Designing Successful Diffusion: The Big Lever (Summer, 2010)

Collaborator: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care

Faculty: Kennard Wing, MS and Larry Starr, PhD
(Note: Course number is DYNM 645, section 085)

Students: Pericles Giannaris, Nicole Hitti, Elizabeth Williams

Description: This project is part of DYNM 645—085. Students completed a crash course on the literature concerning the successful diffusion of innovation with a focus on diffusion in organizations. A field trip to CHOP familiarized them with the procedure known as tracheal intubation (inserting a breathing tube), the complications frequently associated with this life-saving but potentially life threatening procedure, and a quality improvement intervention developed at CHOP that physicians there hope to initially diffuse to 20 other hospitals nationally. The students’ task was to develop a set of recommendations for successfully introducing and adopting the innovation. A day-long site visit to CNMC allowed them to gather data on organizational characteristics known to affect the likelihood of successful adoption, and to speak with physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, unit leadership and other staff. Following the visit they created a three-part presentation consisting of their own synthesis of the literature most relevant to the project, a set of principles important to successful adoption, each illustrated by data from the site visit and specific suggestions for implementing the principle, and finally a implementation scenario drawing together the various suggestions into an integrated whole. Students presented their final project at CHOP to physicians from there and from CNMC. The presentation stimulated extensive discussion about how CHOP might shift its approach slightly for greater success. The presentation was shared with all 20 hospitals in the initial target group and the project was also presented at a meeting of site coordinators from the 20 sites.