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Knowledge Exchange Support

Table of Contents Home Program Elements Locally Driven Collaborative Projects Workshops Ethics Support Student Education & Preceptor Support Library Services Knowledge Exchange Support Reports & Resources The Exchange E-Bulletin FAQ's Get Involved Contact us

Knowledge exchange is providing the right information to the right people in the right format at the right time.  Through knowledge exchange services, support will be provided to help health units and public health associations make available, access, understand, and use the best available evidence on current and emerging public health issues and priorities. This will assist health units to make evidence-informed decisions at the policy, program and practice levels and to meet the OPHS.  It will also allow health units and associations to collaborate and stay abreast and informed of various past and present public health activities and projects.  Supports for this service will include:

• Public health web-based platform
• Sharing best practices
• Knowledge Exchange Specialist

The knowledge exchange support services will be launched in a phased approached throughout 2011.  Public health units, associations, and interested individuals will be consulted to help develop and refine these services.  Learn how you can get involved.

Knowing where to find information and evidence, whom to contact for advice, and what others are working on will assist public health professionals to make evidence-informed decisions and align efforts while minimizing or eliminating duplication.  Both a needs assessment and an environmental scan will take place in Winter/Spring 2011 to inform the design and implementation of the web-based platform. The needs assessment will help identify:

• The type of information that should be included
• Features that should be made available
• Phasing and support to help implement the web-based platform
• Practices that should be encouraged to maximize the use of the public health web-based platform in the field. 

The environmental scan will:

• Identify key user groups, existing tools and collaborations, and barriers/enablers to utilization
• Identify opportunities for the platform to align or integrate with existing structures/systems and
• Gather the information and resources required. 

The Ontario Public Health Association (OPHA), and the Association of Public Health Agencies (alPHa), and their members will coordinate and play a leading role in the planning of the platform.     
The features of the public health web-based platform will be confirmed after the needs assessment is completed.  At a minimum, the platform will include:

• A searchable electronic warehouse to store final reports, white papers, tools, forms, and other knowledge products created through this program, the Public Health Research, Education and Development (PHRED) program, and other PHO programs (e.g., the Regional Infection Control Network (RICNs), Core Competencies, and the Provincial Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee (PIDAC))
• An inventory of activities to enable knowledge of activities occurring in the public health system by providing current information on existing public health resources, experts, activities, programs, and networks across the province
• An interactive online collaborative space to support health professionals collaborate through various tools such as sharing documents, e-learning resources, a calendar of events, blogs, wikis, listserv, communities of practice, and other social media.

Opportunities to share best practices will be explored and supported.  The mechanisms to support best practices will be identified through the needs assessment.  Potential mechanisms may include newsletters, email blasts, case studies, workshops, and/or communities of practice.  An information-gathering process will take place in Summer 2011 to identify local content and activities that should be incorporated and profiled. 

A Knowledge Exchange Specialist will support the knowledge exchange activities by:

• Maintaining the inventory of activities

• Supporting activities to share best practices

• Encouraging the use of the interactive online collaborative space

• Identifying and fostering opportunities for collaboration and exchange across the public health system.

Tell us what works for you, what you use, and how you stay connected to your colleagues and the best sources of evidence! Contribute to the design and implementation of knowledge exchange support services by:

• Providing OPHA and alPHa with needs, priorities, and resources for the public health web-based platform.

• Identifying mechanisms for sharing best practices.

To volunteer for any of these activities, please email feedback@oahpp.ca. 

For more information about knowledge exchange support and the new program, the paper A New Program Model for Supporting Applied Research and Program Evaluation, Education and Professional Development, and Knowledge Exchange in Public Health, is available online and questions can be sent to feedback@oahpp.ca.