February 2020
Director's LetterImproving Veteran Mental Health: Implementation and Knowledge Translation of Effective Innovations Mental disorders are among the top causes of disability and years of potential life lost world-wide. VA is one of the largest single providers of mental health services in the U.S., and one of the largest employers of mental health professionals nationally. Not surprisingly, VA has been a model for optimizing the use of effective innovations to improve mental health services through implementation science. Often referred to as “knowledge translation,” implementation science is the study and deployment of strategies to support providers in promoting the uptake of effective practices. This issue features key success stories from QUERI-funded implementation and evaluation initiatives that are focused on improving Veterans’ mental health:
QUERI Investigators as Trusted Purveyor of Implementation and Knowledge Translation The overall success of these three initiatives to help Veterans with mental disorders could not have happened without QUERI implementation strategies, many of which were featured in a comprehensive review of implementation best practices conducted by QUERI in partnership with the Innovation Ecosystem and VA’s RAPID (Reporting, Analytics, Performance, Improvement, and Deployment) program. Implementation strategies such as cultivating local and national interdisciplinary provider teams, deployment of routine data analytics to monitor and provide feedback on quality and outcomes of care, enabling local adaptations, and facilitation (e.g., provider empowerment through strategic thinking and coalition-building skills development) were vital to their implementation and sustainment. STAR-VA, BHIP, and EMPOWER also embody VA’s strive towards a Learning Health System, which involves understanding and alignment of the complex interactions of people, processes, technologies, and infrastructures to enhance the quality and outcomes of care for Veterans. In the near future, QUERI’s Center for Evaluation and Implementation Resources (CEIR) will be deploying additional opportunities including the QUERI Implementation Roadmap Guide and Implementation Learning Hubs to enable more providers to garner implementation skills that are essential to promote the uptake of effective innovations and foster a Learning Health System. Amy Kilbourne, PhD, MPH |
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