Scholar-in-Residence: An Organizational Capacity-Building Model to Move Evidence to Action.

Quality improvement healthcare leaders recognize that striving for excellence is dependent on a multitude of complex and interactive factors. Translating evidence into clinical practice guidelines, evidence-informed decision-making processes, and policy documents does not, however, guarantee that evidence will reach the point-of-care. This article describes an innovative engagement strategy called the Scholar-in-Residence program.

Mobile ICT support for the continuum of care.

The Wireless Wearable Physiological Monitor (WWPM) is designed to provide unobtrusive, regular, remote physiological monitoring of clients within their home environment. Its goal is to provide enough health support functions to enable its user to remain at home while being under a limited form of medical supervision. The WWPM solution will reduce the care burden on families and friends while providing a level of continuous care for the ill or elderly.

Broadening the patient safety agenda to include safety in long-term care.

The recent patient safety literature has included less of an emphasis on long-term settings than on research in the acute care sector. Recognizing this knowledge gap in our understanding of safety in the long-term care sector, the Canadian Patient Safety Institute, Capital Health (Edmonton) and CapitalCare (Edmonton) have collaborated to create a research and action agenda for improving resident safety in Canadian long-term care settings. This collaboration resulted in the development of a background paper highlighting the current state of the science and 14 key-informant interviews with stakeholders across Canada.

Broadening the patient safety agenda to include home care services.

Caring for an individual in the home is inherently complex. The physical environment, family dynamics and the cognitive abilities of the client and family members are only a few of the factors to be considered in delivering services. Although targeted initiatives have been established to reduce preventable injuries and deaths in the hospital sector, there has not been a corresponding level of research or patient safety initiatives in other healthcare delivery sectors.