Article type
Abstract
Background: Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital Global Hematology/Oncology Pediatric Excellence (Global HOPE) is focused on building long-term capacity to treat and dramatically improve the prognosis for children with cancer and blood disorders in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). As global pediatric morbidity and mortality continue to disproportionately impact SSA, evidence-based supportive care guidelines need to be adapted to the context and implemented successfully to make a significant impact on child health outcomes.
Objectives: To describe the Dissemination and Implementation Science (DIS) Specialist Education Program, a capacity-building initiative of guideline development and adaptation for pediatric oncology care in SSA. These individuals will be able to independently lead working groups in the future and will develop and revise CPGs and implement practice changes based on evidence.
Methods: The six-month program used a combined didactic and mentored-project approach both in-person and over Zoom to teach DIS specialists how to evaluate existing guidelines and adapt them to Global HOPE clinical settings. Clinicians were eligible to enroll in this course if they had successfully completed the Global HOPE basic quality improvement course. Content included a review of AGREE II to appraise existing guidelines, GRADE-ADOLOPMENT, contextualizing for low-resource settings, and leadership. Templates were provided for guidelines and evidence summaries, and these included sections for patient and caregiver education and alternates for resource availability contingencies to improve the applicability of these guidelines for SSA settings. Course evaluations were sent to the participants at the conclusion of the course.
Results: All six students (four nurses and two pharmacists) who registered for the course successfully completed the course content and completed their draft guideline documents on four supportive care guideline topics. Two of the four topics have been approved through our internal process and finalized and the other two topics are in progress. All six students are continuing to the next phase of the DIS specialist course content, which includes advanced quality improvement content that will cover advanced quality improvement skills to implement the guidelines developed.
Conclusions: This course was successful in teaching skills in guideline adaptation, and future coursework will facilitate successful guideline implementation.
Objectives: To describe the Dissemination and Implementation Science (DIS) Specialist Education Program, a capacity-building initiative of guideline development and adaptation for pediatric oncology care in SSA. These individuals will be able to independently lead working groups in the future and will develop and revise CPGs and implement practice changes based on evidence.
Methods: The six-month program used a combined didactic and mentored-project approach both in-person and over Zoom to teach DIS specialists how to evaluate existing guidelines and adapt them to Global HOPE clinical settings. Clinicians were eligible to enroll in this course if they had successfully completed the Global HOPE basic quality improvement course. Content included a review of AGREE II to appraise existing guidelines, GRADE-ADOLOPMENT, contextualizing for low-resource settings, and leadership. Templates were provided for guidelines and evidence summaries, and these included sections for patient and caregiver education and alternates for resource availability contingencies to improve the applicability of these guidelines for SSA settings. Course evaluations were sent to the participants at the conclusion of the course.
Results: All six students (four nurses and two pharmacists) who registered for the course successfully completed the course content and completed their draft guideline documents on four supportive care guideline topics. Two of the four topics have been approved through our internal process and finalized and the other two topics are in progress. All six students are continuing to the next phase of the DIS specialist course content, which includes advanced quality improvement content that will cover advanced quality improvement skills to implement the guidelines developed.
Conclusions: This course was successful in teaching skills in guideline adaptation, and future coursework will facilitate successful guideline implementation.