Abstract
Health and care systems around the globe are struggling to cope with the imbalance between increasing demands and system constraints. The International healthcare literature has proposed that “learning organisations” or “learning healthcare systems” (LHS) that continuously generate and apply evidence, innovation, quality, and value can provide better care. This could be of value to the successful realisation of integrated care. The National Rehabilitation University Hospital, is in the process of establishing a LHS project in order to implement the hospital strategic plan goal of creating a learning health system environment to facilitate rapid advancement in the translation of new knowledge to the point of care, enhance quality assurance/quality improvement, improve training, and generate the research needed to advance the field of rehabilitation medicine.
The approach:
There are many definitions in the literature but according to the Institute of Medicine, a Learning Health System refers to a system where “science, informatics, incentives, and culture are aligned for continuous improvement and innovation, with best practices seamlessly embedded in the delivery process and new knowledge captured as an integral by-product of the delivery experience” which is very relevant to the translational research and science spectrum.
According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the following are key attributes of Learning Health Systems:
- Having leaders who are committed to a culture of continuous learning and improvement
- Systematically gathering and applying evidence in real-time to guide care
- Employing IT methods to share new evidence with clinicians to improve decision-making
- Promoting the inclusion of patients as vital members of the learning team
- Capturing and analyzing data and care experiences to improve care
- Continually assessing outcomes, refining processes and training to create a feedback cycle for learning and improvement
Incorporating principles of implementation science in clinical and translational research mechanisms could help achieve Learning Health System goals and ensure that research findings are relevant to health systems and community stakeholders.
This workshop seeks to test out a new co-designed model of a Learning Health System which has been designed with the outputs of a scoping review. Feedback from this workshop will help to modify the proposed model to support the intended piloting of the model. It aims to provide 'face validity' for the model
Format:
- Plenary panel of international experts to discuss key considerations in the development of a learning health system, locally, regionally and nationally.
- Breakout working sessions to discuss the planned model, regional and national needs and issues, and to draft a demonstration project outline
- Plenary feedback and data collation
Anticipated Outcome & Impact:
- A workshop report will be generated to support the development of the LHS
- Impact:
oAcademic: The dissemination of knowledge generated will be achieved through presentation at conferences locally, nationally and internationally and publication in the International Journal of Integrated Care.
oPolicy: The report will be shared with policy makers and key healthcare decision makers to influence healthcare policy.