Case 2 course 6 learning year 2 GW (BMEZ)
Name: Esmée Cox
Student number: i6160834
Date: 13 June 2019
Learning goals:
1. Which concepts are related to transferring an innovation to the target audience?
Greenhalgh, T., Robert, G., Bate, P., Macfarlane, F., Kyriakidou, O. (2005) Diffusion of
innovations in health service organisations. A systematic literature review. Blackwell
Publishing, Oxford. (Chapter 1 Introduction).
Diffusion of innovations (= a body of knowledge built around empirical work that
demonstrated a consistent pattern of adoption of new ideas over time by people in a social
system. Its central tenet is that the adoption of new ideas by a population follows a
predictable pattern. There is a slow initial (lag) phase, followed by an acceleration (take-off)
in the number of people adopting in each time period, then a corresponding deceleration,
and finally a tail as the last few individuals who are going to adopt finally do so) – Rogers
Adoption (individuals) (= the decision to make full use of the innovation as the best course of
action available) – Rogers
Adoption (organizations) (= an organization’s means to adopt to the environment, or to pre-
empt a change in the environment, in order to increase or sustain its effectiveness or
competitiveness. Managers may emphasize the rate or speed of adoption, or both, to close
an actual or perceived performance gap) – Damanpour and Gopalakrishnan
- Both definitions imply that people and organizations choose rationally to adopt
innovations because of some actual or perceived advantage
Diffusion (= the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels
over time among the members of a social system) – Rogers
- Passive process (‘let it happen’)
Dissemination (= actively spreading a message to defined target groups) – Mowatt
- Active process (‘make it happen’)
Spread (= the transfer of ideas and practices between (inter) organizations or within (intra) a
single organization)
- Passive and active processes
Sustainability (= when new ways of working and improved outcomes become the norm) –
NHS Modernization Agency’s
Grol, R., Wensing, M., Eccles, M., & Davis, D. (2013). Improving patient care: The
implementation of change in health care. (Chapter 1: Implementation of change in
healthcare: a complex problem). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.
Implementation (= a planned process and systematic introduction of innovations and/or
changes of proven value; the aim being that these are given a structural place in professional
practice, in the functioning of organizations or in the health care structure) – ZON (1997)
- Many terms for realizing improvements in practice are used internationally
Pagina 1 van 29
, o Example: innovation, implementation, dissemination, diffusion, adoption,
knowledge transfer, education, quality improvement, care modernization
- Diffusion (= spreading information and natural adoption by the target group of
guidelines and innovations)
- Dissemination (= communication of information to care providers to increase their
knowledge and skills; more active than diffusion; directed at a specific target group)
- Adoption (= positive attitude and decision to change personal routine)
- Implementation (= introduction of an innovation in the daily routine; this demands
effective communication strategies and removal of barriers to change by using
educational and policy techniques that are effective in practice)
Pagina 2 van 29
Name: Esmée Cox
Student number: i6160834
Date: 13 June 2019
Learning goals:
1. Which concepts are related to transferring an innovation to the target audience?
Greenhalgh, T., Robert, G., Bate, P., Macfarlane, F., Kyriakidou, O. (2005) Diffusion of
innovations in health service organisations. A systematic literature review. Blackwell
Publishing, Oxford. (Chapter 1 Introduction).
Diffusion of innovations (= a body of knowledge built around empirical work that
demonstrated a consistent pattern of adoption of new ideas over time by people in a social
system. Its central tenet is that the adoption of new ideas by a population follows a
predictable pattern. There is a slow initial (lag) phase, followed by an acceleration (take-off)
in the number of people adopting in each time period, then a corresponding deceleration,
and finally a tail as the last few individuals who are going to adopt finally do so) – Rogers
Adoption (individuals) (= the decision to make full use of the innovation as the best course of
action available) – Rogers
Adoption (organizations) (= an organization’s means to adopt to the environment, or to pre-
empt a change in the environment, in order to increase or sustain its effectiveness or
competitiveness. Managers may emphasize the rate or speed of adoption, or both, to close
an actual or perceived performance gap) – Damanpour and Gopalakrishnan
- Both definitions imply that people and organizations choose rationally to adopt
innovations because of some actual or perceived advantage
Diffusion (= the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels
over time among the members of a social system) – Rogers
- Passive process (‘let it happen’)
Dissemination (= actively spreading a message to defined target groups) – Mowatt
- Active process (‘make it happen’)
Spread (= the transfer of ideas and practices between (inter) organizations or within (intra) a
single organization)
- Passive and active processes
Sustainability (= when new ways of working and improved outcomes become the norm) –
NHS Modernization Agency’s
Grol, R., Wensing, M., Eccles, M., & Davis, D. (2013). Improving patient care: The
implementation of change in health care. (Chapter 1: Implementation of change in
healthcare: a complex problem). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.
Implementation (= a planned process and systematic introduction of innovations and/or
changes of proven value; the aim being that these are given a structural place in professional
practice, in the functioning of organizations or in the health care structure) – ZON (1997)
- Many terms for realizing improvements in practice are used internationally
Pagina 1 van 29
, o Example: innovation, implementation, dissemination, diffusion, adoption,
knowledge transfer, education, quality improvement, care modernization
- Diffusion (= spreading information and natural adoption by the target group of
guidelines and innovations)
- Dissemination (= communication of information to care providers to increase their
knowledge and skills; more active than diffusion; directed at a specific target group)
- Adoption (= positive attitude and decision to change personal routine)
- Implementation (= introduction of an innovation in the daily routine; this demands
effective communication strategies and removal of barriers to change by using
educational and policy techniques that are effective in practice)
Pagina 2 van 29
