Grant: Operating Grant: Knowledge to Action

Our group recently demonstrated that cystic fibrosis patients with advanced lung disease who received a decision aid on referral for lung transplantation improved their knowledge about the benefits and risks of lung transplantation and decreased their decisional conflict. However, it is not currently known if this research is being transferred into practice and whether healthcare professionals working in the CF clinics in Canada have the required skills to provide effective interventions to support the decision making needs of our patients. To ensure that the healthcare professionals using these tools have the required skills we will survey them to assess any barriers they face and we will design interventions to help them overcome these barriers. The healthcare professionals will then be expected to use their new knowledge and interventions with their patients. We will follow the healthcare professionals for two years to ensure that there is sustained 80% use of our lung transplant decision aid in the CF population considering referral for lung transplantation. This study has the unique opportunity to ensure that research being developed is disseminated and implemented in the manner in which it was intended.