Publications by authors named "Laura Damschroder"

Background: Dashboards have become ubiquitous in health care settings, but to achieve their goals, they must be developed, implemented, and evaluated using methods that help ensure they meet the needs of end users and are suited to the barriers and facilitators of the local context.

Objective: This scoping review aimed to explore published literature on health care dashboards to characterize the methods used to identify factors affecting uptake, strategies used to increase dashboard uptake, and evaluation methods, as well as dashboard characteristics and context.

Methods: MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library were searched from inception through July 2020.

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Objective: To identify primary care structures and processes that have the highest and lowest impact on chronic disease management and screening and prevention outcomes as well as to assess the feasibility of implementing these structures and processes into practice.

Design: A two-round Delphi study was conducted to establish consensus on the impact and feasibility of 258 primary care structures and processes.

Participants: 29 primary care providers, health system leaders and health services researchers in the USA.

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Background: Patient safety culture (PSC) fosters an environment of trust where people are encouraged to share information to promote psychological safety. To measure PSC, the Veteran's Health Administration (VHA) developed a PSC survey consisting of 20 items administered to all VHA employees. The survey comprises four scales: (1) risk identification and Just Culture, (2) error transparency and mitigation, (3) supervisor communication and trust, and (4) team cohesion and engagement.

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Objective: The increasing prevalence of and inequities in childhood obesity demand improved access to effective treatment. The SmartMoves curriculum used in Bright Bodies, a proven-effective, intensive health behavior and lifestyle treatment (IHBLT), was disseminated to ≥30 US sites from 2003 to 2018. We aimed to identify barriers to and facilitators of IHBLT implementation/sustainment.

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Objective: To test effectiveness of the LEAP (Learn Engage Act Process) Program on engaging frontline Veteran Health Administration (VHA) medical center teams in continuous quality improvement (QI), a core capability for learning health systems.

Data Sources And Study Setting: Data sources included VHA electronic health record (EHR) data, surveys, and LEAP coaching field notes.

Study Design: A staggered difference-in-differences study was conducted.

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Objectives: To describe the impacts of four Veterans Health Administration (VA) Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) projects implementing an evidence-based lifestyle intervention known as the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP).

Data Sources And Study Setting: 2012-2024 VA administrative and survey data.

Study Design: This is a summary of findings and impacts from four effectiveness-implementation projects focused on in-person and/or online DPP across VA sites.

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Background: Electronic health record-based clinical decision support (CDS) tools can facilitate the adoption of evidence into practice. Yet, the impact of CDS beyond single-site implementation is often limited by dissemination and implementation barriers related to site- and user-specific variation in workflows and behaviors. The translation of evidence-based CDS from initial development to implementation in heterogeneous environments requires a framework that assures careful balancing of fidelity to core functional elements with adaptations to ensure compatibility with new contexts.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) implemented 57 evidence-informed practices across 82 facilities through its Diffusion of Excellence program from 2016 to 2021, aiming to understand how these practices transition to long-term sustainment.
  • - A mixed-methods evaluation revealed that after five years, about one-third of facilities fully sustained their practices, while another one-third experienced mixed results or discontinued, leading to a significant variation in primary outcomes.
  • - Facilities that successfully sustained their practices reported overcoming challenges and demonstrated resilience, with 70% showing inconsistent outcomes over time compared to 30% with stable results.
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Introduction: The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Diffusion of Excellence (DoE) program provides a system to identify, replicate, and spread promising practices across the largest integrated healthcare system in the United States. DoE identifies innovations that have been successfully implemented in the VHA through a Shark Tank style competition. VHA facility and regional directors bid resources needed to replicate promising practices.

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Objective: To characterize guideline-concordant use of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia vs. sleep medications among Veterans Health Administration patients.

Methods: Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia was identified from the text of psychotherapy notes within the Veterans Health Administration's electronic medical record.

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Background Since 2015, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Diffusion of Excellence Program has supported spread of practices developed by frontline employees. Shark Tank-style competitions encourage "Sharks" nationwide (VHA medical center/regional directors) to bid for the opportunity to implement practices at their institutions. Methods The authors evaluated bidding strategies (2016-2020), developing the "QuickView" practice comparator to promote informed bidding.

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Background/objective: The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has prioritized timely access to care and has invested substantially in research aimed at optimizing veteran access. However, implementing research into practice remains challenging. Here, we assessed the implementation status of recent VHA access-related research projects and explored factors associated with successful implementation.

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Introduction: Cancer clinical trials can be considered evidence-based interventions with substantial benefits, but suffer from poor implementation leading to low enrollment and frequent failure. Applying implementation science approaches such as outcomes frameworks to the trial context could aid in contextualizing and evaluating trial improvement strategies. However, the acceptability and appropriateness of these adapted outcomes to trial stakeholders are unclear.

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Objective: To examine the perspectives of caregivers that are not part of the antibiotic stewardship program (ASP) leadership team (eg, physicians, nurses, and clinical pharmacists), but who interact with ASPs in their role as frontline healthcare workers.

Design: Qualitative semistructured interviews.

Setting: The study was conducted in 2 large national healthcare systems including 7 hospitals in the Veterans' Health Administration and 4 hospitals in Intermountain Healthcare.

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Background: There are challenges associated with measuring sustainment of evidence-informed practices (EIPs). First, the terms sustainability and sustainment are often falsely conflated: sustainability assesses the likelihood of an EIP being in use in the future while sustainment assesses the extent to which an EIP is (or is not) in use. Second, grant funding often ends before sustainment can be assessed.

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Background: The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) is a determinant framework that can be used to guide context assessment prior to implementing change. Though a few quantitative measurement instruments have been developed based on the CFIR, most assessments using the CFIR have relied on qualitative methods. One challenge to measurement is to translate conceptual constructs which are often described using highly abstract, technical language into lay language that is clear, concise, and meaningful.

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Background: Pregnancy presents an opportune time for oral health promotion and intervention; however, implementation of the prenatal oral health guidelines remains a challenge among prenatal and oral health providers. The purpose of this study was twofold: To employ a theory-based approach to identify high-priority Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) constructs with the greatest potential to impact prenatal oral health guideline implementation, and to operationalize and pre-test survey items based on the prioritized CFIR constructs. Identifying barriers and facilitators to guideline implementation will inform the development of targeted interventions that address gaps in adherence which can positively impact oral-systemic health.

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Obesity is a well-established risk factor for increased morbidity and mortality. Comprehensive lifestyle interventions, pharmacotherapy, and bariatric surgery are three effective treatment approaches for obesity. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) offers all three domains but in different configurations across medical facilities.

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Background: Many implementation efforts fail, even with highly developed plans for execution, because contextual factors can be powerful forces working against implementation in the real world. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) is one of the most commonly used determinant frameworks to assess these contextual factors; however, it has been over 10 years since publication and there is a need for updates. The purpose of this project was to elicit feedback from experienced CFIR users to inform updates to the framework.

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Background: The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest integrated health system in the U.S. and has identified the learning health system as a strategic priority.

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Background: Clinical trials advance science, benefit society, and provide optimal care to individuals with some conditions, such as cancer. However, clinical trials often fail to reach their endpoints, and low participant enrollment remains a critical problem with trial conduct. In these ways, clinical trials can be considered beneficial evidence-based practices suffering from poor implementation.

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Objective: To examine how individual steward characteristics (eg, steward role, sex, and specialized training) are associated with their views of antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) implementation at their institution.

Design: Descriptive survey from a mixed-methods study.

Setting: Two large national healthcare systems; the Veterans' Health Administration (VA) (n = 134 hospitals) and Intermountain Healthcare (IHC; n = 20 hospitals).

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Background: The RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method (RAM), a variant of the Delphi Method, was developed to synthesize existing evidence and elicit the clinical judgement of medical experts on the appropriate treatment of specific clinical presentations. Technological advances now allow researchers to conduct expert panels on the internet, offering a cost-effective and convenient alternative to the traditional RAM. For example, the Department of Veterans Affairs recently used a web-based RAM to validate clinical recommendations for de-intensifying routine primary care services.

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