Knowledge Management

This health information needs assessment, conducted in the capital city and 3 districts of Malawi from July 2009 to September 2009, aimed to determine access to, and need for, health information by health workers in HIV/AIDS and family planning/reproductive health at all levels of the health system. [adapted from abstract]

Many health professionals and policymakers in Africa lack access to the information needed to make evidence-based decisions for effective health care. This study collected qualitative data from 75 key informants and members of two focus groups in Senegal on various aspects of health information needs, particularly in family planning and reproductive health, including information sources, strategies, and systems to transfer and share information; and barriers to accessing, sharing, and using health information. [from abstract]

To better understand health information needs and barriers across all of levels of the health care system, the authors conducted a needs assessment in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India to examine how health care workers define, obtain, and apply information in the course of their daily work. [adapted from abstract]

This study outlines a detailed analysis of the information needs of village health workers (ASHAs) in India to ascertain information needs, sources, and barriers at different levels of the health system; undertake an in-depth assessment of the health information needs of ASHAs; understand the role and functioning of health care networks; and assess access to and use of ICTs across different levels of the health system. [adapted from summary]

This study explored clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for maternal health in Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Tanzania to compare factors related to CPG use including their content compared with World Health Organization guidelines, their format, and their development processes; and to explore perceptions of their availability and use in practice. The overall purpose was to further the understanding of how to increase CPGs’ potential to improve quality of care for mothers. [adapted from abstract]

This article evaluated a four-year action research study across the Australian Capital Territory health system to strengthen interprofessional collaboration though multiple intervention activities. [from abstract]

This fact sheet advocates for and provides resources to support health professionals being able to access health care information to provide appropriate care, patient education and treatment that saves and improves lives. [adapted from introduction]

The purpose of this study was to examine the approaches utilized by clinical nurse specialists to access and transfer research knowledge in their daily practice. [from author]

This report summarizes the key points and main conclusions of the Global Meeting of HRH Observatories including the potential benefits of HRH observatories: contribute to improving the information and evidence on HRH; inform, shape, validate and evaluate health workforce policies; make the links between health workforce, financing and outcomes. [adapated from summary]

This study was undertaken to make a clear needs assessment, define priorities and identify resources to plan appropriate continuing education programs and prepare reference materials for health workers, particularly with the deployment of 30,000 health extension workers which will create additional information access needs in Ethiopia. [adapted from abstract]

This paper presents the results of a recent research priority-setting exercise that identified regional policy concerns and research priorities related to health financing, human resources and the non-state sector, based on stakeholders in nine low and middle income countries in the region. The countries included were Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen. [adapated from abstract]

The imperative to deliver the best care possible drives research on best practices in nursing. This study examines what it takes to spread a guideline or recommendation from one or two units or organizations to a system-wide innovation that benefits all patients and providers and the healthcare system as a whole; what cost drivers and increased benefits come with spreading a best practice; and what supports, sustains or gets in the way of spreading evidence-informed change. [adapted from summary]

The absence national institutions committed to the synthesis and use of evidence in healthcare decision- and policy-making creates a need to broaden the responsibilities of healthcare providers to include knowledge brokering and advocacy in order to optimize knowledge translation to other stakeholders, especially policy-makers. This article introduces two methods for capacity building in knowledge translation for healthcare providers. [adapted from abstract]

This systematic review of the literature on Communities of Practice (CoPs) was conducted to examine how and why CoPs have been established and whether they have been shown to improve healthcare practice. [from abstract]

This study aims to increase our understanding of health care providers’ attitude towards a national electronic patient record, by investigating their perceptions of the benefits and problems of electronic information exchange in health care. The results of this study provide valuable suggestions about how to promote health care providers’ willingness to adopt electronic information exchange. [adapted from abstract]

This pocket manual serves as a cursory reference to the tools used to improve the demand for and use of information in health decision making. [from author]

The overall objective of this study was to evaluate if a facilitation intervention on the community level, with a problem-solving approach involving local representatives if the healthcare system and the community, results in improvements of neonatal health and survival. [adapted from abstract]

This article systematically reviewed the evidence on the impact of interventions for seeking, appraising, and applying evidence from systematic reviews in decision making by health policymakers or managers. [from abstract]

Knowledge translation aims to close the gap between knowledge and practice in order to realize the benefits of research through improved health outcomes, more effective health services and products, and strengthened healthcare systems. The objective of this study is to systematically review published research on knowledge translations strategies in five allied health disciplines. [adapted from abstract]

This study investigates informal communication and advice networks of nursing staff in long-term care. It examines the structure of the networks, how they are related to the size of units and characteristics of nursing staff, and their relationship with job satisfaction. [from abstract]

Using a realist approach, this study explored the questions of what outcomes do communities of practice (CoPs) achieve in healthcare; do these outcomes translate into improved practice in healthcare; and what are the contexts and mechanisms by which CoPs improve healthcare? [from abstract]

This study assesses the effectiveness of a tailored evidence-based practice (EBP) training program for Filipino physiotherapists in improving knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviour, and capacity to engage with referring doctors to determine the most effective treatments for their patients. [adapted from abstract]

The objective of this study is to assess the contribution of shared communication and decision making processes in patient-centered health care teams to the generation of innovative concepts and consequently to improvements in patient satisfaction. [from abstract]

Nearly four million neonatal deaths occur annually in the world despite existing evidence-based knowledge with the potential to prevent many of these deaths. Effective knowledge translation (KT) could help to bridge this know-do gap in global health. The aim of this study was to explore aspects of KT at the primary healthcare level in a northern province in Vietnam. [from abstract]

Despite the importance of accurate information about health service personnel and the context in which they practise, little is known about providers at the community level. The purpose of this discussion paper is to describe information flows and gaps concerning the workforce that provide maternal, neonatal and reproductive health care and services at community level; discuss potential stakeholders’ HRH information needs and uses; and provide recommendations for improving the availability, quality and use of HRH information. [from introduction]

The USAID-funded Capacity Project established the Global Alliance for Pre-Service Education (GAPS) to provide an online forum to discuss issues related to teaching and acquiring competence in family planning, with a focus on developing countries’ health related training institutions. The success of the Global Alliance for Nursing and Midwifery’s ongoing web-based community of practice provided a strong example of the successful use of this medium to reach many participants in a range of settings. [from abstract]

Interventions that have a better than random chance of increasing nurses’ use of research are important to the delivery of quality patient care. This article updates the evidence published in a previous systematic review on individual characteristics influencing research utilization by nurses. [from abstract]

Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) have become a very popular tool for decision making in healthcare. While there is some evidence that CPGs improve outcomes, there are numerous factors that influence their acceptability and use by healthcare providers. This study evaluates these issues in a representative sample of clinicians in Spain. [from abstract]

The goal of this document is to provide a quick reference of suggested communication approaches for health researchers and M&E professionals in order to facilitate stakeholders’ use of health information for decision-making. [from author]

Each chapter of this report presents a proposed tool that can be used by those involved in finding and using research evidence to support evidence-informed health policymaking. [from author]