Contextualizing learning to improve care using collaborative communities of practices.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Organizational Learning
• Knowledge Translation

Background:

• Interorganizational collaboration shows promise for scaling quality improvement (QI) initiatives.
• Interorganizational learning is fundamental, involving knowledge sharing and learning from successes and challenges.
• This approach fosters reflective and innovative systems for discussing and solving practice issues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate an interactive QI knowledge translation initiative using a Communities of Practice (CoP) approach.
• To explore interorganizational learning and deliberate learning activities in QI.

Main Methods:

• The PERFORM KT initiative involved nine healthcare teams over six months.
• Participants engaged in monthly CoP learning sessions, QI project implementation, and mentorship.
• Qualitative data from focus groups and interviews were analyzed using iterative content analysis.

Main Results:

• Key themes included systematic, mentored approaches for success and expansion.
• Participants experienced new concepts and collaborative learning outside their comfort zones.
• Feedback exchange, storytelling, and pragmatic adaptation of learnings were crucial.

Conclusions:

• Collaborative, inter-organizational CoP learning builds QI capabilities.
• Contextualizing QI learning requires balancing systematic and pragmatic approaches with mentorship.