A research breakthrough is said to take approximately 17 years to translate into clinical practice. This time lag can have considerable implications for patients, their carers, health services, and public funds. To address this time lag, the Cancer Institute NSW and the Translational Cancer Research Centres (TCRCs) across the state developed a community of practice (CoP) to increase knowledge, skills, and capacity in implementation science.

2. Authors: Candice Kielly-Carroll, Tim Shaw, Mary Haines, Ann Dadich, Nicole Rankin, Rob Sanson-Fisher,
Afaf Girgis, Jane Phillips, Tracy Robinson Jeffery Braithwaite and Charlotte Pointeaux

3. BACKGROUND – THE TRANSLATION GAP

4. BACKGROUND – MODEL T1, T2, T3

5. Cancer Institute NSW funds seven Translational Cancer
Research Centres (TCRCs)
1. Centre for Oncology Education and Research
Translation
2. Hunter Cancer Research Alliance
3. Kids Cancer Alliance
4. Sydney Catalyst
5. Sydney Vital
6. Sydney West TCRC
7. Translational Cancer Research Network
BACKGROUND – TRANSLATIONAL
RESEARCH IN NSW
Identified need to increase knowledge, skills, and capacity
in implementation science across the seven TCRCs

6. BACKGROUND – COMMUNITY OF
PRACTICE IN IMPLEMENTATION SCIENCE
Community of Practice (CoP) = Groups that learn
o “Groups of people who share a passion for something that they
know how to do, and who interact regularly in order to learn
how to do it better” (Wenger 2002)

7. METHOD – DEVELOPMENT OF A SYLLABUS
1. A global environmental scan was conducted to identify:
• programs that increase knowledge and skills in the
science of implementation and translation of evidence
into practice
• international and national resources to be included in the
CoP to reduce duplication and improve program quality
• types of education offered in implementation
science/translational research
2. TCRC members surveyed to better understand preferred
learning styles

8. METHOD – DEVELOPMENT OF A SYLLABUS
The syllabus was co-designed by representatives of CINSW and
the TCRCs
o Interactive and didactic approaches
o Face-to-face delivery and online
o Supported by a project officer
 Fundamentals of Implementation Science
 Setting the Scene and Engagement
 Research Methodology, Design and Evaluation
 Implementation Science and Policy

9. METHOD – ESTABLISHING A CoP

10. METHOD – CREATING VALUE

11. Governance: TCRC Reference Group (meet every 6 weeks)
o Expert-led workshops
o Webinars
o Regular e-newsletters
o Journal club
o Early-Mid Career Researchers network
o Expert conversations series
Quantitative and qualitative data collected following each approach
METHOD – COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

12. o Over 360 individuals
have registered with the
CoP and have
participated in over 30
activities
o Membership
breakdown: clinicians
(23%); researchers
(37%); and health
service
managers/policy
makers (40%)
RESULTS - MEMBERSHIP

13. 1. Professor Sharon Straus presenting
‘Developing and Optimising
Interventions in Implementation
Science’ – 29 attendees
2. Dr Robert Birnbaum presenting on
‘Emerging Models of Professional
Development – Bringing Evidence
Based Care into Practice’ – 35
attendees
3. ‘Implementing Change Through Multi-
Disciplinary Teams’ – 90 attendees
RESULTS - EXPERT LED WORKSHOPS
Attendee breakdown: clinician (27%);
nurse (9%); program officer (10%); health
service managers (30%); researcher
(19%); allied health (5%)
o 100% reported they learnt something
new about implementation science
o 97% reported gaining insights that
will influence their practice
o 86% reported workshops to be a
valuable networking opportunity

14. RESULTS - WEBINARS
o 86% reported they learnt something new
about implementation science
o 86% reported gaining insights that will
influence their practice
o 100% reported the webinar to be interesting
and engaging
Attendee breakdown:
clinician (9%); nurse (15%); program
officer (12%); health service manager
(6%); researcher (54%); allied health
(4%)

15. E-newsletter:
o 360 subscribers; average
of 40% of members read
the email; 8% of receivers
click through to links
provided
Journal club:
o 45 members; 6 meetings
held
Early-Mid Career Researcher
(EMCR) Network
o 36 members; first meeting
to be held 10 Nov 2015
RESULTS - PARTICIPATION

16. IMPLICATIONS & NEXT STEPS
As the CoP matures from the ‘engaged stage’ to
‘active stage’
o Identify opportunities to engage with front-line
clinicians and more rural colleagues
o Foster collaborative research efforts of the
EMCR network
o Embed project nodes into the CoP for e.g. MDT
o Begin to measure network performance
through a structured evaluation using concept
and network mapping
o The CoP has bolstered the network between the TCRCs
o Facilitated communication networks between members
o Promoted the multi-disciplinary scholarship of implementation science represented
by the disciplines beyond oncology, including management and psychology

17. Authors: Tim Shaw, Mary Haines, Ann Dadich, Nicole Rankin,
Rob Sanson-Fisher, Afaf Girgis, Jane Phillips, Tracy Robinson,
Jeffery Braithwaite and Charlotte Pointeaux
Funding body: Cancer Institute NSW
Governance: Implementation Science Community of
Practice, TCRC Reference Group members
Implementation: Research in Implementation Science and
eHealth
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS