We are all familiar with the word impact. However, for those within the academic world this word continues to take on importance as the need to demonstrate relevance and transferability of research outputs grows. No longer do the neat definitions above suffice, now we are provided with comprehensive resources, leading to detailed “Pathways to Impact” to guide us on our way…
I’ve written before on my concerns/disappointment on the apparent gap between my two worlds – academia and healthcare. Exciting academic advances don’t appear to be making it to our “front-line”, on the average ward, on a Tuesday morning at 10.15am. According to literature there are multiple interventions that should be working to improve hand hygiene…behavioural models that can be applied…future work that is recommended….but follow-up is often lacking. Publication dates stretch back over 10, 15 years now. And on a Tuesday morning at 10.15am does that hand hygiene occur..?
The additional requirement…
Be brave!
I find it interesting, then, that in many conversations I have with healthcare professionals (of all grades) the word I hear much more frequently than impact is brave. The fundamental need to be brave enough to implement something new, something that may ruffle some feathers, something that may affect the “targets”, but ultimately, something that evidence suggests should lead to improvement. This takes bravery. And for long-term change, it takes more than individual bravery, there needs to be a network of clear, effective support from managers brave enough to defend new ideas and processes.
Such bravery feeds impact right where it matters, making differences to staff and patients alike. It engages staff, and it improves patient safety and experience. A good example of this can be seen through the model of Front Line Ownership, whereby a brave decision to allow staff to be creative problem solvers led to increased engagement, and direct impact on patient safety – barriers to hand hygiene were identified and solutions proposed and implemented.
So, within infection prevention, within healthcare, and within academia, we need to ensure that impact does not become (remain?) a tokenistic term used only for the purpose of securing funding or reputation. We need to constantly question what practical benefit our work can have at the front-line, and a fundamental lever to this appears to be bravery. Will the intended setting, be it the NHS, the private sector, industrial partners or beyond, be brave enough to make the changes your research is suggesting?
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