Transcript PUTTING KNOWLEDGE TO WORK

PUTTING KNOWLEDGE TO
WORK
The Evidence Dissemination Service at
Southern Health: an update
Catherine Voutier
Centre For Clinical Effectiveness
The Setting
Southern Health is the largest integrated
primary, secondary and tertiary metropolitan
hospital network in Victoria.
The role of the Centre for Clinical
Effectiveness (CCE) at Southern Health is
to promote and support health
professionals, managers and policy
makers to use the best available evidence
to improve healthcare.
The raison d'être
The aim of the resource allocation program is to
support Southern Health decision-makers to
make evidence-based decisions regarding
technologies and clinical practices through the
provision of high quality synthesised evidence.
SHARE: Sustainability in Healthcare by Allocating
Resources Effectively
Services: Capacity Building, Data Service,
Evidence Dissemination Service, Project Support
Service
Evidence-based change process
Step 1- Identify the need for change
Information needs analysis
Step 2 - Develop a proposal for change
• Identify sources of synthesised evidence
• Categorise (speciality, clinical area, condition)
• Translate (re-format)
• Disseminate (broad (all evidence)/targeted)
• Pre-testing and piloting
• Evaluation plan
Step 3 – Implement the change
Advertising, placing links on intranet and SH internet pages,
meeting with committees
Step 4 – Evaluate the change
Evidence-based change process
A. Apply the principles of evidence-based decision-making
 Seek evidence (research literature, public health data & local information)
 Consult health service personnel (clinicians, educators, managers, policy makers)

Consult consumers (patients, other health providers)
Step 1
Identify need for
change
Step 2
Develop proposal
for change
Step 3
Implement
change
Step 4
Evaluate extent &
results of change
B. Address systems issues
 Ensure sustainability through structure, skills, resources and commitment
 Avoid duplication
 Integrate with existing systems Evidence-based change process
C. Document and investigate the change process in an action research approach
Choice of hosting mechanism
No funding for IT!
Web 2.0 tools such as blogs and wikis with free set-up and
hosting were considered.
WordPress blogging software was chosen because:
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Easy to set up and maintain
Professional finish
Availability of a variety of widgets
Ability to store documents within the blog
Various upgrades available (ad-free, bigger storage capacity etc)
In-depth statistics
The pilot website
Then ...
Pilot evaluation
Issues identified:
• Sustainability
• Main staff member on leave results in EDS not being
updated (simplified workflow developed)
• Taxonomy
• Top level ICD10 headings too broad
• Statistics
• Problematic Feedburner statistics
• User comments and problems
• Made into a FAQ page
EDS Refinement - Delivery options
The pilot: Feedburner
Enables blog posts to be sent to a subscribers
email in a weekly bulletin format
• The weekly email bulletin looks good, but the statistics
are unfathomable!
The new EDS
Wordpress introduces email delivery with delivery
options
• Make sure you get subscribers to choose the weekly
bulletin option!!
EDS Refinement - Taxonomy
The pilot: a choice between broad headings or
specific headings [ICD10]
The new EDS: Drop ICD10 in favour of MeSH
disease headings
The pilot: MeSH Health Professions tree for
Professional Group and Speciality
The new EDS: Merged Professional Group with
Speciality
No change in:
• Health Technology (SH headings/definitions)
• Clinical Setting (CCE headings)
The new website
Targeted evidence feeds
WordPress Statistics
Step 4 - Evaluating the Change
Main evaluation questions for EDS will involve:
• Was the EDS used by decision makers at Southern
Health?
• What is the wider uptake of EDS in Southern
Health (all staff considered)?
• Were the users of EDS satisfied with the useability
of web based and email services?
• Was EDS implemented as planned?
• What are the ongoing costs of EDS?
Thank you
Questions or comments? You are welcome to
contact me at:
[email protected]
Acknowledgements:
Angela Melder Senior Consultant/ Manager of Evidence Service, CCE
Tim Dyer
Senior Project Officer, CCE
Marie Garrubba Project Officer, CCE
… and the members of the project steering committee