Facilitating the use of research evidence

"Facilitating the use of research is the topic of a newly published virtual issue of The Milbank Quarterly. The issue includes, in chronological order, twenty-two articles and two commentaries that were published in the Quarterly between 2001 and 2011."

Facilitating the use of research evidence
Milbank Quarterly - 2011 Milbank Memorial Fund
Edited by Bradford H. Gray
2011

Read the whole issue here.

The Network - connect people, share knowledge, improve care

The Network is an online community and network for medical students, junior doctors and newly qualified consultants and GPs with an interest in clinical leadership and medical management.


Read more here or go straight to The Network.

Quality and safety in European hospitals

"The 'Quality and Safety in Europe by Research' (QUASER) study will investigate how hospitals implement, spread and sustain quality improvement, including the difficulties they face and how they overcome them."


A longitudinal, multi-level comparative study of quality and safety in European hospitals: the QUASER study protocol
GB Robert, JE Anderson, SJ Burnett, K Aase, B Andersson-Gare, R Bal, J Calltorp, F Nunes, AM Weggelaar, CA Vincent, NJ Fulop
BMC Health Services Research, 2011, 11:285

Read more here.

Increasing reporting rates and reducing harm

"Actively developing a transparent and positive safety culture at the unit level can improve medication safety."


Increasing medication error reporting rates while reducing harm through simultaneous cultural and system-level interventions in an intensive care unit
KM Abstoss, BE Shaw, TA Owens, JL Juno, EL Commiskey, MF Niedner
BMJ Quality and Safety, 2011, 20(11):914-922

Read more here.

Patient safety competency assessment

"This review aims to identify the available assessment tools for different patient safety domains and evaluate them according to Miller’s four competency levels."


Assessing the patient safety competencies of healthcare professionals: a systematic review
A Okuyama, K Martowirono, B Bijnen
BMJ Quality and Safety, 2011, 20(11):991-1000

Read more here.

Collaborative care for depression treatment in primary care

"Depression collaborative care models designed and implemented by primary care practices using evidence based quality improvement improved antidepressant initiation."


Implementing collaborative care for depression treatment in primary care: a cluster randomized evaluation of a quality improvement practice redesign
EF Chaney, LV Rubenstein, CF Liu, EM Yano, C Bolkan, M Lee, B Simon, A Lanto, B Felker, J Uman
Implementation Science, 2011, 6:121

Read more here.

Guiding patients through complexity: modern medical generalism

"This Commission believes that medical generalism has a strong and growing part to play in the way that health care must change, radically, to respond both to the needs of an ageing population living with widespread, often multiple, chronic conditions and to the growing imperative for patients to be in partnership with their doctors and to be able jointly to plan their care."


Guiding patients through complexity: modern medical generalism: Report of an independent commission for the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Health Foundation
The Health Foundation
October 2011

Read more here.

Experience-based co-design

"This toolkit outlines a powerful and effective way of improving patients' experiences of services."


Experience-based co-design: working with patients to improve health care
The King's Fund
2011

Read more here.

CHSRF on Call - free webinars on health service transformation

"CHSRF on Call is a series of free webinars, in English and French, featuring policy- and decision- makers as they explore existing evidence on key topics to see how it can improve the delivery of health services and the health of Canadians."

The service is provided by the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation and you can read more here.

Uncertainty, evidence and irrecoverable costs

"This research was commissioned to inform when NICE should approve health technologies only in research (OIR) or with research (AWR)."


Uncertainty, evidence and irrecoverable costs: Informing approval, pricing and research decisions for health technologies
K Claxton, S Palmer, L Longworth, L Bojke, S Griffin, C McKenna, M Soares, E Spackman, J Youn
Centre for Health Economics
October 2011

Read more here.

Hospitals and care systems of the future

"This report will mobilize hospital senior leadership teams to consider the strategies they must deploy throughout their individual organizations to adapt and succeed in the future."


Hospitals and care systems of the future
American Hospital Association
September 2011

Read more here.

Health datasets for economists

"This Compendium of Health Datasets for Economists (ICoHDE) provides the largest collection of English specific datasets available for researchers interested in the field of economics of health and health care."


The interactive compendium of health datasets for economists
University of Oxford
2011

Access the resource here.

Operating principles for health and wellbeing boards

These operating principles have been designed to support the effective establishment and functioning of health and wellbeing boards.


Operating principles for health and wellbeing boards
NHS Confederation
October 2011

Read more here.

Patient and public engagement in the new commissioning system

"This paper draws on a round-table discussion held by the NHS Confederation in August 2011 to consider the critical issues which clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) will need to address in developing approaches to meaningful and effective patient and public engagement."

Patient and public engagement in the new commissioning system
NHS Confederation
October 2011

Read more here.

Building a successful NHS Commissioning Board

"This paper sets out our views on plans for establishing a new NHS Commissioning Board."


Building a successful NHS Commissioning Board
NHS Confederation
October 2011

Read more here.

Testing treatments: better research for better healthcare

"Medicine shouldn’t be about authority, and the most important question anyone can ask on any claim is simple: ‘how do you know?’ This book is about the answer to that question."

Testing treatments: better research for better healthcare 2nd ed
I Evans, H Thornton, I Chalmers, P Glasziou
2011

Read more here.

Social determinants of health - what doctors can do

This paper will sets out some of the evidence and examples of actions that doctors can take to affect the social determinants of health and reduce the social gradient.

Social determinants of health - what doctors can do
British Medical Association
October 2011

Read more here.

Effective management of records during a period of transition or organisational change

"This document provides guidance on records management for NHS organisations who are going through a period of transition."

NHS Information Governance: Effective management of records during a period of transition or organisational change
Department of Health
September 2011

Read more here.

Communities of practice in health

"Communities of Practice (CoPs) are promoted in the healthcare sector as a means of generating and sharing knowledge and improving organisational performance."


How and why are communities of practice established in the healthcare sector? A systematic review of the literature
G Ranmuthugala, JJ Plumb, FC Cunningham, A Georgiou, JI Westbrook, J Braithwaite
BMC Health Servics Research, 2011, 11:273

Read more here.

Ten steps to transform the use of evidence

Over the next ten days NESTA will outline a number of the challenges and barriers that are frequently encountered when trying to improve the use of evidence in social policy decision making.

Ten steps to transform the use of evidence
R Puttick
NESTA
2011

Read more here.

Pay-for-performance in disease management

"The objectives of this paper are therefore to provide an overview of P4P schemes used to stimulate delivery of chronic care through disease management and to provide insight into their effects on healthcare quality and costs."

Pay-for-performance in disease management: a systematic review of the literature
SR de Bruin, CA Baan, JN Struijs
BMC Health Services Research, 2011, 11:272

Read more here.

Innovative teaching methods for capacity building in knowledge translation

"This article introduces two innovative methods for capacity building in knowledge translation (KT)."

Innovative teaching methods for capacity building in knowledge translation
HA Wahabi, LA Al-Ansary
BMC Medical Education, 2011, 11:85

Read more here.

Improving care and reducing costs for high-risk patients

"Our objective was to pilot a novel patient-centered intervention for high-risk patients with frequent hospital admissions to determine its potential to improve care and reduce costs."

An intervention to improve care and reduce costs for high-risk patients with frequent hospital admissions: a pilot study
MC Raven, KM Doran, S Kostrowski, CC Gillespie, BD Elbel
BMC Health Services Research, 2011, 11:270

Read more here.

Can patients be teachers?

"Involving patients and service users in healthcare professionals’ education"


Can patients be teachers?
The Health Foundation
October 2011

Read more here.

Challenges to value-enhancing innovation in health care delivery

"Limiting the growth of health care costs while improving population health is perhaps the most important and difficult challenge facing U.S. health policymakers."


Challenges to value-enhancing innovation in health care delivery: commonalities and contrasts with innovation in drugs and devices
S Garber, SM Gates, ME Blume-Kohout, JR Burgdorf, H Wu
RAND
October 2011

Read more here.

Opportunities and challenges of cloud computing to improve health care services

"This paper discusses the concept of cloud computing and its current place in health care, and uses 4 aspects (management, technology, security, and legal) to evaluate the opportunities and challenges of this computing model."


Opportunities and challenges of cloud computing to improve health care services
A Mu-Hsing Kuo
Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2011, 13(3):e67

Read more here.

The NHS as a driver for growth

"The UK has immense strengths, both in basic research in these areas and in the professionalism and commitment within the NHS."


The NHS as a driver for growth
Council for Science and Technology
September 2011

Read more here.

Personal health budgets

"This briefing describes five tests which can help to identify the gaps in our current understanding of personal health budgets."

Personal health budgets: countdown to roll-out
J Roland
NHS Confederation
October 2011

Read more here.

Benefits and problems of electronic information exchange as perceived by health care professionals

"The results of this study provide valuable suggestions about how to promote health care providers' willingness to adopt electronic information exchange, which can be useful for other countries currently implementing an n-EPR."

Benefits and problems of electronic information exchange as perceived by health care professionals: an interview study
Zwaanswijk M, Verheij RA, Wiesman FJ, Friele RD
BMC Health Services Research, 2011, 11:256

Read more here.

Organizational readiness for innovation in health care

"This paper identifies recommendations for increasing the readiness of health-care organizations for innovation."

Organizational readiness for innovation in health care: some lessons from the recent literature
I Williams
Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham
July 2011

Read more here.

Integrated care

"The aim of this paper is to describe the different forms of integrated care and to summarise evidence on their impact."

Integrated care: What is it? Does it work? What does it mean for the NHS?
C Ham
The King's Fund
September 2011

Read more here.

Issues facing commissioners of end-of-life care

"The diverse needs of people nearing the end of life mean that commissioners need to develop approaches to commissioning integrated and personalised care."

Issues facing commissioners of end-of-life care
R Addicott, J Hiley
The King's Fund
September 2011

Read more here.

Measuring teamwork in health care settings

"This paper helps to identify existing teamwork scales that may be most useful in  testing theoretical models."

Measuring teamwork in health care settings: a review of survey instruments
MA Valentine, IM Nembhard, AC Edmondson
Harvard Business School
September 2011

Read more here.

Setting priorities in health

"The research reported here demonstrates that PCTs have made significant progress in establishing priority-setting processes and, although there are some key weaknesses from which we can learn, they have used many different methods, procedures and processes in seeking to prioritise health needs."

Setting priorities in health: a study of English primary care trusts
S Robinson, H Dickinson, Iestyn Williams, T Freeman, B Rumbold, K Spence
Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham and the Nuffield Trust
September 2011

Read more here.

Key challenges in simulated patient programs

This international case study, focusing on Australia, Canada, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, reveals similarities and differences in simulated or standardised patient methodology.


Key challenges in simulated patient programs: an international comparative case study
D Nestel, D Tabak, T Tierney, C Layat-Burn, A Robb, S Clark, T Morrison, N Jones, R Ellis, C Smith, N McNaughton, K Knickle, J Higham, R Kneebone
BMC Medical Education, 2011, 11:69

Read more here.

Effective interventions to facilitate the uptake of screening

"Using established guideline development methodologies and the AGREE II as our methodological frameworks, we developed an implementation guideline to advise on interventions to increase the rate of breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening."

Effective interventions to facilitate the uptake of breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening: an implementation guideline
MC Brouwers, C De Vito, L Bahirathan, A Carol, JC Carroll, M Cotterchio, M Dobbins, B Lent, C Levitt, N Lewis, SE McGregor, L Paszat, C Rand, N Wathen
Implementation Science, 2011, 6:112

Read more here.

Review of methods used in assessing non-serious adverse drug events in observational studies among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients

"We conclude that the current assessment of adverse drug events is hampered by the choice of methods."

A review of methods used in assessing non-serious adverse drug events in observational studies among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients
L Hakobyan, FM Haaijer-Ruskamp, D de Zeeuw, D Dobre, P Denig
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 2011, 9:83

Read more here.

Shared leadership for change

"Case studies and learning from a programme to improve the quality of care for people from black and minority ethnic groups."

Learning report: Shared leadership for change
The Health Foundation
September 2011

Read more here.

New medical professionalism

The report reviews the ways in which doctors’ relationships with evidence, society, patients, teams, regulators and employers have changed, are changing or may need to change, and the implications for medical professionalism.


New medical professionalism: a scoping report for the Health Foundation
S Christmas, L Millward
The Health Foundation

Read more here.

Improving prescribing practice

The purpose of this group was "to understand the barriers to effective use of medicines by patients so that they can realise the benefits and minimise the risks for themselves."


N=1: Why people matter in medicines - recommendations of a subgroup of the Royal college of Physicians Medicines Forum
Royal College of Physicians
June 2011

Read more here.

The influence of health research on the NHS

"Health services research can have a significant impact on maintaining quality, efficiency, equity and cost effectiveness in the new NHS landscape."


The influence of health research on the NHS
NHS Confederation
October 2011

Read more here.

Improving surgical care for higher risk patients

"Evidence indicates that the peri-operative pathway followed by patients requiring emergency surgical
management is frequently disjointed, protracted and not always patient centred. This document describes key issues and standards."

The higher risk general surgical patient: towards improved care for a forgotten group
The Royal College of Surgeons of England and Department of Health
2011

Read more here.

Adult emergency services

"This review explored the extent to which services across London were reliably safe throughout twenty-four hour periods and at weekends by considering the availability of key staff, namely consultants, as well as the necessary therapeutic and diagnostic support systems. It considered evidence from the literature with regard to the impact on outcomes for patients treated out-of-hours. It also examined hospital episodes statistics (HES) data in relation to mortality in London."

Adult emergency services: acute medicine and emergency general surgery: case for change
NHS London
September 2011

Read more here.