To strengthen the quality of healthcare and improve health outcomes, professionals must use research evidence in their clinical and organizational decision making. Despite evidence‐based recommendations for effective pain management, implementation remains a formidable challenge and babies and children continue to have unnecessary pain and distress during hospital procedures. Research into knowledge translation highlights the influence of contextual factors on whether and how research evidence is implemented in practice. Leadership is one of the most significant components of context, and is critical to successfully engage staff to implement evidence‐based practices. However, little research exists on how to develop leadership capacity for implementing evidence based practices in the Chinese context.
Purpose:
The purpose of this study is to explore the role of leadership in implementing evidence‐based pain management practices in pediatric population in Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital. We aim to generate pilot data for developing a larger study on leadership for implementing evidence‐based practices in China.
Objective 1: To translate the Implementation Leadership Scale (ILS) into Chinese, determine the semantic, conceptual and item equivalence of the translated ILS, and validate it in the Chinese context.
Objective 2: To develop, field test and evaluate a tailored leadership intervention for health care leaders in Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital to influence implementation of EBP for pain management in infants and children.
Methods:
Mixed methods, before and after intervention study was conducted. A leadership intervention for health care leaders based on the Ottawa Model of Implementation Leadership was developed collaboratively by the China/Canada research team tailored to the Chinese clinical nursing context. Focused groups, individual interviews and the Chinese ILS survey were administered pre and post intervention.
Outcomes:
Feasibility of delivering, acceptability and perceived influence of the intervention on leadership; barriers and supports to leadership practices; costs associated with implementing the intervention.
Results:
Acceptability and feasibility of the intervention were high, and the intervention had a positive influence on leadership practices with the post-intervention ILS higher than baseline.
Discussion:
Findings provide important data on the acceptability and feasibility of delivering a leadership intervention to health care leaders in Chinese context to manage pediatric pain. Our study has implications for global nursing science, practice, administration, leadership, and policy making.