Spanning the know-do gap: understanding knowledge application and capacity in long-term care homes

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Knowledge Translation
• Organizational Behavior

Background:

• Long-term care (LTC) settings face challenges in adopting evidence-based clinical practice guidelines (CPGs).
• Effective knowledge translation within organizations is critical for improving patient care.
• Understanding the factors influencing CPG implementation in LTC is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the knowledge application process for CPGs in Ontario long-term care homes.
• To identify the role of organizational capacity in knowledge translation.
• To understand how knowledge application capacity influences the implementation of CPGs.

Main Methods:

• A multiple case study design was employed.
• 28 semi-structured interviews were conducted with administrative and care staff across 7 LTC homes.
• 7 focus groups involving 35 senior clinical staff from 15 LTC homes were undertaken.

Main Results:

• The knowledge application process is complex, iterative, and depends on a facility's knowledge application capacity (absorptive capacity).
• Different elements of capacity are vital for various stages of the knowledge application process.
• Most required capacity elements were organizational, emphasizing the need for an organizational-level approach.

Conclusions:

• Organizational leaders play a crucial role in orchestrating knowledge application initiatives.
• Managers and practitioners must conceptualize knowledge translation at the organizational level.
• Building and leveraging organizational capacity is key to successful CPG implementation in LTC.