Learning Objectives
1. Identify methods for publishing and sharing your improvement project.
2. Determine the best path for sharing your improvement project.
ou have completed your project. Now you are ready to share the outcomes of your work. By disseminating your project information, you help others learn from your hard work so that more people benefit from your efforts. You are helping to create a culture of improvement. Sharing your outcomes also shows your leadership team the work you have completed.
Making health care better for all patients
We contribute to making health care delivery better for all patients and the health professionals who care for them by sharing broadly the successes, failures, insights, and lessons learned from our improvement efforts.
As part of a nationally recognized academic health system, your work is vital to the spread of important and useful improvements both inside and outside of our organization.
This academic sharing of best practices is called scholarship. For U of U Health academic faculty—physicians and health care professionals whose career is dedicated to teaching and research in addition to clinical care—scholarship is an expectation of employment and a requirement for advancement.
More than one way to share your work
The most widely known path for publishing improvement work is in peer reviewed journals and presentations at local and national meetings. These presentations may take the form of abstracts, posters, conference proceedings, or didactic lessons.
But there are many new and exciting non-traditional methods of sharing your work. Blogs, open education resources, data visualization, digital publishing and social media are all great ways to get your work noticed.
Journal Submissions
Check out EHSL’s Where to Publish guide for tools and tips for selecting a journal to submit your manuscript to.
For EBP-specific projects, consider JBI Evidence Implementation or EBP Journal recommendations from our colleagues at Ohio State.
Choosing where to disseminate your work
Begin by asking your colleagues. Depending on the topic, most departments have regular seminars, grand rounds, and/or conferences (e.g. Geriatrics, Urology, HCI). Someone you already know may have a venue that is worth exploring and that you might not have considered.
In addition to consulting with colleagues, below is a list of local ways you can disseminate your work at U of U Health.
Accelerate is U of U Health’s improvement, leadership, and well-being virtual Community of Practice (CoP). Hundreds of health care professionals from throughout the academic and clinical delivery system share valuable insights and best practices every week—and make it available for the world to see. With an audience of hundreds of thousands of readers and a weekly newsletter that extends across the system, Accelerate is a great place to make your valuable work visible.
Open to all U of U Health faculty, staff and trainees, as well as select groups,* Accelerate provides two tracks for sharing improvement projects:
I. Project Insights – what did you learn? This is a great option for in-progress projects or efforts that didn’t go the way you planned. Why? Lessons learned from the people who do the work provide valuable context-specific insights about barriers, culture, interpersonal complexities and other must-know insights that can be the linchpin for success or prevent failure for others. Your submitted draft includes four sections: Description, Analysis, Improvement Design, and Insights, and is limited to 750 words.
Follow the project insights draft template and submit your draft here.
Need help developing a draft? Contact emily.izzo@hsc.utah.edu for more information.
II. Project Summary – what did you do? This is a great option for multidisciplinary team projects that have completed at least two cycles of improvement with supporting qualitative or quantitative data. Your submitted draft includes four sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion, and is limited to 750-950 words.
Follow the project summary draft template and submit your draft here.
*Community Groups – not for profit organizations, medical societies, foundations and other Utah businesses who engage in improvement efforts that impact our patients. Collaborators – All regional affiliate partners and health care professionals who engage in formal collaboration efforts to improve care delivery with U of U Health faculty, staff and trainees are encouraged to submit (requires a copy of Business Associate Agreement or proof of IRB approval or exemption).
@theU is produced by main campus communications and features articles that span the institutions extensive mission. Send your submissions for the weekly newsletters via email to ThisWeek@utah.edu. The deadline for non-feature articles is 11 a.m. the Thursday before distribution.
Feature articles are typically scheduled several weeks in advance. Work with the appropriate communications specialist to schedule these.
**This Week @theU will consider all notices and story ideas but retains the right to determine content.
The U of U Health EBP Poster Fair is an annual celebration of local improvement initiatives showcased via a three-day poster fair, leadership reception, and “Best of” award winner presentations. The EBP Poster Fair happens every spring (pandemic-excluded), and is open to all U of U Health faculty, staff and trainees to share their work via a virtual or in-person poster session.
Submit your abstract or completed poster via the EBP Council website.
The U of U Health EBP Poster Fair is an annual celebration of local improvement initiatives showcased via a three-day poster fair, leadership reception, and “Best of” award winner presentations. The EBP Poster Fair happens every spring (pandemic-excluded), and is open to all U of U Health faculty, staff and trainees to share their work via a virtual or in-person poster session.
Submit your abstract or completed poster via the EBP Council website.
The Journal of the Academy of Health Science Educators
Designed to help faculty build the skills necessary for effective dissemination in traditional peer reviewed journals, The Journal of the Academy of Health Science Educators (JAHSE) is U of U Health Science’s on-line, open access platform, managed by the Eccles Health Sciences Library. Faculty whose work is found of sufficient quality qualifies for pre-print web posting while pursuing traditional peer-reviewed publication at the same time.
Learn more and visit the journal here.
Faculty Development Academy of Health Sciences Educators Symposium
This Annual Education Symposium showcases engaging presenters, interactive workshops and education scholarship that imparts skills for teaching and creating healthy learning environments. Workshop topics range from team-based learning, mentoring, group peer review, emotional intelligence and more.
Learn more and visit the symposium website here.
USpace is the institutional repository for the U of U, which is provided by the U of U Libraries. USpace houses electronic theses and dissertations (ETD's), open access faculty works, and other works of digital scholarship generated by members of the University of Utah community.
Visit the USpace Collection or add your work to the Institutional Repository today.
Conclusion
Sharing your findings is at the heart of academic medicine. Not only does it give your U of U Health peers a chance to learn from your efforts, but it also extends the reach of your findings out into the community and even across the world, depending on where you choose to share your project. While writing up and sharing your research can be a daunting effort, it is the final step in the evidence-based practice (EBP) process. It is well worth your time, with resources along the way to help you.
Tallie Casucci
Mary-Jean (Gigi) Austria
Cassidy Kotobalavu
Cindy Spangler
Ryan Murphy
As the director of nursing at Huntsman Cancer Hospital, Sue Childress shares her passion for improvement with a team of hundreds of nurses and HCAs. Learn how a cape and hat inspired Childress’ nursing career, and a passion for cultivating innovation.
Magnet Program Director Mary-Jean (Gigi) Austria explains how Nursing Shared Governance provides support for knowledge sharing, clinical skill building, and collaborative decision-making closest to the point of care.
You have a good idea about what you want to study, compare, understand or change. But where do you go from there? First, you need to be clear about exactly what it is you want to find out. In other words, what question are you attempting to answer? Librarian Tallie Casucci and nursing leaders Gigi Austria and Barb Wilson help us understand how to formulate searchable, answerable questions using the PICO(T) framework.
