators: Jo Rycroft-Malone, University of Wales, Bangor; Prof Alison Kitson, RCN; Professor Brendan McCormack, University of Ulster; Dr Gill Harvey, University of Manchester; Prof Kate Seers & Dr Angie Titchen, RCN Institute.

Professor Carole Estabrooks, Dr Anne Sales, Dr Joanne Profetto-McGrath, Grete Cummings - Knowledge Utilization Studies Programme (KUSP) University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. www.nursing.ualberta.ca/kusp

Dr Lars Wallin, Dr Yvonne Wengstrom, AnneMarie Bostrom, Kerstin Nilsson-Kajermo, Petter Gustavsson, & Susanne Heiwe – Clinical Research Team, Karolinska Hospital & Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.

Dr Tracey Bucknall, University of Melbourne, & Director of Nursing Research University Hospital, Australia. Clinical decision-making and knowledge translation.

Translating Research in Elder Care (TREC) Principal Investigator: Professor Carole Estabrookes (University of Alberta). Co-investigators: Rycroft-Malone J., Sue Dopson (UK), Greta G. Cummings (Canada), Lesley F. Degner (Canada), Heather K. Laschinger (Canada), Michael P. Leiter (Canada), Debra Morgan (Canada), Peter G. Norton (Canada), Joanne Profetto-McGrath (Canada), Malcolm Smith (Canada), Anne Sales (Canada). International team grant: Translating Research in Elder Care (TREC), the purpose of this research is to address the impact of context [i.e., work environment] on knowledge use and the subsequent impact of knowledge use on resident outcomes (and secondarily on system and provider outcomes) in long term care settings.