Using a Complex Systems Perspective to Achieve Sustainable Health Care Practice Change

Authors

  • Esther Suter Alberta Health Region
  • Siegrid Deutschlander Alberta Health Services
  • Jana Lait Alberta Health Services

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22230/jripe.2011v2n1a53

Keywords:

interprofessional collaboration, complex systems, sustainability, practice change

Abstract

Background: There has been a surge of interventions at health care settings to achieve practice change, but sustaining these new practices remains challenging. The purpose of the study is to use the Legacy Sustainability Model, a framework grounded in complexity science, to examine the implementation and sustainability of an interprofessional (IP) collaboration intervention in health care. The model considers the six factors communication, connections, coherence, continuous assessment, commitment and constructs essential to building capacity for sustainability.

Methods and Findings: Three health care settings in Alberta implemented IP practice interventions over a six-month period. After three and six months, we interviewed participants at each site about the progress of the IP intervention and emerging challenges. We examined the interview data for emergence of the six factors of the Legacy Sustainability Model.

Conclusions: Our analysis showed distinct contextual differences between the three sites as represented by the strengths of the six factors at the outset of the IP interventions and the way the factors evolved throughout the project. Using a complex systems lens may be valuable for examining contextual factors that might affect the success of a practice intervention and for monitoring progress towards capacity building for lasting practice change.

Author Biographies

Esther Suter, Alberta Health Region

Esther Suter holds a PhD in Natural Sciences (1990) from the Swiss Institute of Technology and an MSW in Communities, Organization Management and Policy (2003) from the University of Calgary. She is a Senior Research and Evaluation Consultant with Alberta Health Services, Calgary. She is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary.

Her research and evaluation work focuses on interprofessional education and collaborative practice, integrated health systems, and innovative care delivery models.

Siegrid Deutschlander, Alberta Health Services

Siegrid Deutschlander, Ph.D., is a sociologist with the Health Systems & Workforce Research Unit, Alberta Health Services. Her research & evaluation expertise in workforce research focuses on various areas in interprofessionality: interprofessional  education and collaboration, HHR outcome evaluation,  interprofessional theory, and practice-based interprofessional interventions with students/staff.

Jana Lait, Alberta Health Services

Jana Lait is a research and evaluation consultant for the Health Systems and Workforce Research Unit in Alberta Health Services, Calgary. Her area of expertise is interprofessional education and collaborative practice She holds an MA in sociology from the University of Calgary.

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Published

2011-07-26

Issue

Section

Articles: Empirical Research