Quality Cafe: Harnessing Professional Networks to Spread Best Practices for Quality Improvement

How do best practices “move” from care site to care site? Why do some very effective practices never gain traction while others seem to spread effortlessly? Promoting the adoption of best practices to improve health care quality can be difficult and time-consuming. By understanding how information travels through informal professional networks, and identifying well-connected people or organizations to champion innovations within them, you can increase the chances that best practices will benefit more patients.

In this webinar, presenters Jim Dearing, Amanda Beacom and Stephanie Chamberlain will:

• Introduce social network analysis as a tool for quality improvement and spreading best practices
• Present an example of how we are using social network analysis for quality improvement in the long-term care sector in British Columbia and throughout Canada
• Offer insights and recommendations for how health care professionals can use this approach in their own work

Presenters:

James W. Dearing, PhD, is Professor of Communication at Michigan State University and an expert on the diffusion of innovations.

Amanda M. Beacom, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Alberta, with expertise in social network analysis.

Stephanie Chamberlain is a PhD Candidate, also in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Alberta, with expertise in quality of care and quality of life in long-term care facilities.

All three are researchers on the Advice Seeking Networks in Long Term Care project, an initiative of the Translating Research in Elder Care (TREC) program. TREC is a research program focused on developing solutions for improving the quality of care provided to nursing home residents, enriching the work life of their caregivers, and enhancing system efficiency. Read their recently published article here: “Pathways for best practice diffusion: the structure of informal relationships in Canada’s long-term care sector.”

Learn more about the event and register.

 

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