Grant: Health System Impact Fellowships - PostDoc Western Canada 2 year

Background: Alberta Health Services (AHS) aims to provide a patient-focused, quality health system that is accessible and sustainable for all Albertans. To achieve this aim AHS integrated several evidence-based interventions to improve acute care utilization across Alberta's 14 major hospitals. The evidence-based interventions are expected to reduce the actual to improve patient outcomes and ensure cost-effective and sustainable health care delivery. However, it remains unclear which implementation strategies to implement the bundles will be most effective in each setting as the mechanisms and context underpinning successful implementation strategies are not well understood. Policy Question: Which implementation strategies work best under what conditions to implement the evidence-based bundle to improve acute care utilization? Design and Methods: A scoping review will be conducted in Phase 1 of this research to examine acute care initiatives in Canadian healthcare settings. This scoping review will provide an understanding of the implementation strategies that have been used to implement acute care initiatives. In Phase 2 of this research, a realist evaluation will be conducted to examine the contexts and mechanisms influencing the successful implementation of the acute care initiative. This realist evaluation will include an environmental scan of all implementing sites and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders. In Phase 3 of this research, the results of Phases 1 and 2 will be synthesized to co-develop implementation recommendations to optimize the implementation of the acute care initiative. Impact: The results of this research will enhance the sustainability of acute care modernization and improve patient outcomes in AHS. These learnings will foster a culture of implementation science in AHS to promote sustainability. As Canadian health systems are reliant on acute care, these learnings may be valuable to improve patient outcomes across Canada.