The course Implementing Innovations in Health Care focuses on four themes related to implementing innovations in health care:

   1. Innovations and the spread of innovations

   2. Factors influencing the spread and implementation of innovations 

   3. Models for implementation

   4. Strategies to implement innovations in health care

The first theme covers the concepts related to innovation and the spread of innovations. Innovations can be products or novel behaviours, routines and ways of working, and they differ in perceived advantage, complexity, observability, etc. The spread of innovations can be passive or active. To create a collective starting point several basic concepts are addressed in the first theme. The second theme continues by focusing on factors that are important in the spread and implementation of innovations, either as hampering factors or as facilitating factors. You will gain insight into four areas comprising these factors important in the uptake of innovations, namely the innovation, the actors, the organizations and the outer context. The third theme of this course, models of implementation, stems naturally from the second theme since these factors are important elements in the models for implementation. There are different models for implementation. In this course you will mainly work with the Implementation of Change Model by Grol and Wensing, but it is important to gain insight into other models as well. The fourth and final theme concentrates on strategies and measures that contribute to the implementation of innovations in practice.

To relate theory to practice, you will be introduced to various innovations that are (successfully or unsuccessfully) implemented. Alongside the theoretical activities in the course, you will develop an implementation plan for a care innovation (skills training).

Knowledge and insight

The students acquire knowledge about:

• The concept ‘innovation’ and attributes of innovation;

• The concepts ‘diffusion’, ‘dissemination’ and ‘implementation’;

• Models for implementation;

• Factors influencing the spread and implementation of innovations;

• Strategies to implement innovations in health care;

• Elements of an implementation plan.

Application of knowledge and insight

After this module the students are able:

• To compare different models for implementation;

• To analyse the context of an innovation for implementation;

• To develop an implementation plan for a care innovation.

Forming opinions

After this module the students:

• Can critically appraise innovations;

• Have a critical attitude on factors influencing the implementation of an innovation in a health care context;

• Have a critical attitude on models for implementation;

• Can link theory and practice in order to develop a realistic implementation plan.

Communication

After this module the students:

• Are able to write and present a realistic implementation plan for a care innovation;

• Are able to communicate relevant findings in relation to learning goals in the tutorial meetings;

• Are able to communicate and collaborate in a constructive and clear manner with fellow students with his/her project group;

• Are able to communicate and collaborate in a constructive and clear manner in project settings and tutorial meetings.

Learning skills

The students have skills to:

• Develop an implementation plan using a model for implementation;

• Recognize the challenges in implementation of an innovation in health care.