Systematic review of practice guideline dissemination and implementation strategies for healthcare teams and team-based practice.

AIM: To synthesis the literature relevant to guideline dissemination and implementation strategies for healthcare teams and team-based practice. METHODS: Systematic approach utilising Joanna Briggs Institute methods. Two reviewers screened all articles and where there was disagreement, a third reviewer determined inclusion. RESULTS: Initial search revealed 12,083 of which 88 met the inclusion criteria. Ten dissemination and implementation strategies identified with distribution of educational materials the most common. Studies were assessed for patient or practitioner outcomes and changes in practice, knowledge and economic outcomes. A descriptive analysis revealed multiple approaches using teams of healthcare providers were reported to have statistically significant results in knowledge, practice and/or outcomes for 72.7% of the studies. CONCLUSION: Team-based care using practice guidelines locally adapted can affect positively patient and provider outcomes.

Practice Guideline Dissemination and Implementation Strategies for Healthcare Teams and Team-Based Practice: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this systematic review is to describe and identify the effectiveness of different practice guideline implementation strategies on team-based practice and/or patient outcomes. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted, using a comprehensive, reproducible search strategy that revealed 88 studies that met the inclusion criteria. RESULTS: A descriptive analysis revealed multiple approaches using teams of health care providers with 72.7% of the studies reporting statistically significant results in knowledge, practice and/or outcomes. Of 10 dissemination strategies the most effective were reminders, and audit and feedback. The most popular strategy was education meetings. A secondary analysis revealed different populations with chronic or complex disorders where a team approach was effective in practice guideline dissemination and implementation. CONCLUSIONS: Many of the studies provided caveats to explain how or why the strategies did or did not demonstrate improvements. Overall, authors described complex health care requiring increasingly complex approaches to ensure evidence based guidelines were utilised in practice, including using multiple dissemination and implementation strategies. The review has provided evidence that a multi-pronged approach to dissemination and implementation of practice guidelines will assist in gaining significant improvements in change in knowledge, practice and patient outcomes.