Researchers Show How Learning Health Systems Can Help Organizations Improve Practice

A recent Journal of Hospital Medicine article by AHRQ researchers explored how healthcare organizations can use the learning health system framework to translate evidence into practice and measure the impacts on practice. AHRQ’s Evidence-based Practice Center program synthesizes evidence to inform and improve medical practice. However, many healthcare organizations struggle to put this evidence into practice. AHRQ researchers described their efforts around the three phases of the learning health system cycle — identifying and synthesizing evidence, applying knowledge in care delivery, and assessing performance — around prevention and treatment of Clostridium difficile colitis (C. diff). The learning health system cycle is a valuable framework to improve practice and develop systems that enhance continuous learning, according to the AHRQ authors. Access the article abstract.

2019 Feb 20;14:E1-E4. doi: 10.12788/jhm.3157. [Epub ahead of print]

AHRQ Evidence-based Practice Center Program: Applying the Knowledge to Practice to Data Cycle to Strengthen the Value of Patient Care.

Borsky AE1, Flores EJ2, Berliner E1, Chang C1, Umscheid CA3, Chang SM1.

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Abstract

For more than 20 years, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) Program has been identifying and synthesizing evidence to inform evidence-based healthcare. Recognizing that many healthcare settings continue to face challenges in disseminating and implementing evidence into practice, AHRQ's EPC program has also embarked on initiatives to facilitate the translation of evidence into practice and to measure and monitor how practice changes impact health outcomes. The program has structured its efforts around the three phases of the Learning Healthcare System cycle: knowledge, practice, and data. Here, we use a topic relevant to the field of hospital medicine-Clostridium difficile colitis prevention and treatment-as an exemplar of how the EPC program has used this framework to move evidence into practice and develop systems to facilitate continuous learning in healthcare systems.