Health care innovations across practice and academia: A theoretical framework

Development and Testing of the Relational and Structural Components of Innovativeness Across Academia and Practice for Healthcare Progress Scale

OBJECTIVE

Using data from 5 academic-practice sites across the United States, researchers developed and validated a scale to measure conditions that enable healthcare innovations.

BACKGROUND

Academic-practice partnerships are a catalyst for innovation and healthcare development. However, limited theoretically grounded evidence exists to provide strategic direction for healthcare innovation across practice and academia.

METHODS

Phase 1 of the analytical strategy involved scale development using 16 subject matter experts. Phase 2 involved pilot testing the scale.

RESULTS

The final Innovativeness Across Academia and Practice for Healthcare Progress Scale (IA-APHPS) consisted of 7 domains: 3 relational domains, 2 structural domains, and 2 impact domains. The confirmatory factor analysis model fits well with a comparative fit index of 0.92 and a root-mean-square error of approximation of 0.06 (n = 477).

CONCLUSION

As the 1st validated scale of healthcare innovation, the IA-APHPS allows nurses to use a diagnostic tool to facilitate innovative processes and outputs across academic-practice partnerships.

Covid-19 Recovery and Growth: Promoting Technology Innovation in Healthcare Sector on Hygiene and Safe Medication Practices in Low-Resourced Nigerian Societies

Introduction

Globally, the healthcare sector is primarily designated to provide timely, efficient and effective medical services. In African countries like Nigeria, the inequality in the healthcare sector is worsened by the limited coverage of healthcare delivery. This has evolved to an unprecedented effect on the provision of healthcare services in low-resource societies. In the post COVID-19 era, recovery and growth from the pandemic become more demanding with an emphasis on promoting innovative technology in the healthcare sector on hygiene and safe medication practices.

Method

Data was sourced from mixed research method. Questionnaires, focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews were used to deduce data from 142 healthcare providers, users, and social workers. Participants were randomly selected from three healthcare institutions in Nsukka, Enugu state.

Result

Findings revealed that although greater positive perception (66.7%) holds on promoting innovative technology in the healthcare sector; concerns on negative perceptions (33.3%) were; the choice of medication, cultural health behavior and non-adherence to health guidelines. Major factors militating against innovative technology in healthcare sector were corruption in healthcare system, patients' economic level and poor healthcare delivery. Findings depict that age (χ²_cal= 84.0, p=0.000<0.05) and income (χ²_cal= 53.7, p=0.000<0.05) of patients were found to be significant in the utilization of innovative technology in healthcare. Evidence-based interventions on innovative healthcare systems on hygiene and safe medication practices were; intensive community health education at the grass-root, implementation of health policies, and tutors' improved healthcare knowledge. Participants showed little knowledge of social workers' engagement in health institutions.

Conclusion

Equity in healthcare is a core concern in Sustainable Development Goals. Achieving equal distribution of health services between urban and rural societies in recovery from covid-19 pandemic and growth of the healthcare sector is pegged on promoting innovative technology in hygiene and safe medication practices. The study recommends that social workers' engagement with health providers and users in low-resourced societies could help propagate awareness and self-care management of health challenges through digital information technology in Nigeria.

Sustained impact of an academic-practice partnership

Academic-practice partnerships foster innovation and transition to nursing practice in healthcare systems. The purpose of this paper is to describe the impact of a public-private academic-practice partnership for Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) education designed to transform a large healthcare system's nursing workforce and model of care. The conceptual framework is organized around Rogers's (2003) principles of diffusion of innovation in organizations. A logic model illuminates how inputs, activities, outputs and outcomes resulted in sustained impact for graduates, the college and the healthcare organization. Partnership outcomes include education of baccalaureate and master's-prepared employed nurses (n = 95) in a DNP program for advanced practice nursing (APN) roles in the healthcare system; dissemination of scholarship; and revision of the healthcare system's research approval process. Sustained impact includes advancement of DNP-prepared graduates to complex leadership and practice roles; development of new programs and advanced practice roles based on scholarly project findings; expansion of population-specific patient programs; and extension of continuum- and access-to-care models in the healthcare organization. Recommendations include continuing development of academic-practice partnerships for transition to practice and advancement of roles and levels of champions to achieve sustained impact of academic-practice partnerships in healthcare organizations.