Learning Evaluation: blending quality improvement and implementation research methods to study healthcare innovations

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Innovation
• Implementation Science
• Quality Improvement

Background:

• Healthcare change interventions often overlook implementation process learning due to a focus on outcomes.
• This paper introduces Learning Evaluation, a novel methodological approach.
• It integrates quality improvement and implementation research methods for studying healthcare innovations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the Learning Evaluation methodological approach.
• To demonstrate its application in multi-organization healthcare settings.
• To highlight its utility in generating transportable lessons from implementation processes.

Main Methods:

• Learning Evaluation employs a multi-organization assessment strategy.
• It involves collecting real-time qualitative and quantitative data on implementation processes and contextual factors.
• Key principles include data gathering on changes, process/outcome measurement, contextual factor assessment, facilitating continuous quality improvement, and operationalizing common measurement strategies.

Main Results:

• Application across organizations involves understanding baseline plans, identifying target populations, and tracking process measures.
• Real-time data collection and analysis of contextual factors are crucial.
• Synthesizing and sharing emerging findings, alongside harmonizing data, fosters cross-organizational learning.

Conclusions:

• Learning Evaluation yields systematic, rigorous cross-organizational findings on healthcare innovation implementation.
• It enhances organizational capacity and accelerates the translation of research findings.
• This approach benefits researchers and healthcare organizations engaged in improvement initiatives.