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ISRN Coordinating Center Blog

Alternatives to RCTs

Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) have long been the gold standard in clinical research representing the best of what is known of research methodology.

Pediatric Special Interest Group

The first meeting of the Improvement Science Research Network’s Pediatric Special Interest Group (SIG) was held at a breakfast meeting during the 2013 Improvement Science Summit.

Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR)

Many organizations struggle with the implementation of known best practices and quality improvement interventions.

Academic-Practice Partnerships: A Backbone for Improvement

The 2010 Institute of Medicine’s Future of Nursing Report generated a sense of urgency to strengthen nursing practice and directed attention to the future of nursing education.

Avoiding Workarounds through Systems Design - Anita Tucker Answers Your Questions

On October 30, 2013, Anita Tucker, ISRN Steering Council member and Associate Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School presented a web seminar titled “Avoiding Work

November TeamSTEPPS Workshop Open for Enrollment

Contributed by Mike Mulcahey, MA, AT/ATC, NREMT, Xavier University Sports Medicine

The TeamSTEPPS Master Training Workshop provided an invaluable opportunity for me to break down my own unique silo and engage so many other healthcare professionals.  Throughout the entire process our collective group was put into an environment to learn and collaborate with each other as we learned not only the key structure pieces of TeamSTEPPS but also how to develop the concepts within our own respective systems (eg. hospitals, universities, etc).

Improvement Science Summit - A Participants Point of View

Article Contributed by Eileen Engh, MSN, RN-BC, CPN

ISRN Research Associate, STAR-2 study PI and participant ISRN 2013 Improvement Science Summit

Blog Post: ISRN – A Partner on the Road to Magnet

Article Contributed by Vivian Low, MPH, RN-BC, FPCNA, ISRN Steering Council Member

“So never lose an opportunity of urging a practical beginning, however small, for it is wonderful how often in such matters the mustard-seed germinates and roots itself.” - Florence Nightingale

ISRN Blog: Member Spotlight Sonya Osborne

Last year, Sonya R. Osborne joined the ISRN Coordinating Center for six weeks as an international visiting scholar.

ISRN Blog : Student Program

“The Summit student program will help create awareness
[of improvement science] in students before they graduate
and enter the workforce.”
- Lily Thomas, PhD, RN, Vice President,
System Nursing Research, North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System,
ISRN Steering Council Member

ISRN Blog

New Video: Accelerating Evidence to Outcomes

The need to disseminate and implement ‘what works’ in healthcare is at an all-time high but there exists a gap in capacity and infrastructure at many hospitals and primary care clinics to seek out best practices through the literature and implement them successfully within their normal care processes. The rate limiting step in implementing healthcare improvement strategies is the speed with which research discoveries are implemented into practice.

ISRN Launches Second Wave of the Network Study on the Impact of Cognitive Load on Medication Errors

The Improvement Science Research Network (ISRN) invites hospitals to engage in a research collaborative investigating the impact of cognitive load, interruptions, and distractions on medic

Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation Launches the Batz Guide iPad App

The Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation has created the Batz Guide iPad App. The purpose of this app is to provide a tool that aids families, medical staff, and patients to monitor care in real time. In addition to monitoring medication prescriptions, the app will enable a patient to set alerts and triggers that will remind them of medication times while striving to prevent dosage errors (over dosage or wrong dosage).

Improving Patient Safety through Effective Team Performance

“Patients and caregivers should not be at risk in the ways they often are now. We are working to radically change healthcare culture and plot a course to zero tolerance for causal factors of error, ”1 Mary Salisbury, MSN, RN, President, The Cedar Institute, Inc., and ISRN Steering Council Member.

Choosing Wisely – Reducing Inappropriate Use

Contributed by John Øvretveit, PhD, Karolinska Institutet Medical University, Stockholm Sweden

“Choosing Wisely" - is a more effective way to enlist physicians into more appropriate testing and treatments than "de-implementation" or "stop using ineffective interventions".

TeamSTEPPS® Master Training Workshop - Registration Open

May 8-10, 2013  | San Antonio, TX

Are you a Health Professional or Educator who wishes to improve patient safety through interprofessional teamwork?

The Academic Center for Evidence-Based Practice is hosting a TeamSTEPPS® Master Training Workshop May 8-10, 2013.

Where to Publish Your QI Results -- UPDATE

With your comments and suggestion, the list of journals has been updated.  Keep the suggestions coming in!!

Fueled by the discussions of the CTSA Nursing Special Interest Group (SIG), the ISRN published the Blog post Where to Publish Your Results... What's Your Opinion? asking for YOUR opinion about 'where to publish manuscripts' in the emerging fields of translational science, quality improvement studies, dissemination/implementation research, and newly-dubbed fields (such as delivery systems science).

Network News Briefs

Network News is a quarterly newsletter designed to connect you to the emerging Improvement Science Research Network (ISRN)—the first nationwide collaboration of clinical and academic leaders devoted to generating a robust science to accelerate quality improvement in hospital patient care.

The Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation

National Patient Safety Awareness Week

On Monday, we were proud to announce the ISRN's involvement with the National Patient Safety Awareness Week. We also mentioned that we were partnering with the Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation in a national effort to raise awareness about safe care. In this blog post we would like to share with you the story about how the Batz Foundation came to be.

National Patient Safety Awareness Week

We can make a difference!

The ISRN membership represents hospitals and universities across the nation. Members of the ISRN can make a difference.

In an effort to raise awareness and encourage the engagement of patients, families, healthcare providers, and the public, the ISRN and the Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation have joined the national effort to raise awareness about safe care.

Where to Publish Your Results... What's Your Opinion?

QUESTION: In what journals can articles on translational science, quality improvement initiatives, dissemination and implementation research, delivery systems science and other emerging healthcare fields be published?

Meeting the Challenges of Quality Improvement Research

During the inaugural Improvement Science Summit, Dr. Carolyn Clancy* spoke of the challenges that face improvement science, particularly the difficulty of integrating evidence into clinical practice. In her keynote address Dr. Clancy stated that “research will not yield improvement unless research results are adopted and hardwired into practice.’’ Three years later we still recognize the challenge to test effective ways to spread and implement improvement strategies.

Is my QI Project a Research Study? (Do I need IRB Approval?)

"The challenge for us and regulatory boards is to ask the key questions when we examine our studies to determine whether we go to IRB1” Dr. Christine A. Goeschel.

Rapid Transformation Requires Dismantling Silos

Partnership between clinicians and scientists raises the clinical relevance and rigor of research on improvement strategies. Through collaborative efforts the priorities of clinicians are served by the evolving research enterprise as we evaluate improvement strategies for uptake and sustainment. Unfortunately collaboration does not come easily as silos exist in healthcare.

New Year, New Conversations

New Year’s Resolution: I will add to the national and international conversation about healthcare improvement research!

Happy New Year and welcome to the ISRN Blog!

Photo of the Summit

 


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