JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Evidence-based medicine struggles with knowledge translation and dissemination. Web 2.0 platforms promote sharing and collaborative development of content. Executable knowledge tools, such as order sets, are one knowledge translation tool whose localization is critical to its effectiveness, but a challenge for organizations to develop independently.

Objective:

We describe a Web 2.0 resource for order set development designed to share executable knowledge (order sets).

Methods:

Data were collected from Think Research’s TxConnect platform. We measured inter-organization sharing across Canadian hospitals using descriptive statistics. A weighted chi-squared analysis was used to evaluate institutional size to sharing volumes based on institution size, with post-hoc Cramer’s V score to measure the strength of association.

Results:

TCN consisted of 12,495 order sets across 683 diagnoses or processes. Between January 2010 and March 2015, 131 healthcare organizations representing 360 hospitals in Canada downloaded order sets 105,496 times. Order sets related to acute coronary syndrome, analgesia, and venous thromboembolism were most commonly shared. COVID-19 order sets were amongst the most actively shared, adjusting for order set lifetime. A weighted chi-square analysis showed non-random downloading behavior (p < 0.001), with medium-sized institutions downloading content from larger institutions acting as the most significant driver of this variance (chi-gram: 124.70).

Conclusions:

We describe a Web 2.0 platform for the sharing of order set content at unprecedented scale. The heavy use of the collaborative network to access customized order sets reflects the TCN’s value as a resource for health care organizations when they are developing or updating their own order sets.