Journal article 103 views 8 downloads
What is improvement science, and what makes it different? An outline of the field and its frontiers
Frontiers in Health Services, Volume: 4, Start page: 1454658
Swansea University Author: Sharon Williams
-
PDF | Version of Record
© 2025 Reed, Antonacci, Armstrong, Baker, Crowe, Harenstam, Hargreaves, Jani, Provost, Rejler, Savage, Thor, Williams and Woodcock. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY)
Download (331.07KB)
DOI (Published version): 10.3389/frhs.2024.1454658
Abstract
Improvement science has emerged as an interdisciplinary field of enquiry to provide methodological and scientific rigour to the practice and study of improvements in healthcare, and engaging contributions from a wide range of stakeholders and perspectives. However, compared to more well-established...
| Published in: | Frontiers in Health Services |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2813-0146 |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media SA
2025
|
| Online Access: |
Check full text
|
| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa68658 |
| Abstract: |
Improvement science has emerged as an interdisciplinary field of enquiry to provide methodological and scientific rigour to the practice and study of improvements in healthcare, and engaging contributions from a wide range of stakeholders and perspectives. However, compared to more well-established health-related sciences, the science of improvement remains in relative infancy. Whilst the improvement community has grown considerably, there is no existing articulation of the scope of what matters to the health and social care improvement community, and how this aligns to the enquiries of the field of improvement science. This paper aims to outline key areas of interest to the improvement community, and to propose distinguishing features of improvement science that help differentiate it from other areas of enquiry.Two over-arching research questions are identified, along with ten associated areas of enquiry which are grouped into three clusters: 1) improvement in practice, 2) aligning improvement efforts and 3) advancing the contribution of the improvement community. Four features that collectively define and distinguish the field of improvement science are proposed.The outline of the improvement landscape provides a common language for the diverse improvement community, enabling people to transcend disciplinary interests and constraints, and to consider how, collectively, we can improve health and care. Others are invited to refine and advance mapping of the improvement landscape by identifying gaps and increasing contributions from diverse perspectives. |
|---|---|
| Item Description: |
Perspective |
| Keywords: |
improvement science, quality improvement, healthcare, complex system, implementation science, patient safety, knowledge mobilisation |
| College: |
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences |
| Funders: |
This work was supported by a Health Foundation grant for advancing the frontiers of improvement science. JR, NA, SC, DH, YJ, SW, TW were supported by a Health Foundation Improvement Science Fellowships. KPH, MR, JT were supported by Vinnvard Improvement Science Fellowships. This research was supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care Northwest London (CLAHRC NWL), now recommissioned as NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Northwest London (ARC NWL). The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. |
| Start Page: |
1454658 |