The "State of Implementation" Progress Report (SIPREP): a pilot demonstration of a navigation system for...

Area of Science:

• Healthcare systems research
• Implementation science
• Organizational change management

Background:

• Implementing new clinical programs in large healthcare systems like the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) presents significant complexity.
• Local context and staff dynamics heavily influence implementation success.
• A need exists for structured methods to monitor and guide implementation progress.

Purpose of the Study:

• To detail a novel systemic approach for mapping and monitoring implementation progress.
• To pilot a new method for providing ongoing, nuanced feedback on implementation across diverse VHA initiatives.

Main Methods:

• An observational pilot demonstration project utilized stage-specific grids to organize implementation work.
• Grids identified specific activities, responsible parties, and tracked progress visually using checkboxes and color-coding.
• The approach was applied across two distinct national VHA initiatives.

Main Results:

• The System for Implementation Progress and Evaluation (SIPREP) provided a navigation system for guiding and informing implementation.
• SIPREP utilized visualizations to show progress and identify implementation gaps across sites and stages.
• The tool effectively communicated implementation status to various stakeholders.

Conclusions:

• SIPREP made implementation tasks explicit (who, what, when) at the facility level.
• It offered a common monitoring framework for stakeholders, facilitating progress.
• The approach is adaptable and planned for integration into future VHA initiatives.