group photo of cohort

Working to improve quality of care and outcomes

Inova Implementation Science specialists are a group of multidisciplinary team members from all service lines who have pioneered an interest in implementation science (IS). They now work in projects designed to more strongly cement evidence-based practices into every day work by using the frameworks, concepts and methods of IS. Since 2022, Inova created ten such projects in various stages of development.

Pictured: Members of the first cohort of Inova implementation science specialists (Nov. 30, 2023)

In 2022-23, the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute’s Health System Implementation Initiative awarded Inova and 41 other United States health care systems seven-year contracts to advance the work of IS and provide learning for future national scaling of projects. An important part of the project is the dissemination of results / metrics from all participating groups to help inform future practices and protocols in patient care.

History of implementation science at Inova

  • 2019 – Amanda Bettencourt, PhD, RN, APRN, CCRN-K, ACCNS-P, was the keynote speaker at Inova’s Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice Symposium
  • 2020 – Obtained funding from Wes and Natalie Bush
  • 2021 – Cohort 1 began training (spread over a year)
  • 2022 – Cohort 1 began their implementation science projects
  • 2023 – Cohort 2 trained in January and are currently working on projects
  • 2023 – Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute Health Systems Improvement Initiative designation achieved
  • 2023 – Cohort 3 trained in December
  • 2024 – First annual Inova Implementation Science Symposium conducted
  • 2024 – Cohort 4 trained in February
  • 2024 – Cohort 5 trained in April
  • 2024 – Cohort 6 trained in June
  • 2024 – Cohort 7 trained in August 
  • 2024 – Cohort 8 trained in October 

Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)

Inova has been designated as a PCORI Health Systems Implementation Initiative (HSII) recipient. This sets us up for participation in implementation projects valued up to $5 million in each improvement activity over the next seven years.

Our first HSII initiative is a capacity-building award. We will use it to build the infrastructure of implementation science at Inova including training 180 additional implementation science specialists in various disciplines, increasing communication and building out support for evaluation.

What is implementation science?

Inova implementation science projects

  • Fearlessly applying implementation science to reduce violence to emergency department nurses
  • Let's take the pressure off: hospital-acquired pressure injury prevention
  • Implementation science improves discharge education and outcomes for patients with heart failure
  • Implementation science improves pediatric cancer new diagnosis education across the continuum of care
  • Implementation of eat, sleep, console for neonatal abstinence syndrome
  • Reducing nonventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia
  • Implementation of ISHAPED handoffs
  • Deimplementation of bed alarms
  • Hand Hygiene
  • Psychological safety

Inaugural event

March 22, 2024 – First Inova Implementation Science Symposium: "Pioneering implementation science: learning from each other and beyond"

Featured presentations included:
  • Keynote address: Amanda Bettencourt, PhD, APRN, CCRN-K, ACCNS-P, “Implementation, deimplementation, or reimplementation? Leveraging implementation science to promote sustainable change in today’s dynamic healthcare environment”
  • Christopher Bonafide, MD, MSCE, “Deimplementation science and the Eliminating Monitor Overuse (EMO) trial”
  • Maria Fernandez, PhD, “Planning strategies for adoption, implementation and sustainment: an implementation mapping approach”

Russell-Babin K, Friesen MA, O'Brien AM, McLaughlin MK, Messing J, Mowery B, Bettencourt AP, Graling PR. A nurse-led implementation science specialist program. American Journal of Nursing, 2023 123(12), 38-45. doi: 10.1097/01.NAJ.0000997228.84722.c7. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37988023/

Podcast: AJN behind the article. Conversation with Kathleen Russell-Babin, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, ACNS-BC. 2024. Available from: https://ajnbehindthearticle.libsyn.com/conversation-with-kathleen-russell-babin-phd-rn-nea-bc-acns-bc. Accessed April 19, 2024.

Lawrence J. Implementation science: systematic, sustainable, evidence-based change. AJN Off the Charts. 2024 January 11. Available from: https://ajnoffthecharts.com/implementation-science-systematic-sustainable-evidence-based-change. Accessed April 19, 2024.

Lawrence, J., Emory, J., Sousa, S., Thompson, D., Jenkins, K., Bettencourt, A. P., McLaughlin, M., K. & Russell-Babin, K. (2024). Leveraging implementation science to make evidence-based practice sustainable: Utilization of the Brøset violence checklist in the emergency department.  Available from: American Journal of Nursing.

Jackson, R. R., Thomas, D., Winter, K., Gordon, J., Green, P. M., Lemaster, S., Fox, J. R., Wright, D. M., Bettencourt, A. P., McLaughlin, M. K., & Russell-Babin, K. (2024). Implementing a hospital-acquired pressure injury prevention bundle in critical care: Insight from a nurse-led implementation science team. American Journal of Nursing, 124(11), 38-48

Fernandez ME, ten Hoor GA, van Lieshout S, Rodriguez SA, Beidas RS, et al. Implementation mapping: using intervention mapping to develop implementation strategies. Frontiers in Public Health 2019 7, 158. https://doi:10.3389/fpubh.2019.00158

Flottorp SA, Oxman AD, Krause J, Musila NR, Wensing M, et al. A checklist for identifying determinants of practice: a systematic review and synthesis of frameworks and taxonomies of factors that prevent or enable improvements in healthcare professional practice. Implementation Science, 2013 8(1), 35. https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-8-35

Flottorp SA, Oxman AD, Krause J, Musila NR, Wensing M, et al. TICD checklist – definitions, questions and examples. Implementation Science, 2013 8(S1), S1. https://ictr.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/163/2017/10/TICD-checklist-definitions-questions-examples-addl-file-4-2.pdf

McNett M, Nahm ES, Whitney JD, Rodehorst TK. Use of implementation science to advance nurse-led evidence-based practices in clinical settings. Nurse Leader, 2022 20(3), 297-305. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2021.11.002

Powell BJ, Waltz TJ, Chinman MJ, Damschroder LJ, Smith, et al. A refined compilation of implementation strategies: results from the Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change (ERIC) project. Implementation Science, 2015 10(1), 21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jen.2022.11.004

Proctor E, Silmere H, Raghavan R, Hovmand P, Aarons G, et al. Outcomes for implementation research: conceptual distinctions, measurement challenges and research agenda. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 2011 38(2), 65-76. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-010-0319-7

Smith JD, Bodson J, Herald J, Dodson AW, Smith D. Implementation research logic model example: faith in action: clergy and community health center communication strategies for ending the epidemic in Mississippi and Arkansas. Implementation Science, 2020 15(1), 84. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-020-01041-8