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What is improvement science, and what makes it different? An outline of the field and its frontiers

Julie E. Reed, Grazia Antonacci, Natalie Armstrong, G. Ross Baker, Sonya Crowe, Karin Pukk Harenstam, Dougal Hargreaves, Yogini H. Jani, Lloyd Provost, Martin Rejler, Carl Savage, Johan Thor, Sharon Williams, Thomas Woodcock

Frontiers in Health Services, Volume: 4, Start page: 1454658

Swansea University Author: Sharon Williams

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    © 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)

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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...

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Published in: Frontiers in Health Services
ISSN: 2813-0146
Published: Frontiers Media SA 2025
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa68658
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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. 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spelling 2025-02-25T15:58:54.3183985 v2 68658 2025-01-07 What is improvement science, and what makes it different? An outline of the field and its frontiers ab46582012179a28370922a05774d3e3 Sharon Williams Sharon Williams true false 2025-01-07 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. Journal Article Frontiers in Health Services 4 1454658 Frontiers Media SA 2813-0146 improvement science, quality improvement, healthcare, complex system, implementation science, patient safety, knowledge mobilisation 20 2 2025 2025-02-20 10.3389/frhs.2024.1454658 Perspective COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee 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. 2025-02-25T15:58:54.3183985 2025-01-07T16:56:25.9215382 Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences School of Health and Social Care - Public Health Julie E. Reed 1 Grazia Antonacci 2 Natalie Armstrong 3 G. Ross Baker 4 Sonya Crowe 5 Karin Pukk Harenstam 6 Dougal Hargreaves 7 Yogini H. Jani 8 Lloyd Provost 9 Martin Rejler 10 Carl Savage 11 Johan Thor 12 Sharon Williams 13 Thomas Woodcock 14 68658__33674__a95f4f524667499fb7d3905d0938a3e7.pdf 68658.VOR.pdf 2025-02-25T15:51:18.1631102 Output 339020 application/pdf Version of Record true © 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) true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title What is improvement science, and what makes it different? An outline of the field and its frontiers
spellingShingle What is improvement science, and what makes it different? An outline of the field and its frontiers
Sharon Williams
title_short What is improvement science, and what makes it different? An outline of the field and its frontiers
title_full What is improvement science, and what makes it different? An outline of the field and its frontiers
title_fullStr What is improvement science, and what makes it different? An outline of the field and its frontiers
title_full_unstemmed What is improvement science, and what makes it different? An outline of the field and its frontiers
title_sort What is improvement science, and what makes it different? An outline of the field and its frontiers
author_id_str_mv ab46582012179a28370922a05774d3e3
author_id_fullname_str_mv ab46582012179a28370922a05774d3e3_***_Sharon Williams
author Sharon Williams
author2 Julie E. Reed
Grazia Antonacci
Natalie Armstrong
G. Ross Baker
Sonya Crowe
Karin Pukk Harenstam
Dougal Hargreaves
Yogini H. Jani
Lloyd Provost
Martin Rejler
Carl Savage
Johan Thor
Sharon Williams
Thomas Woodcock
format Journal article
container_title Frontiers in Health Services
container_volume 4
container_start_page 1454658
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 2813-0146
doi_str_mv 10.3389/frhs.2024.1454658
publisher Frontiers Media SA
college_str Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
department_str School of Health and Social Care - Public Health{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Health and Social Care - Public Health
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description 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.
published_date 2025-02-20T08:19:57Z
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score 11.055715

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