Greenhalgh T, Robert G, Macfarlane F, Bate P, Kyriakidou O. Diffusion of innovations in service organizations: Systematic review and recommendations. The Milbank Quarterly. 2004;82(4):581-629.

This article summarizes an extensive literature review addressing the question of how health care organizations can sustain and spread innovations.  It discusses an evidence-based model for diffusion of innovation within health service organizations, clear knowledge gaps where future research should be focused, and a methodology for reviewing health service policy and management.

An approach to rapid scale-up: Using HIV/AIDS treatment and care as an example. World Health Organization; 2004.

This white paper, co-authored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), describes how health care providers in resource-poor settings (and particularly in the developing world) can apply operations research principles and collaborative improvement methodology to introduce and rapidly spread health care interventions. The authors situate their description in the context of efforts to scale up antiretroviral (ARV) treatment for AIDS and cite several examples from work in developing nations.

Frankel A, Gandhi TK, Bates DW. Improving patient safety across a large integrated health care delivery system. International Journal for Quality in Health Care. 2003;15 Suppl 1:i31-40.

Partners HealthCare (Boston, Massashusetts) set out to design a strategy to improve patient safety throughout their entire health care system. With the organization of designated patient safety personnel and leadership, there was strong agreement that the key areas of focus include culture change, process change, and process measurement. The article discusses some of the tools and processes the system implemented.

Bandura A
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA: Prentice Hall, Inc.; 1986

A theoretical framework for analyzing human motivation, thought, and action from a social cognitive perspective. Bandura includes chapters on observational learning and incentives. Chapter 4, "Social Diffusion and Innovation," includes key information regarding how new ideas and social practices spread within a society, or from one society to another.

Berwick DM. Disseminating innovations in health care. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2003;289(15):1969-1975.

This article examines the reasons why innovations are disseminated so slowly in health care, and provides some recommendations for health care leaders who want to accelerate that rate of diffusion within their organizations.

Institute for Healthcare Improvement. IHI Innovation Series white paper. The Breakthrough Series: IHI's Collaborative Model for Achieving Breakthrough Improvement. Boston, Massachusetts: Institute for Healthcare Improvement; 2003.

IHI Innovation Series white paper

Based on a collaborative approach, the Breakthrough Series model is reaping results worldwide as organizations use it to improve how they deliver care to patients.

Full text available! Click view white paper below.

Brown JS, Duguid P
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Business Review Press; 2000

The authors explain how leaders can promote creativity and the spread of good ideas by understanding that their organizations functions as complex systems. The difference between formal processes and the informal but powerful practices that determine how and why things really get done in organizations is explored.

Wenger E, McDermott R, Snyder WM
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press; 2002

The authors discuss the role of design in building vital communities and suggest seven principles for cultivating communities of practice: design for evolution; open a dialogue between inside and outside perspectives; invite different levels of participation; develop both public and private community spaces; focus on value; combine familiarity and excitement; and create a rhythm for the community.

Wenger E
New York, New York: Cambridge University Press; 1998

This book presents a social theory of learning that explains how the natural or planned connections between people with similar roles and responsibilities promote learning and the transfer of new ideas.

Shaw P
New York, New York: Routledge; 2002

This book describes an approach to organizational change and development informed by a complexity perspective. It focuses on the essential uncertainty of participating in evolving events as they happen and discusses the creative possibilities of such participation.