Healthcare Change and Its Dissemination Strategies

Topics: Health, Healthcare Words: 604 Pages: 3

Introduction

Numerous ways to disseminate knowledge have been developed. The choice of the most appropriate strategy often depends on the characteristics of the stakeholders and healthcare facilities, as well as available resources (Cates, Diehl, Crandell, & Coyne-Beasley, 2015). This project involves such major stakeholders as nursing professionals, physicians, and hospital management. The facility in question is Kendall Regional Medical Center that has quite extensive resources. Importantly, effective knowledge sharing and staff development are among the central values incorporated into the organizational culture. It is possible to consider some dissemination strategies (see table 1).

Table 1

Dissemination Strategies

Strategy	Process for Dissemination	Pros and Cons	Tools Needed
Social networks	The information will be disseminated through such social networks as Facebook and Twitter. The description of the project details will be posted on a Facebook page. This page will be a group page for the healthcare facility’s staff. Twitter will be used to share ideas, concerns, implications, and so on.	Pros Easy to carry out Rapid knowledge sharing is ensured Cons It can be difficult to ensure the participation of all the stakeholders involved in the process as not all healthcare professionals are active users of social networks (Archibald & Clark, 2014). Information security concerns	Computers, tablets, and cell phones are readily available.
Enhanced Dissemination Strategy	The stakeholders receive information through many channels. They receive briefing notes and messages concerning meetings through the corporate email. It can be effective to facilitate knowledge sharing through discussions and workshops, as well as reinforcements, feedback, message pens, manuals, posters, and so on.	Pros Enhanced dissemination strategies have proved to be effective as they involve all the stakeholders and facilitate the change (Glanz, Escoffery, Elliott, & Nehl, 2015). Cons The strategy is time-consuming It requires significant funding.	Computers, tablets, and cell phones are readily available. Such materials as manuals, message pens, posters, and so on have to be produced.
Electronic Transmission Dissemination Strategy	The stakeholders receive briefing notes and personalized emails containing the most relevant information concerning the project. Kilpatrick, Carter, Bryant-Lukosius, Charbonneau-Smith, and DiCenso (2015) note that briefing notes are a promising dissemination strategy. The communication is implemented through the corporate email.	Pros Easy to implement Rapid knowledge sharing It is a popular means of dissemination as the majority of healthcare professionals prefer this type of information transmission (Carter et al., 2014). Information security can be ensured. Cons It can be difficult to ensure the active participation of all the stakeholders involved in the process as healthcare professionals can read the information inattentively or even ignore messages completely.	Computers, tablets, and cell phones are readily available.

All the strategies have advantages and flaws. For instance, the enhanced strategy is time-consuming and costly. The facility in question has quite extensive resources but this strategy can need substantial funding that can be provided to other projects. The use of social media can compromise information security and be less effective as not all stakeholders are active users of social networks.

Conclusion

As far as the proposed project is involved, it is possible to use the electronic transmission dissemination strategy. This method is the most cost-effective. It will ensure the rapid spread of information that will be secure as safe channels will be used. It is also found that electronic transmission is a preferred type of knowledge sharing (Carter et al., 2014). To address the major disadvantage of this strategy (difficulties with ensuring active participation of the stakeholders), it is possible to facilitate the dissemination through discussions and training that can be provided within teams during weekly meetings (Dogherty, Harrison, Graham, & Keeping-Burke, 2014). This facilitation is easy to implement and can be beneficial for the process of change.

References

Archibald, M., & Clark, A. (2014). Twitter and nursing research: How the diffusion of innovation theory can help uptake. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 70(3), e3-e5.

Carter, N., Dobbins, M., Peachey, G., Hoxby, H., Ireland, S., Akhtar-Danesh, N., & DiCenso, A. (2015). Knowledge transfer and dissemination of advanced practice nursing information and research to acute-care administrators. Canadian Journal of Nursing Leadership, 46(2), 10-27.

Cates, J., Diehl, S., Crandell, J., & Coyne-Beasley, T. (2015). Evaluating dissemination strategies to promote preteen HPV vaccination. Implementation Science, 10(S1), A5.

Dogherty, E., Harrison, M., Graham, I., & Keeping-Burke, L. (2014). Examining the use of facilitation within guideline dissemination and implementation studies in nursing. International Journal of Evidence-Based Healthcare, 12(2), 105-127.

Glanz, K., Escoffery, C., Elliott, T., & Nehl, E. (2015). Randomized trial of two dissemination strategies for a skin cancer prevention program in aquatic settings. American Journal of Public Health, 105(7), 1415-1423.

Kilpatrick, K., Carter, N., Bryant-Lukosius, D., Charbonneau-Smith, R., & DiCenso, A. (2015). The development of evidence briefs to transfer knowledge about advanced practice nursing roles to providers, policymakers, and administrators. Canadian Journal of Nursing Leadership, 28(1), 11-23.